Sharen, The XL girl: an epitome of beauty

For those who wanna join the pro-contra debate of this ad, you can enter these Kaskus threads:

http://www.kaskus.us/showthread.php?p=19921911

http://www.kaskus.us/showthread.php?t=636397&page=2

Meanwhile, I’d like to give my own opinion about this ad (or the girl, to be exact, hehe…)

I got the pic from those Kaskus threads above. This ad shows how XL, one of the biggest cellular service providers in Indonesia, promoting the cheapest local phonecall tariff for as low as Rp 1/second. That means 0.010753 US cents per second or a mere 0.6 US cents per minute!

So inexpensive, huh? Yeah, but I don’t give a damn abt the promotion.

Rather, I’m much more interested in the model of the ad itself… (^_^)

For us in major Indonesian cities, there is no way of escaping notice of this ad, as it has been appearing almost everywhere in the last two weeks in every Handphone stands in all Indonesian cities…

So far, the only info I could gather about her is that:

1. Her name is Sharen
2. She’s a model of an agency named “PROFILE Management”
3. She was invited as a guest in the talk show “Empat Mata” in the Indonesian channel Trans TV.
4. Unfortunately, she already has a boyfriend.
5. And alas, she’s planning to get married soon!

Dunno if the data I’ve gathered is reliable enough, but it is undisputable that she is, really, an epitome of beauty!!!

A lot of guys have an eye for her (me too, hehe) and it’s so damn unfortunate that she’s already got nuptial plan up and running, let alone having a boyfriend.

Huh… Laments of a desperate guy… Lols.

Speaking of the contra…

In the Kaskus threads, ppl are arguing whether this ads is actually degrading women as the “Rp 1/sec” is clearly showed up in front of …her bosom. For feminists and religious activists alike, it can be a very sensitive issue to debate upon, esp. in a country like Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world.

I’m not interested in joining the debate, as for me personally, the matter abt “writing in the bosom seems vulgar” shouldn’t be something that ppl argue in. It’s not like she’s a Playboy model, right?

This is the XL promotion that preceded the "Rp1/sec" ad... Seems that Sharen proved to be a bombshell, huh? The guy in the middle and the girl w/ that "Without Any Prerequirements" T-shirt didn't even appear in the new XL ad!

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Busway thru Pondok Indah: a long way to go

It was in the news around 3 weeks ago, how the denizens of Pondok Indah, one of the main upmarket communities in Jakarta where the celebrities, corrupt officials, and other rich bastards reside, decided that they are totally against the construction of the Transjakarta terminals in and around Pondok Indah.

The argument they brought is that, such a construction would need to sacrifice the trees in the lanes of Pondok Indah, and since there would be 4 lanes instead of two, the road would become smaller and traffic jams would surely entail.

As if they really care about trees, huh? Since when do they start taking notice of the upcoming Global Warming or even Al Gore’s movie??? I really question their nerve to bring up that argument, bcoz it’s filthy rich ppl like them who should take the most blame from the Climate change!

Seriously, there must be a handful of them who has a powerful position in the government yet has done nothing to stop the illegal logging in Kalimantan. And what about all the celebrities, who live a high-life in Starbucks or Embassy everyday? A cup of coffee in Starbucks is too expensive for most Jakartans! I myself have never bought anything from Starbucks (though it’s due to my allergy to coffee, apart from it being pricey).

So how can I, or we the communities living in Jakarta suburbs be perfectly sure abt their motive when we pose them the question: Do you seriously care abt saving the trees?

The truth is, yes, if we sacrifice the green in Pondok Indah, the name of “Pondok Indah” would have to be replaced with “Pondok Macet” or any other stupid appellations I could come up with.

Yet still, having a Transjakarta bus corridor passing thru Pondok Indah for the last stop in Lebak Bulus would be very much essential for us living in the suburbs or even outside of Jakarta, as the Lebak Bulus subdistrict is located merely 200 metres away from the Jakarta-Tangerang border. And when we think about it, having a bus stop in Lebak Bulus may even inspire having a busway corridor outside of Jakarta into Ciputat, Bintaro, BSD, Pamulang, or even Tangerang city one day!!

I have lived in Singapore long enough to understand that a much more comfortable transportation is defined as not having to change transportations so often to commute from one end of Singapore in Changi, to the other end in Jurong East. In Japan, they have a perfect metro system that allows the Japanese to commute from one end of Japan in Hokkaido to the other end in in Kyushu without having ever to board a ferry even once!

I know it would be a long way to go for Indonesians due to our lag in technological advances in comparison to Singapore and Japan. But if we don’t start improving our transport system now, when are we gonna start, then?

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Internet Marketing Seminar

I went to the Asia Internet Academy in Aryaduta Hotel this afternoon where an internet businessman named Fabian Lim hosted a free seminar abt internet marketing.

I firstly guessed by his name that this Fabian Lim guy was a typical Chinese Indonesian who started his business from the bottom where he scraped money for a living in a Warnet (net café), but it turned out that my guess was utterly wrong… He’s a true-blue Singaporean!

Even from the time he spoke any word of Singlish, I already knew that he’s either a Singaporean or a Malaysian: he’s a Chinese in his 30s with a darkened complexion.

From my experience of living in Singapore for 2 years and meeting Chinese who hail from different countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Taiwan, and even PRC, I know very well that it is rare to find a Chinese ethnic with a darkened complexion who was raised outside Singapore and Malaysia.

It’s as if the characteristic of being a “Chinese with darkened complexion” is indigenous to both Singapore and Malaysia.

By the time he spoke, I knew that he’s a Singaporean and not a Malaysian. Singlish and Manglish (Malaysian English) are very similar in their deteriorated grammar aspects, yet I always know how to differentiate both of them. Their difference is very subtle, soooo subtle that even I myself am unable to explain in words what it is.

Fabian Lim’s accent was also the first Singlish accent I’ve ever heard in the last 10 months… Well, I had watched the Singaporean movie “I Not Stupid Too” on TV, but still, hearing Singlish accent directly always bring me back fond memories abt my ACS(I)…

It was as if I was back listening to Joseph Wong’s Social Studies class… or Chem lecures by Lydia Ho (before I eventually dropped it, hehe…). How nice reminiscing my good old schooldays in Singapore, huh…

Anyway, back to the topic.

The seminar was supposed to take 1.5 hour only, yet it took nearly 3 hours to finish…

Why?

They used a translator’s service, for goodness sake!!

Lols… That translator was an Indonesian some more, whom I’m sure, had never spent more than a year of his life in Singapore grappling w/ Singlish like the way I had. Fortunately for the translator, Mr Lim tried his best not to speak any term of Singlish… Had he spoken any Singlish slang the translator unable to translate, I could’ve volunteered myself up front to replace him, hehehe…

About the Internet Marketing lesson thingy, I learned some useful bits abt how to start an online biz… I kept some scribbling w/ me.

Alas, he focussed on giving us the basic lesson only on the 1^st half of the seminar, w/ the 2^nd half he focussed on promoting to us to join the Rp 6.5 million rupiah internet bootcamp he’s gonna conduct in late October next month..

If only I could join, yet Rp 6.5 million is very pricey! The basic prerequisite is to bring our own (or borrowed) laptop some more, which made me quite turned off for the rest of the free seminar.

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“When one person is cursed, two graves are dug…..”

Lately I’ve been following the anime series of Jigoku Shōjo routinely on Animax channel. In Jigoku Shōjo, each episode has separate unrelated stories that follow the same pattern: they describe the suffering of a different individual caused by one or more antagonists. A website known as Jigoku Tsūshin (Hell Correspondence) may only be accessed at midnight by one who harbours a desire for revenge against their tormentor. Should someone submit the name of one they hate, the Jigoku Shōjo (Hell Girl) will offer them a black straw doll with a red string wound encircled on its neck. If the string is pulled, she will ferry the recipient of the revenge with the help of her three assistants straightaway to Hell

Seems like a generous offer from Hell, huh? Not really.

The Hell Girl will only deliver the vengeance under the condition that those who request her intervention fall into Hell as well at the end of their natural lives.

Now that is a bad deal!

Even the Hell Girl herself always warn her client-to-be about the consequence of having their vengeance delivered. By going to hell for eternity, they would never know what paradise is like. Furthermore, their soul would be tormented for the rest of their lives on earth everytime they remind themselves that they will surely go to hell after they die.

Sometimes I couldn’t help but sympathise for the Hell Girl’s clients as they were forced into pulling the red string when they were stuck. In most cases, such help from the Hell Girl could’ve simply been prevented by putting behind what the tormentor had done to him/her and “Forgive and Forget”…

Let’s take one case.

In an episode, a schoolgirl is stalked by a police officer. It firstly seemed innocuous enough, as the girl’s parents simply gave the girl more protection in order to prevent bad things happen to her.

However, things turned for the worse when the stalker police murdered the girl’s father and tried to rape and murder as the girl was then unguarded. Being stuck without any help, she then pull the string that she obtained from the Hell Girl earlier...

Now if I were that girl, I would’ve defended myself against that stalker. Even if in the end I got raped and killed, at least I would die peacefully knowing that I could go straightly to Heaven, you know, being young and had done no grave sins before..

But if the luck was on my side, then the stalker could die in vain and I’d report his death to the authorities as a result of my self-defence…

That’s a much more logical thinking.

At least the possibility of me going to hell wouldn't be 100%, then.

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Indonesian bloggers who use English in their blog comprise only 0.01% of the Indonesian population

Statistically, there are 100,000 bloggers who currently reside in Indonesia, citizens and non-citizens alike.

In comparison to the total population of around 245,000,000 in Indonesia, that means that the blogger population is a mere 0.0408% of the entire nation!

For truncation’s sake, let’s just round it down to 0.04%.

Being one among that 0.04% inside this 4^th most populous country in the world somehow makes me feel highly privileged. I emphasise the word “privileged” here, not “conceited”, hehe… Of course, the “privileged status” can’t apply to South Korean or American or Briton bloggers, where the internet penetration is a hell lot higher and thus resulting in the higher ratio of the Blogger/Total Population. But in the case of Indonesia, being a part of that community which is less than 0.1% of the population yet having their say resound to the whole world is a privilege indeed.

Of that 0.04%, I would guess that at most, there are only 25% of them who uses totally native-like proficiency of English inside their blog. I know this is actually a large marginal erroneous estimate, as I know the actual statistics should be much less than 25%.

Thus, the bloggers can be divided as such (assuming that anyone in the world has access to the internet):

0.01% whose blogs are understood by anybody (6.5 billion ppl)

0.03% whose blogs can only be understood by the Indonesian speaking and Malay-speaking ppl in Indonesia, Malaysia, Suriname, and Netherlands (270 million ppl, consisting 245 million Indonesian-speakers + 25 million Malay Speakers)

Of course, those who mix Indonesian and English in their blog don’t really deserve to be called English-speaking bloggers, esp. if their English are very much incongruent. I’ve seen numerous Indonesians who attempt their mediocre English in their blog which, I must say, is a poor effort (sorry if this offends anyone). Their slangs are copied from Hollywood movies, and their English language has a strong Indonesian taste in it!

Really, if they can’t be fluent in English, seharusnya memakai bahasa Indonesia sesuai dengan EYD saja. Ato pake bahasa gaulnya Indo aja knapa… Kayak bahasa sms gw ini loh… Gak perlu gaya-gayaan pake bahasa Inggris di blog kalo emang nggak bisa bedain antara “is” dan “was”, ato “has been” dan “have been”. Sebagai warga Indonesia, kalian seharusnya bangga dengan Bahasa Indonesia yang sudah dicanangkan oleh para pencetus Sumpah Pemuda sebagai bahasa pemersatu Indonesia!!!

Not that I’m contradicting my own italicised comments above, but as aforementioned, the reasons that I use English as the sole tongue in my blog are:

1. I’m not of pure Indonesian ancestry
2. I wasn’t born in Indonesia
3. I know very well that I speak good (if not native-like) English
4. I know I’m not gonna reside in Indonesia for very long
5. I want my blog to be understood by anyone, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe… Virtually everyone in the world (w/ exception to the tribal groups in Africa and other remote forests) understand some sort of Basic English.

There are only 0.01% of Indonesians whose blogs are in English, and I’m glad to be included in that small percentage.

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A Short Analysis of Japan’s PMs: Now and Then

Just watched in the BBC two days ago that Yasuo Fukuda, a 71 year old geezer, was elected as the new president of LDP and thus being successor of Shinzo Abe’s seat.

What should I say of this? Hmm… A salaryman-looking chap going to reside in Kantei (the Japanese version of the Britons’ Downing Street)?

I think a lot of Japanese PMs have many aspects on them that makes them always seem incompetent to the Japanese public. Shinzo Abe is too young, Koizumi visited Yasukuni, Kiichi Miyazawa puked on George Bush Sr., and several other PMs before them were either prisoners, became a prisoner, or tainted with corruption scandals. That’s why the PM changes so often, as there were 7 Japanese PMs during the Clinton administration alone!

There is even the news in Mainichi Waiwai that Shinzo Abe’s election nightmare was largely due to the fact that he cares more for his dachshund pooch than the nation! I’m not sure if that’s some kind of joke, but still, for a nation that advanced to be highly disappointed in him, there must’ve been something in him that made ppl dislike his aura.

For me personally, it’s the lost of a charismatic PM.

How could the Diet replace Junichiro Koizumi, who looks like Richard Gere, with Shinzo Abe who looks like Nicolas Cage?

Nicolas Cage-ish PM now replaced by a salaryman-ish PM Yasuo Fukuda? I had actually expected to have Taro Aso to take the job instead.

Can’t wait for a new scandal from the newest Japan PM…. ^^

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My Blog Rank

If I’m not wrong, my blog rank in Technorati was around 2 million sumthing when I registered in that directory.

As for today, my blog rank is 1,803,855. And that is an increase of more than 200,000 in just two weeks, yeah!!

Another rank system I’ve registered for my blog is in Blog-Indonesia. By today, my blog ranks 2127 out of 4341 Indonesian blogs… That means I’m around the median figure, hehe…

Some ppl may think how narcissistic I am in getting so concerned about my blog rank despite having no Google AdSense in my site… Furthermore, I’m no member of any NGOs that promote cancer awareness, AIDS, or other human rights stuff in my blog. So why am I so interested in my blog rank, then? My blog is totally personal, so it shouldn’t matter very much, right?

Wrong.

I’m actually very much interested to make money by blogging. True stories have been told in the Singapore newspaper Strait Times abt ppl mining their dollar from simply writing rubbish in their blog. And I really wanna follow such exemplars.

Why haven’t I registered for AdSense, then?

I can’t. I mean, I couldn’t………yet.

Do you know the basic requirement to register in AdSense is that they have to be 18 yrs old or older? And for goodness sake, right now I am 17.85 years old which rounds up to 18 years old if I count mathematically!

I can make a thesis out of that, you know… I could title it:

“The Flaw of Age-Counting”

The thesis would consist of one page only, with one case study: ME. Then I’m gonna brag about how flawed the age counting system is, as even if it is just ONE day short of my 18^th birthday, I would still be considered as a 17-year-old, and not rounding it up to 18. Ain’t that stupid? Yeah, it is.

The tradition of “A person suddenly becomes a year older after the midnight of his birthday” has probably come from a bakery that promoted birthday cakes to come along w/ such a custom…

Haha… I’m pretty much straying off topic now. Let’s get back to the discussion.

Yeah, as soon as I turn 18, I’ll register for AdSense straightaway. Right now I’m doing all I can to register on the top blog directories, promote my own blog to friends and Kaskus forum, all is done so that my blog can be more widely known.

But as the saying goes, nobody will read your writings if you’re not serious in writing yourself.

Well, I’m trying my best to go by that saying, then.

Let me see… I’m an Indonesian blogger who lives in Indonesia and blogs in an almost-flawless English.

In comparison, the common profile for an Indonesian who blogs in English must fall in either one of these categories:

1. The blogger has limited English as it is obvious in his/her blog that he/she thinks in Indonesian before typing in English
2. The blogger is a Caucasian or some other expat who resides in Indonesian…
3. The blogger is an Indonesian who speaks flawless English as is obvious in his/her blog, yet he/she does NOT reside in Indonesian
4. The blogger is a filthy-rich Indonesian who has gone to an international school in Indonesia

Well…? I think it’s pretty obvious that I can’t fall under any of the above listings, can I? I almost fall into category no.4, but still, I’ve never been to an international school before! (The school I went to in Singapore was a private school!)

One common flaw I have in this blog is probably that I often stray off topic at times (I realise this occurs in this posting too), and I know I need to practise more in order to brush that up. Now that I think of it, pictures are essential to a blog, right?

I’ll try to make more ameliorations to my blog from now on.

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Meet The Fockers

I just watched the movie “Meet The Fockers” on HBO last nite and… haha, it was quite a laugh I had. The movie was funnier than the prequel, and Robert De Niro’s playing as the CIA agent spying on his own son-in-law-to-be… The two parts that I found the most amusing were:

1. the one in the opening scene when the Latvian father whom Greg had helped in the birth process asked that the baby should be named after the nurse (meaning: Greg himself), and when he checked Greg’s nametag and found out that his name was Gaylord Focker…. I wonder if that Latvian father would keep his word for his tradition sake… Lols
2. The scene when Greg accidentally uttered the word “asshole” in front of his infant niece, resulting in him repeating that word in front of the whole family… Now THAT was a major laugh! The toddler’s first word was “Asshole!” and not “Mama” like other babies do or even scientific terms like his grandfather Jack had expected… Lols

Too bad the movie ends on that sequel. Good ending though (as expected in almost ALL American movies.. ^^).

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Kamichu! finished, Jigoku Shoujo commences

The printer just arrived two days ago and I’ve realised how a pain in the neck it was during the days before it came. Gone are the days when I have to spend hours in front of my computer reading e-books and stuff to study, as now I can easily print all the study materials: free Word of The Day, free Esperanto lessons, free Wikipedia articles, free Hiragana Times Easy articles, and thousands of other freebie readings… HOHOHOO!!!

Now that the Kamichu! series has finished on TV, I regret not watching it since the early episodes… It’s just so lovely you know, with all the relaxing and leisurely pace the series goes, such a life I’ve been dreaming for… And it’s targetted for Seinen some more (male young adults), which is why I don’t regard watching this series as being sissy.

Despite the storyline pace that sometimes go too slow that the audience may feel that it goes w/o heading any clear direction, I still like Kamichu! for its very easy-listening and relaxing soundtrack and its unlaxing animation. It is by far, one of my most fave anime in terms of the animation, how the computer graphics comfort the eyes… And no wonder it has got that anime award in Japan for having achieved the best graphic of the year!

It’s just like watching animes such as Pokemon or Shaman King or Midori no Hibi that makes me love animes even more. My most fave is still the comedic ones of course, like School Rumble and Full Metal Panic Fumoffu!... But comedic animes are rare to be found, and even if I do find such an anime, they usually span over short season. Too bad, huh…

Anyway, I’m following a new Anime now, Jigoku Shoujo. It’s abt some hell ppl who deliver vengeance to those bullied or constantly haunted by malicious ppl on earth so that they can get rid of the bad guy.

It’s kinda like the exact opposite of the story Kamichu! huh? Yeah, it really is! One is about a Shinto God who helps those in need, whilst the other is abt Hell ppl who helps those in distress.

Lolz. Not really the kind of anime I like, but it’s not too bad for a substitute anyway.

The anime Colourcloud Palace that has been advertised on Animax for more than a month has not been aired yet, and even now I’ve already memorised the details of the anime w/o ever watching it, dammit! What took them so long to air it??!!! The premiere of the anime is on 26 September and yet they’ve advertised it since 26 August w/ the “Coming up in September…” thingy!

Just so happy that now 26 August is nearing, I’ve made sure I book the programme when the time comes!

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Uncyclopedia: a Wikipedia supplement

A supplement? Not really, actually.

Soon after getting active in Wikipedia since last week, I indulge myself more in editing (read: vandalising) Uncyclopedia articles w/ all the hogwashes… Lols.

It’s not that I like to write codswallops better, it’s just that it’s 100X easier to find an incomplete article in Uncyclopedia than Wikipedia and edit them.

Even easier is the Indonesian Wikipedia parody, Tolololpedia, which currently has only around 70 articles and the site’s been dormant for weeks, it seems. There are only two or three members who visit the site once a week (as seen in the Recent Changes monitoring). Thus, I’m doing my best now to put the best jokes I can w/ these new articles I ever started in a Wikia site (in chronological order):

Indonesian Domestic Worker

Transportation in Indonesia

Malaysia

Japan

Those are the only ones I’ve contributed for now, and ppl can expect me to make some more in the couple of months to come, as long as I have time to burn (before I get into college, hehe…). For now I’m polishing my Wiki template-editing skills to be a better Wiki sites editor…

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Neo-Nazism in Israel exists

Never before have I ever encountered news this strange. No, I am not kidding. Just click on the hyperlink I’ve given to see it yourself…

Now if you don’t gasp when you read that title above, you must have fallen under at least one of these categories:

1. You have read/watched this same news a few days ago elsewhere on TV/magazine/radio/newspaper/etc..
2. You don’t know what Nazi is (“is it the same as Nazi Goreng?”) as you always skipped your history lessons at school.
3. You’ve heard abt Nazi but the entire thing you know abt it is its funnily-plump leader with the oddly-trimmed moustache (read: Hitler).
4. You know very well abt Nazism and how shocking the news really is but you don’t give a damn abt whatsoever such news may entail
5. You don’t understand English (then how could you read these statements and get amused by it now???)

Seeing this news is as if reading headlines like

“The Saudi Arabian government plans to allow Catholic Cathedrals and Hindu Temples to be built in the country by year 4542”

or maybe a more spectacular one like:

“Indonesia grabbed the FIFA World Cup 3400 Winner title!!! VIVA INDONESIA!!!”

As you see, the two titles above (which, if you’re too retarded to notice, are headlines I imagined myself) are bloody impossible. But the existence of Neo-Nazism in Israel really is true.

What’s more shocking is the fact that those seemingly Neo-Nazis are actually Jewish descendants themselves, not an anti-Jew coming into Israel as ppl might otherwise think.

I can’t imagine how proud Führer Hitler would be in Hell there seeing how today’s Jewish generation turns up to be following his steps (though only a few brats shown on the news). It’s like Michael Jackson you know, being racist towards his own race… Starking stupid.

Really. Lolz. In their childhood they must’ve gone to the synagogue w/ their parents, only to find themselves adoring the supposedly No.1 anti-hero of their country in their adulthood.

Now that my imagination is running wild, I am imagining how things would turn up if today’s existing Neo-Nazis in Germany were to win the national elections with some major voting:

1. They would put a Neo-Nazi Chancellor and change the Black-Red-Yellow stripes flag into slightly-slanted Swastika flag.
2. Surprisingly enough, both Germany and Israel decided to keep their diplomatic relations as there is now a big deal of trade going on between those two and any diplomatic straining would hurt both countries’ economy severely.
3. The only precaution taken is that no more German flights could ever go to an Israeli city and vice versa for safety measures.
4. With a wiser Neo-Nazi Chancellor today, the entire Jewish communities in Germany would not be allocated to concentration camps like they did in WW2, but simply expelled out of the country and had their German citizenship revoked.
5. Hitlerism Church would turn into the state religion and any other religions would be banned.
6. School history books had to be altered with any mentions of “how Führer Hitler had died” would be turned into “how Hitler had faked his own death” and how Hitler could transfigure himself into numerous former German leaders such as Angela Merkel in order to retain his power yet concealing it at the same time.
7. Good relations between Germany and USA and other European countries had to be maintained in order to avoid a similar World War resulting in a so-called “defeat” and a so-called “Führer’s death”

The “best” thing would be what’s going on inside the Israeli Embassy in Berlin then:

1. The Israeli ambassador had to be a non-Jewish Israeli (such as, a Chinese ethnic who was born in a Chinatown in Tel Aviv) in order to ensure that neutrality was maintained in both countries’ diplomatic policies.
2. As there was the rule of not allowing any flights from Israel to Germany and vice versa, the Israeli ambassador and embassy staffs had to transit for at least 10 (ten) times thru numerous countries in Asia, Africa, and Southern America in order to get to Berlin.
3. No German would ever be allowed to enter the Israeli embassy and vice versa (those who were unfortunate to work inside have to spend the rest of their lives there and food supplies are dropped by a helicopter on monthly basis).
4. Hundreds of German top snipers would be positioned right in front of the embassy to ensure that no Israeli broke rule No.3, no matter how urgent the matter was. Whilst should any German break the rule No.3, he/she would be given a mere fine of 1 Euro, no matter how many times he/she had broken it before. So practically, the embassy would be a hell lot worse than a concentration camp.
5. While the new German Swastika flag always got hung up high on the pole, the Israeli flag would have to be burned everyday ceremoniously, resulting in orders of 365 Israeli flags from Tel Aviv anually.
6. The Israeli would become a major tourist attraction in the city. How? Despite the restriction of not allowing any German enterring the Israeli embassy, all Germans and foreign tourists visiting Berlin would be allowed to throw stones, eggs, and other potentially-harmful items such as torch and spears into the embassy. To ensure that every single item thrown could enter the embassy, the fence should be built as low as possible.
7. Any deaths occuring from rule No.3 and rule No.6 would not be of Germany’s responsibility. Should the embassy had all of the Israelis inside accidentally killed and the Israeli government refuses to send new ambassadors and staff workers, then the Neo-Nazi government would fill in the embassy with homosexuals, Catholic priests, Muslims, and other humans whom they think were lower than the Arya race.

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My blog was visited by a Californian corpse… Creepy!

In case nobody’s aware that I’m keeping track of who visits my blog every single day, I’m letting u ppl know that I’ve been doing that for quite a while now.

There is the Globetrackr I set up in my blog that can clearly show who has visited my blog in the last 10 visits, and it even provides Google Earth application to show to the most exact detail abt whereabouts of each visitor’s location..

My blog’s most faithful visitor is of course that Jakartan visitor (read: ME), and there are ppl visiting frm other countries too like Singapore, Pakistan, Surabaya, and even Nishinomiya!!

Most of the time, I know the visitors’ identity simply by looking at the location..

But in the case of a visitor from Los Angeles, I’m simply left puzzled and a bit scared.

U know, the Google Earth works well for zooming to the most elaborate detail only for countries like USA, UK, Japan, Singapore… While for pitiful countries like Indonesia or Philippines it probably will need a several decades to fill in the street names and obtain a better satelite picture.

Here’s the case. Out of curiosity, I zoomed in my Los Angeles visitor’s location.

Startlingly, it was right in the middle of a cemetery that seemed to be one-tenth of Central Park. Creepy? That’s what I felt.

Firstly I thought that there may be a logical explanation for that.

First, the internet server may be located in the middle of the cemetery. I immediately dismissed the thought as it is clearly illogical: why would a rich city like Los Angeles locate their server in amidst tombstones???

Second, there might be a wireless connection inside or around that cemetery. I dismissed this explanation too as it was clearly dumber than the first. If Mr X (whoever that is) wants to open a wireless connection as to give me the honour by visiting my blog (yes, pls do vomit), he/she must have gone out of the cemetery to do that, rite?

The only explanation left is simply one of these two:

Either the Google Earth was inaccurate that it showed an inexact location like that graveyard or, my blog was really visited by a corpse….

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English Wikipedia has reached 2 million+ articles

A great site, Wikipedia is. I personally believe that it can get bigger than any other websites one day (except Google of course). I just hope that Google will never acquire Wikicity, as we all know how Google’s websites work: they lure their own members (such as Gmail, Blogger) to contaminate their own accounts with advertisements...

Wikipedia is simply too sanctimonious to be filled w/ ads. The current Wikipedia is good enough, no further change is necessary at least for the next 84 years..

No offence for Google here, I’m just being totally honest. Hehe… So I dun wanna find u guys deleting my accounts in Gmail or even this Blogger, OK? Rather than scowling me, I think the above suggestions should firstly be attended to.

Back to the topic…

Seeing Wikipedia w/ more than 2 million articles now, I somehow got the “libido” to become someone significant in Wikipedia one day. Then I opened my account at 48^th Ronin only to find out that I only registered it once and abandoned it for good.

I then decided to revive my account and repair my page to its current state now. As I had little knowledge of how-to-edit-Wikipedia-templates, I simply visited some of the good user pages and copy-paste their templates (of course not word-by-word, as I modified them to my own preferences)

I wanted to contribute significant edit/article writing, so I asked Merbabu, an experienced Indonesian Wikipedian user, for suggestion…

Hope I can become an Wikipedia admin one day ^^

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Japanese PM and Russian PM resign on the same day?!!

Earthquake in Sumatra???

Are u ppl sure there’s an earthquake last nite? I live in Pamulang which is 3 km southwest of Jakarta, yet my neighbours and my whole family have felt nothing since last nite. The news mentioned that “ppl were panicking out of the buildings in Jakarta” and “the tremors are even felt as far away as Bangkok and Singapore….”

All these reports make me wonder: “Is it true that u guys in Singapore felt any seisms going on?”

Anyway, a better news report caught my eye last nite: Japanese PM and Russian PM resign on the same day.

Wow. That’s a very rare coincidence! A stepping down of a country’s leader must have sth very scandalous going on for it to happen and two neighbouring countries with two scandalous prime ministers on the same day? It’s simply a wow.

Despite my dislike towards (former-PM-to-be) Shinzo Abe, I kinda pity that guy when I heard on the news that he got hospitalised this morning… Poor chap. He must have got sumkind of the “nervous breakdown” that Bree van de Kamp (now Bree Orson) had had during the most turbulent time in her family, huh…

Hope Mr Abe won’t do anything stupid related to Bushido ethic whatsoever (meaning: suicide)!! It would send the country down with its reputation, I can’t imagine how could Japan cope w/ such an incident should it happen. The corrupt minister who commited suicide a couple of mths back was appalling enough for the Japanese Politics to stand with.

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PM Shinzo Abe Resigns!!!! BANZAI!!! BANZAI!!!

It’s 12 September 2007 13.30 Jakarta Time when I watched on BBC the news of PM Abe resigning.

Finally!!! Thank God!!

Ever since the early months of his taking the power, Abe is a guy whom Japanese and non-Japanese alike can hardly dislike more: with that plaintive Nicolas Cage-ish expression perpetually shown in his face and a couple of corrupt ministers, he has been sending Japan to her lowest political pit since WW2.

I’m starting to miss Mr Koizumi, that very liberal man who deserves much applaud for LDP’s reputation… ! Hope Mr Koizumi can take the job again, but he’s simply too old now, eh?

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In Memoriam of 9-11-2001

Hey, there is Japanese from Nishinomiya visiting my Blog? What an honour! A pity he didn’t leave a comment… He/she probably doesn’t understand English, huh… Anyway, I’ve promised myself that English will forever be the sole language used in my Blog, regardless of how high my proficiency in Japanese, French, or other languages are in years to come, unless there is no other choice such as when writing a Haiku in Japanese or writing a Sajak in Indonesian… My primary reason is that I want my blog to be a Global Blog: being understood by as wide range of people and nations as possible.

Now let’s get to the main topic.

Today is the day we remember those dead in the four airplane crashes in three cities in America… Nope, I ain’t kidding here! I really am going to make a personal commemoration today, around 7.46 PM (Jakarta Time)

I still remember in detail how I found out abt the shocking news.

Precisely 6 yrs ago I still lived w/ my uncle’s family in Ciputat while my parents and my sis Mary lived in Surabaya. Around 8 PM that day, I turned the channel to MetroTV (an Indonesian news-oriented channel) to watch my fave show: “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction”

Instead of watching the show on TV, there is this news, seemingly a “Breaking News”, with the announcer babbling endlessly. I lowered the TV volume. No pic was being shown, so I almost shouted out in pain, “WTF?!!! I’ve waited this show for a week and now they’re changing it for some irrelevant tripe!!!”

I almost flicked the channel in distress when was shown the record of how the first plane struck the north tower.

“Hmm… where have I seen that building before?”, I asked myself.

Then the TV announcer mentioned WTC.

I loudened the TV volume.

“What the… I’ve been there! But it can’t be…”

Then I laughed. I really laughed mirthfully. What a joke!

The next second, I realised at once: that day was not April Fools’.

Oops.

It probably wasn’t a joke at all. I felt guilty having laughed at it.

Then images flashed my mind of how I remember WTC back in 1996, when I was a 6-year-old boy:

Mom and Dad entered that building; taller than even the Monas in Jakarta. I was told to stay in the car – a rented one – parked right across the street from the twin buildings.

I looked in amazement to the building, how I’d like to enter it one day. When Mom and Dad came back, I asked them what they were doing there.

Just finishing up some business, they said. I didn’t ask them to bring me inside the building that time, but I promised myself that I’d go visit it myself when I were older.

And that’s the first time and the last time I’d ever had a direct glimpse of the WTC.

That childhood promise would never be fulfilled then.

Over the next few days I noticed how it made the world headlines; even the
usually-sex-crime-crap-filled Pos Kota newspaper put the WTC news on the front page. Usually Indonesian ppl only buy sports tabloids (for men) and fashion magazines (for women). But for around a week that time, everybody, everywhere in unison suddenly read newspaper intensely: an occurrence rarely sighted in Indonesia.

On Friday that week, I realised how I had forgotten completely that my former classmate in SD Don Bosco Pondok Indah, Samuel, was residing in New York. I then e-mailed him, asking how things are.

Good news.

He and his family are OK.

How fortunate things turned out for him, eh.. ^^

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Avril Lavigne a multilingual?

I just downloaded various language versions (apart from English) of song “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne only to find out how disappointing they are. I actually expected the multilingual versions to be total translation in the lyrics. However, the so-called difference is limited to the Reff part. Quite far-fetched, eh?

There are complete versions on that website (I ain’t telling the site here to respect copyright matters. However, the site is included on my “Fave Links” list. Just find it out by yourself).

I only downloaded four: French, Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin. The French version is so-so, not very bad. Still, considering her being of a French Canadian ancestry, her French is…. not up to expectations.

The Japanese one is much better. Good grasp of the pronunciation.

The Spanish version is the best I found so far. Her grasp of the prounciation there isn’t so bad…

What abt the Mandarin?

Hmm… Now pls don’t rebuke me for being totally frank here. Though I have a very low command of the language, I am very much used to hear hundreds, or even thousands of Chinese ppl from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and even the mainland PRC. Having exposed to multiple variations of Mandarin (where it us called “Huayu” in Singapore but called “Zhongwen” elsewhere), I know how a good Mandarin sounds like.

And Avril’s Mandarin doesn’t even deserve to be called a decent one.

Honestly, it…. Is…. HORRIBLE!!!

Really, I tell you, every Chinese in the world would agree w/ me at once.

Now it doesn’t mean that I get to dislike her bcoz of that though, of course I still like her. Too bad she’s married now, eh? I’d love the prospect of dating her if she weren’t…

Lolz

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Pamulang: A suburban Jakarta experience

Today I’m gonna talk abt Pamulang, the new place I’m residing in now.

With the title above notwithstanding, any Jakartan should be able to tell you that Pamulang is a part of Tangerang, not Jakarta. Pamulang is on the southwestern part of Ciputat, a district that borders the southernmost part of Jakarta. That’s why the air is 100 times fresher here…

For you outsiders, let me give an intro here. Pamulang is a district located in the northwestern part of the Tangerang regency of the Banten province. In case anyone’s not paying attention to the provincial divisions in the last 5 yrs, just remember: West Java was divided into two some time ago (I dunno the exact year) into two separate provinces: Banten on the east (with the inclusion of Merak, Anyer, and friends) and West Java on the west (where Bandung, Cirebon, and my Mom’s hometown Tasikmalaya is).

With a climate this fresh and within out-of-reach of that Betawi community that was dominant when I still lived in Tanah Kusir (Sorry for being a bit racist here), there’s no need to question how instantly I liked this place…

Gone are all those bajaj and other numerous public vehicles that I used to encounter while cycling around the neighbourhood, eh… Lolz.. In the last three days I’ve kept to the promise aforementioned yesterday; to walk my dog as far as I could and enjoying it as I dun have to suffer from any pollution..

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Walking my dog

Hey, my Blog’s web counter has passed the 1000 mark! New record, new record, new record!! Yay!!!

In comparison to the famous bloggers, such as Xiaxue’s blog I visited just now, and saw that her Blog’s web counter is reset on a daily basis, and yet it has passed the 7600 mark by the time I visited it!

God, I do wish my blog can be that popular one day, eh…

Four days ago, I’ve resolved myself to start picking up a new routine: to walk Wolfie (my dog) for at least 90 minutes everyday. No, of course there isn’t plenty of pavements here. In Indonesia, proper pavements are confined merely to the elite districts such as on the sides of the Balinese streets where rich Westerners often stroll or Permata Hijau in South Jakarta where rich celebs often hang out...

The good thing about walking my female Alaskan Malamute here is that I can enjoy nature too while walking her. And yes, she was named Wolfie due to her rather wolfish appearance (if you’ve followed the hyperlink, you’d understand what I meant).

Gone are all the strains of agonies I had to endure while walking my dog in Tanah Kusir…

There are several reasons I choose to describe that walking my dog in Tanah Kusir as an agonising experience.

First, we all know that FPI’s leadership is mostly held by the Betawi ppl. And there are a lot of Betawi ppl in Tanah Kusir, just like there are a lot of Filipino maids in Lucky Plaza (Singapore) or Hispanic Cubans in Little Havana (Miami, USA). Thus, I learned not to fret when those Betawis threw unfriendly stares at me while walking my dog; it is the dog that they hate, not me.

Second, whenever Wolfie’s defecating (or shitting) on the street was unfortunately spotted by one of my Betawi neighbours, he/she would report to whomever nearby that “a filthy dog just dropped its bomb”, and in unison they would bellow at me to clean it as soon as possible. I really found that as some kind of an attempt to lower of my dignity, as if I was treated as their inferior by taking their orders like that.

But hey, they’re the majority there.

I’m well aware that Muslims regard dogs as being unclean animals, but it’s the saliva that’s filthy, not the body. Thus I’m always bewildered whenever I see anyone say they’re afraid of touching a dog (even if it’s not Wolfie): it’s not like the dog will always LICK anyone they see, right???

Thank God it’s no longer the case here in Pamulang.

The majority of ppl here in Pamulang are always amazed to see Wolfie and they usually give comments like,

“Hey, is that a wolf you’re holding?”

OR

“What a beautiful dog you have!”

OR

“How much did you buy it for?”

Usually I threw them a smile or gave answers like, “It’s a polar dog” as the locals always have a hard time hearing my pronunciation of the breed “Alaskan Malamute”, but sometimes I also get kinda tired of being the centre of attention that I just walked Wolfie faster and pretend not to hear their questions.

When I walk Wolfie, it’s usually around 7-9 AM in the morning or 4-6 PM in the evening, when the weather’s sunny but not when the sunlight is directly overhead.

As for today, I was unable to do so bcoz I woke up late in the morning. And when I decided to walk Wolfie in the evening, it rained. Dammit…

Let me talk a bit abt how walking Wolfie in Pamulang usually goes. It’s a 15 minutes walk from my home to the greeneries. For further 10 mins, I’d be able to reach the front entrance of Vila Pamulang. But there’s not much to see around that main entrance, so I simply contented myself with the greeneries.

There, I can see the primary-school-age kids who either are playing soccer or rubber rope-jumping (loncat karet) stop their activities at once and come approach Wolfie. Most were afraid seeing her at first, but eventually all of them came to know how friendly Wolfie is toward humans.

Those who were afraid of Wolfie are usually adults, but seeing their own children bringing Wolfie’s leash (yes, I gave them), they were able to summon up their courage to touch her.

When almost nobody is frightened of Wolfie anymore, walking the dog somehow becomes a very pleasant experience for me. Ppl greet me warmly and they’re all nice to me w/ unfeigned smiles unlike those I found in Tanah Kusir….

Hopefully in a month doing these 90 mins walks everyday, I can see my Wolfie in a slimmer posture from today (now it’s still around 25 kg, you know!)

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