Midnight convo with a buddy in the Big Durian.
-
Him: How was it?
Me: Surprising plot twist. But I handled it well.
Him: You okay?
Me: I'll live.
Him: Ha! You're amazing. Don't you ever forget that.
Me: I know. Thanks for reminding me, tho.
-
And we laughed.
Oh how I love him and my people to pieces.
Showing posts with label jakarta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jakarta. Show all posts
Page 348: Current Addiction (part 21)
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Friday, April 14, 2017 /
Posted in
current addiction,
indonesia,
jakarta,
jens lekman,
lyrics,
movie,
music,
night falls over kortedala,
whip it,
your arms around me
Yesterday my good friend Fely made a lovely painting of the
pool scene from the movie Whip It.
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| image courtesy: here |
And just like that, I’ve been listening Jens
Lekman’s Night Falls Over Kortedala over and over since last night. It’s been
years since the last time I listened to this album. I still listen to Your ArmsAround Me sometimes, but other songs from that album has been away for a while from my
playlist.
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| image courtesy: here |
Impression is an interesting thing. The first time I listened
the whole album it was okay. But now, I really like it. Lekman is indeed a
versatile lyricist. I mean, come on, anyone who can write about pretending to be a lesbian’s boyfriend to hide that fact from her father, is, right? I like his sense
of humor too.
Good album.
Page 278: Little Things, Little Moments
My good friend once said that the key to not lose your mind in Jakarta – this crazy city somehow has the power to drain your energy, trust me – is to appreciate the little moments, and to lower your expectation. Somehow I agreed, because those points are doable, although the second point is kinda hard if you’re an optimist or an avid dreamer.
But appreciating little moments isn't that hard. It’s a choice anyway. It’s a will. You choose your little adventure; people you want to spend time with, places to go, food to eat, jokes to share, etc. I had fun last weekend. I went to my parents’ house, spent a few hours with my nieces, took my mom to see her therapist and she looked motivated, celebrated my best friend’s birthday, eat not-so-healthy-but-damn-it’s-yummy breakfast (cold leftover birthday cake+wafer+mash 'em together=heaven!), and went to a friend's place for breakfasting with some old friends, and I chose to take pictures of pretty little things I found during the weekend that somehow make me smile every time I see them.
So how’s your weekend?
But appreciating little moments isn't that hard. It’s a choice anyway. It’s a will. You choose your little adventure; people you want to spend time with, places to go, food to eat, jokes to share, etc. I had fun last weekend. I went to my parents’ house, spent a few hours with my nieces, took my mom to see her therapist and she looked motivated, celebrated my best friend’s birthday, eat not-so-healthy-but-damn-it’s-yummy breakfast (cold leftover birthday cake+wafer+mash 'em together=heaven!), and went to a friend's place for breakfasting with some old friends, and I chose to take pictures of pretty little things I found during the weekend that somehow make me smile every time I see them.
So how’s your weekend?
Page 274: Leave This City
It’s about time, I think. It’s about time to consider the idea to leave this city, this enticing but crazy city. There’s nothing left for me in this city. Well not much. Some of my favorite people have gone while others are preparing to leave. My two good friends whom I love very much also have the same idea and the image of saying goodbye to them..somehow scared me a bit. (Also, the idea of start our own farm isn't a bad idea. Not bad at all). I love my job but I still have doubt that I really can make an impact and have a real career. Guys that I met or dated were..weird. (I'm a weirdo, so if i can't stand them, there must be something wrong with them, haha). What else? Oh, the guy whom I like just threw my heart onto the pavement. Ta-daaa! *insert sad songs here :p*.
I mean, yes, my parents are here. But they will always be my parents and I will always have time when they need me to be around. I won’t miss these huge buildings, malls, skyscrapers. I won’t miss the traffic. Yes I will miss some new friends and gigs and some places, but I can always make new friends and find cool places somewhere else. There are too many memories in this city, but even the good ones are just fragments of experiences and feelings that I had.
This city won’t miss me, obviously. And some people would be glad because it means that I can contribute to make Jakarta to be less crowded.
So yeah, maybe it’s about time to make list of reasons why I should/n’t stay.
Still maybe, though.
Oh fickle heart of mine.
I mean, yes, my parents are here. But they will always be my parents and I will always have time when they need me to be around. I won’t miss these huge buildings, malls, skyscrapers. I won’t miss the traffic. Yes I will miss some new friends and gigs and some places, but I can always make new friends and find cool places somewhere else. There are too many memories in this city, but even the good ones are just fragments of experiences and feelings that I had.
This city won’t miss me, obviously. And some people would be glad because it means that I can contribute to make Jakarta to be less crowded.
So yeah, maybe it’s about time to make list of reasons why I should/n’t stay.
Still maybe, though.
Oh fickle heart of mine.
I lick my wounds but I can never see them getting better
Something’s gotta change
Things cannot stay the same
Page 248: Low Cost Cars? Really?
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Saturday, October 5, 2013 /
Posted in
clogged street,
indonesia,
jakarta,
low cost cars,
public transportation,
sticky,
traffic
“Four of Japan’s top automotive manufacturers are set to produce cheap and green cars in Indonesia by the end of the year.Full article - go to jakarta globe
And while the government has agreed to exempt the vehicles from the luxury tax to boost domestic sales, the vehicle industry has condemned the alternative decision to impose an excise tax.
The four companies — Toyota, Daihatsu, Suzuki and Honda — plan to produce a combined 500,000 low-cost green cars (LCGC) a year with total investment at $1.8 billion, according to Industry Minister M.S. Hidayat.
The plans follow the introduction of a government program offering carmakers incentives if they manufacture LCGC in the country as parts of an effort to make Indonesia an automotive production base for Southeast Asia and promote the use of local content.
“This program will employ many workers, from the primary industry to the spare-parts industry,” Hidayat said on Friday.
Still, the manufacturers are seeking to secure significant incentives from the government before deciding to proceed.”
My brain had frozen for a moment after I read the news, right before I started to curse on how stupid that decision was. Really? Dude, you don’t need to be a genius to think that this plan would only worsen the city’s already clogged streets. Why don’t you just upgrade the current public transportation? We don’t need more cars in the street to make us more cynical about the traffic that we have to face every single day. Oh dear lord.
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| image courtesy: http://indonesiaurbanstudies.blogspot.com |
Page 235: A Postcard from the Big Durian
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Saturday, August 10, 2013 /
Posted in
big durian,
eid mubarak,
holiday,
jakarta,
sticky
Less traffic. Less crowd. Jakarta gets its annual rest when lotsa people who usually utilize it to make a living leave it for a while to enjoy the most celebrated and longest holiday in this country: Eid Mubarak. Some of them go to their hometowns. Some of them take trips to other cities. And knowing that this city finally gets a break it deserves from the “tortures” that come from the hands of its citizens, including me, somehow soothes me a bit. I don’t know why. But that fact soothes me a bit.
Sometimes when I hear a person says that s/he likes Jakarta, I easily assume that that person isn’t being sincere, perhaps even preparing for some cruel jokes about The Big Durian. The best reason for that is maybe because I see it from my own perspective. I’ve never really loved Jakarta, although I was born and raised in this city. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t. But to say that I hate it could be a misleading statement as well, since that’s not how I feel, and Jakarta has been some kind of pond where I met people whom I like.
Whom I love.
Some of those people gathered with me to celebrate Eid Mubarak. Nothing of importance has changed, pretty much the same like last year. I was happy, but not ecstatically. It wasn’t vapid occasion, for sure. I felt such relief when I knew the festivity is over. Just like this “enticing” city, I needed a rest too. Probably I still need it for my emotional part, considering last month filled with lotsa suffocating shits. I need some kind of shield to ignore unnecessary stimulus that can lead me back in to that over-analyzing-my-life abyss. I’m building one.
Sometimes when I hear a person says that s/he likes Jakarta, I easily assume that that person isn’t being sincere, perhaps even preparing for some cruel jokes about The Big Durian. The best reason for that is maybe because I see it from my own perspective. I’ve never really loved Jakarta, although I was born and raised in this city. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t. But to say that I hate it could be a misleading statement as well, since that’s not how I feel, and Jakarta has been some kind of pond where I met people whom I like.
Whom I love.
Some of those people gathered with me to celebrate Eid Mubarak. Nothing of importance has changed, pretty much the same like last year. I was happy, but not ecstatically. It wasn’t vapid occasion, for sure. I felt such relief when I knew the festivity is over. Just like this “enticing” city, I needed a rest too. Probably I still need it for my emotional part, considering last month filled with lotsa suffocating shits. I need some kind of shield to ignore unnecessary stimulus that can lead me back in to that over-analyzing-my-life abyss. I’m building one.
Page 155: R for Random
Random pile of shit that stuck in my head lately:
/1/
This country and bule.
Several things have changed in my office for these past few weeks. Let’s call it “reformation” (it sounds like political thingy, but I hope you know what I mean). My team and I have new space and new people to work with. Some of them are bule – word used by Indonesian to call foreigner, mostly Caucasian. Once, I had to accompany my bule colleague to check on an apartment at Kalibata City. It was night and the landlord who also my friend was late so we had to wait for two hours. This guy and I talked about books, music, movies, etc. Nothing was weird until I sensed a bunch of middle-aged men who were sitting nearby giggling, whispering, and sometimes glanced over at us. I heard one of them said unpleasant and nasty speculation about me and my friend, that we were some kind of “kawin kontrak” couple. “Kawin kontrak” is a term used to describe a marriage between a foreigner man and Indonesian woman under an agreement and period of time. It’s more like a hidden prostitution actually, since the ceremony doesn’t registered in KUA (Ministry of Religious Affairs) and the main reason is that the man need sexual partner. The man will pay the woman’s family and pimp. Back to my story, I guess my friend did not realize that and I had no intention to tell him either. I tried to ignore that bunch of shallow minded men because it was harmless for us at that time. (Although I wanted to yell at them, “you said that because you don’t understand English right? If you understand it, you would have known that we were talking about movies and books, you pervert!” )
That stereotype of “bule is sexually active, thus anyone who hang out with them also potentially has role as their sexual partner”, is so common until most Indonesian could easily judge them. I take it as weird and racist thing, because you don’t have to be bule to do premarital sex. I have Indonesian friends who have sex regularly with their girlfriend or boyfriend. Another weird thing is because actually, most Indonesian also has this admiration for bule, this some sort of tendency to see bule is much smarter, prettier, and even greater than Indonesian. I agree with my roommate that, “maybe it's because we were colonized by the Dutch for more than 350 years. Or maybe it's because we've seen too many Hollywood movies, bombarded by too many "western" media, and consumed too many of "western" culture.”
I mean, you can find ugly bule just like you can find ugly Indonesian. On the other hand, you can also find handsome Indonesian guy the same way you can easily find handsome bule.
/1/
This country and bule.
Several things have changed in my office for these past few weeks. Let’s call it “reformation” (it sounds like political thingy, but I hope you know what I mean). My team and I have new space and new people to work with. Some of them are bule – word used by Indonesian to call foreigner, mostly Caucasian. Once, I had to accompany my bule colleague to check on an apartment at Kalibata City. It was night and the landlord who also my friend was late so we had to wait for two hours. This guy and I talked about books, music, movies, etc. Nothing was weird until I sensed a bunch of middle-aged men who were sitting nearby giggling, whispering, and sometimes glanced over at us. I heard one of them said unpleasant and nasty speculation about me and my friend, that we were some kind of “kawin kontrak” couple. “Kawin kontrak” is a term used to describe a marriage between a foreigner man and Indonesian woman under an agreement and period of time. It’s more like a hidden prostitution actually, since the ceremony doesn’t registered in KUA (Ministry of Religious Affairs) and the main reason is that the man need sexual partner. The man will pay the woman’s family and pimp. Back to my story, I guess my friend did not realize that and I had no intention to tell him either. I tried to ignore that bunch of shallow minded men because it was harmless for us at that time. (Although I wanted to yell at them, “you said that because you don’t understand English right? If you understand it, you would have known that we were talking about movies and books, you pervert!” )
That stereotype of “bule is sexually active, thus anyone who hang out with them also potentially has role as their sexual partner”, is so common until most Indonesian could easily judge them. I take it as weird and racist thing, because you don’t have to be bule to do premarital sex. I have Indonesian friends who have sex regularly with their girlfriend or boyfriend. Another weird thing is because actually, most Indonesian also has this admiration for bule, this some sort of tendency to see bule is much smarter, prettier, and even greater than Indonesian. I agree with my roommate that, “maybe it's because we were colonized by the Dutch for more than 350 years. Or maybe it's because we've seen too many Hollywood movies, bombarded by too many "western" media, and consumed too many of "western" culture.”
I mean, you can find ugly bule just like you can find ugly Indonesian. On the other hand, you can also find handsome Indonesian guy the same way you can easily find handsome bule.
 |
| That's Michael Fassbender. He's a handsome bule. And with those stubbles, maan, he's hot. *yea i have a thing for guy with stubble :p |
They are just people, flesh and blood, they eat, they poop, they fart, they laugh, do stupid things. In short, they are human, just like you and me. So chillax. Grab a glass of cold chocolate milk and go watch Big Bang Theory.
/2/
The question of how do animals poop while they hibernate.
Do they just stop poop-ing? Or they poop a lot before they fell asleep? I have found a link that explains about it but I still search for the right answer.
/3/
I don’t understand people that share (or tweet) their sexual life so often.
I really don’t. For me, you have to keep your sexual life private, because for Yorke’s sake, you do that with your private parts; therefore, you have to keep it private. Once or twice is okay, more than that, it makes me uncomfortable. I’m 27, I know what people do when they “get busy”. I don’t have the need to know what or whose “tool” that stick up on your ass, what is your favorite style on bed, or what songs that have been played during that section. You are not a porn star, don’t bother to share it with me, unless I ask. Please.
/4/
The question of why I don’t want to watch any Roman Polanski’s movie.
Especially after I answered, “He’s a rapist and pedophile.” Yet you still need better explanation than that? Oh, and that’s why I was disappointed to know that Johnny Depp defended Polanski for that matter. :|
/2/
The question of how do animals poop while they hibernate.
Do they just stop poop-ing? Or they poop a lot before they fell asleep? I have found a link that explains about it but I still search for the right answer.
/3/
I don’t understand people that share (or tweet) their sexual life so often.
I really don’t. For me, you have to keep your sexual life private, because for Yorke’s sake, you do that with your private parts; therefore, you have to keep it private. Once or twice is okay, more than that, it makes me uncomfortable. I’m 27, I know what people do when they “get busy”. I don’t have the need to know what or whose “tool” that stick up on your ass, what is your favorite style on bed, or what songs that have been played during that section. You are not a porn star, don’t bother to share it with me, unless I ask. Please.
/4/
The question of why I don’t want to watch any Roman Polanski’s movie.
Especially after I answered, “He’s a rapist and pedophile.” Yet you still need better explanation than that? Oh, and that’s why I was disappointed to know that Johnny Depp defended Polanski for that matter. :|
Page 151: This City
Last week, I heard the news about a taxi driver who died because a motorcycle driver beaten him up. What caused this was because the taxi accidentally grazed the motorcycle, but instead of arguing on the street like people whose emotions ignited on the road usually do, the motor driver chose to follow the taxi down to some place, made him to stop the car, asked him to get out, and the brutality began. The motor driver repeatedly struck the taxi driver with a wooden stick until he passed away and no longer breathe.
An issue that can be resolved without hurting anyone ended up with a blood bath. I couldn’t understand what made the motorcycle driver beat someone with that amount of rage. Was he literary crazy, or was the city that kept him out of his mind? Moreover, at that time, why was no one willing to break up the fight? (The police finally caught the defendant based on witness’ statement.) My friend said that the witness(es) seek their own safety. Somehow, it fits the mentality of Jakarta. It is sad, but true. This city, this super-duper-effin'-snob-bitch, has infected its citizens some kind of horrible individualism, little by little.
Not long after that, we discussed about Jakarta governor election. I declared aloud whom I would choose, since there was no reason to hide it anyway, because I think this candidate had great vision and mission to Jakarta. Candidates who would rather fix public transportation instead of build five layers highway. IMHO, fixing public transportation is much more realistic, important, and effective than the five layers highway. The streets in this city, like many things that make Jakarta an uncomfortable and arrogant place, is one of the examples of chaotic rules and did not focus on things that actually need to be handle promptly. This is the kind of disease that infecting people in Jakarta, the inability to see which ones need to be fixed first.
And before I went to bed that day, I couldn’t help myself but thinking, “What a fucked up city I live in.”
An issue that can be resolved without hurting anyone ended up with a blood bath. I couldn’t understand what made the motorcycle driver beat someone with that amount of rage. Was he literary crazy, or was the city that kept him out of his mind? Moreover, at that time, why was no one willing to break up the fight? (The police finally caught the defendant based on witness’ statement.) My friend said that the witness(es) seek their own safety. Somehow, it fits the mentality of Jakarta. It is sad, but true. This city, this super-duper-effin'-snob-bitch, has infected its citizens some kind of horrible individualism, little by little.
Not long after that, we discussed about Jakarta governor election. I declared aloud whom I would choose, since there was no reason to hide it anyway, because I think this candidate had great vision and mission to Jakarta. Candidates who would rather fix public transportation instead of build five layers highway. IMHO, fixing public transportation is much more realistic, important, and effective than the five layers highway. The streets in this city, like many things that make Jakarta an uncomfortable and arrogant place, is one of the examples of chaotic rules and did not focus on things that actually need to be handle promptly. This is the kind of disease that infecting people in Jakarta, the inability to see which ones need to be fixed first.
And before I went to bed that day, I couldn’t help myself but thinking, “What a fucked up city I live in.”
Page 128: drugs and nine lives
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Thursday, January 26, 2012 /
Posted in
bun,
death,
drugs,
jakarta,
reckless driver,
sticky,
tugu tani accident
Tugu Tani Accident was tragic and terrifying. Am shocked and grieved. Pray for all the victims and deep condolences to victims' families... That reckless driver is a murderer, hence she must be judged and punished accordingly.
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| image courtesy: here |
