#813 - Eight Random Stuffs

ENGLISH

1. I think I am enjoying this new category in my blog: Random List. I can write anything in such wide array of topics under this category, without worrying to be off topic, which I usually did anyway (being off topic :D).


2. Anyway, last week I hanged out with my college friends, finally, after several months. It was kinda hard to set a date, even though we are all still in Bandung and I was the only one who had graduated. I can't imagine how harder it will be after we all have our own lives several years ahead. Okay, that was such a standard opinion. Coming to a second thought, it might turn out to be exciting though. Because we will all live in different places, a reunion can be held anywhere. By "anywhere", I mean it's likely to be a short-vacation together, and I like vacation. Having a vacation together is such a pleasant experience!


3. See? I was being off-topic. I wanted to write about what we did last week but instead I wrote randomly about what might happen in the future and how exciting it is, LOL. Anyway,


4. last week we watched a movie. Well, it was my second movie I watched in a cinema this year. We watched Clash of the Titans (CotT). Okay, now I am deliberately being off-topic. I think these past few months have been a season of "Greek-mythology-based" film, haven't it? About two months ago I watched Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, a film based on a novel based on a Greek Mythology. Last week, aside from CotT, some other played movies were also based on Greek Mythology, like Agora and, uhhhmmm, I can't think of anything else. Anyway, still, (at least) three movies based on the same mythology! Is Greek mythology becoming a film pandemic right now or what?


5. Speaking of CotT, the only positive thing I can say about this movie is the animation and special effect. However, I am never interested in a movie which only showcases animation or special-computer-graphic-something effect. That's why every time I watch a movie, I try to watch beyond its graphic. In this movie, I don't find anything good from anything but the graphic. The storyline was so poorly written with many some not so logical actions and bad connectivity between one scene to another. For instance, if King Acrisius hated her wife and the baby she was having (because the father of the baby was not him), why would he even wait until the baby was born to kill them? He had like nine months to do that. Then, I didn't see a good and logical scene where Io joined the Perseus' troops. All the sudden she just joined them. Then, why did Io tell the troops that she wouldn't be able to enter Medusa's lair when they were already halfway to get there? She would be useless and even a liability for the team, right? Well, I gotta score this movie 1.5 our of 5. Sorry, but it was not a good movie for me ;-) Anyway, the main storyline was so similar with Percy Jackson.


6. Anyway, the form of the Kraken was also strange. In my mind, a kraken is a monster in a form of a giant squid, just like the one in Pirates of the Caribbean. Here, the only squid part of the monster was its tentacles, but its body was just, a monster. I just found it strange, hehe.


7. It is kinda sad to hear (or read) that a doctor is curious about consuming illegal drugs. I mean, aren't they supposed to be people who know most about its dangers? hmmm....


8. I am targeting myself to live a healthier live now. I will buy an ample supply of fruits for me to consume for dinner for this several days. We will see whether it works or not. I hope it does. Thanks to Mrs. Tyka for the idea :-)

::: CotT's poster. The monster in the background is supposed to be the "kraken". BAHASA INDONESIA

1. Aku rasa aku sangat menikmati kategori baru di blogku ini deh: Random List. Aku bisa menulis sesuka hati dengan segala macam pilihan topik tanpa harus takut keluar jalur, yang memang biasanya terjadi kaya gitu sih (keluar jalur :D)


2. Ngomong2, minggu lalu aku jalan2 bersama temen kampusku, akhirnya, setelah beberapa bulan. Hmm, susah juga lho menetapkan tanggalnya, padahal kami semua masih ada di Bandung dan hanya aku saja yang sudah lulus. Gabisa terbayangkan deh gimana nantinya kalo kami udah hidup masing2 nanti beberapa tahun ke depan. Oke, itu adalah pendapat yang standar ya. Cuma kalo dipikir2 lagi, sebenarnya bisa menarik juga lho. Karena kami akan tinggal di berbagai tempat berlainan, reuni bisa diadakan dimana pun. Dengan "dimana pun", artinya reuni bisa menjadi semacam liburan singkat bersama kan, dan aku suka liburan. Liburan bersama itu kan mengasyikkan!


3. Nah kan, keluar topik deh. Padahal aku awalnya ingin menulis kegiatan kami minggu lalu tetapi tiba2 malah menulis tulisan nggak jelas tentang apa yang mungkin terjadi di masa depan dan seberapa mengasyikannya itu, LOL. Ngomong2,


4. minggu lalu kami nonton film. Ini adalah film kedua yang aku tonton tahun ini. Kami nonton Clash of the Titans (CotT). Oke, kalo sekarang seh sengaja nih agak keluar topik sedikit. Kenapa ya akhir2 ini aku rasa merupakan suatu musim film "yang-berdasarkan-mitologi-Yunani", iya nggak sih? Sekitar dua bulan lalu aku menonton Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, sebuah film yang berdasarkan novel yang berdasarkan Mitologi Yunani. Minggu lalu, selain CotT, beberapa film lain juga berdasarkan Mitologi Yunani, misalnya Agora dan, uhhhmmm, nggak kepikiran yang lain nih. Yah, pokoknya sih setidaknya ada tiga film yang berdasarkan mitologi yang sama! Apa Mitologi Yunani ini menjadi mewabah di film2 gitu yah?


5. Tentang CotT, hal positif yang aku dapatkan dari film ini hanyalah animasi dan spesial efeknya saja. Namun, aku tidak pernah tertarik pada film yang hanya memamerkan animasi dan efek komputer-grafik-apalah-yang-bagus-banget. Makanya setiap kali nonton aku selalu mencoba untuk menonton melebihi grafiknya. Nah, di film ini aku nggak menemukan apa pun yang bagus selain grafiknya itu. Jalan ceritanya ditulis dengan jelek sekali dengan banyak aksi tidak logis dan keterkaitan yang buruk antara satu bagian dengan bagian lain. Misalnya, kalo memang Raja Acrisius membenci istrinya dan anak dalam kandungannya (karena ayah biologis anak itu bukan dia), mengapa ia harus menunggu sampai bayinya lahir untuk membunuh mereka? Dia kan ada waktu paling nggak sembilan bulan untuk itu. Kemudian, aku tidak melihat adanya adegan yang menjelaskan bagaimana Io bisa bergabung dengan pasukan Perseus. Tiba2 saja dia bergabung. Kemudian, kenapa sih Io baru bilang kepada pasukan kalo dia nggak bisa masuk sarang Medusa ketika mereka sudah setengah jalan kesana? Plis deh, dia akan jadi tidak berguna dan hanya menjadi beban saja bagi pasukan, kan? Hmm, kalo harus menilai, aku harus menilai film ini 1,5 dari 5 deh. Maaf ya, cuma bagi aku ini bukan film yang bagus ;-) Ngomong2, jalan cerita utamanya koq mirip sama Percy Jackson yah.


6. Ngomong2, bentuk Kraken-nya juga aneh deh. Dalam benakku kraken itu monster berbentuk cumi-cumi raksasa. Nah ini, yang mirip cumi-cumi cuma tentakelnya aja, tapi bentuk badannya ya cuma monster gitu. Jadi kerasa aneh aja, hehe.


7. Sedih juga ya mendengar (atau membaca) kalo seorang dokter tertarik untuk mengonsumsi obat-obatan terlarang. Maksudku, seharusnya mereka kan orang yang paling tahu tentang bahayanya? hmmm....


8. Aku menargetkan diriku untuk hidup lebih sehat sekarang. Aku akan membeli banyak persediaan buah siang nanti untuk konsumsi makan malamku beberapa hari ke depan. Akan kita lihat apakah berhasil ato engga, mudah2an sih berhasil. Makasih kepada Ibu Tyka atas idenya :-)

#812 - My Blog's Fifth Birthday

ENGLISH

Well, today my blog reaches its fifth birthday, which means that I have been blogging for five years now, in THIS VERY BLOG!!! Wow, time really flies!! FIVE YEARS!! Can you imagine that?? Five years ago I barely knew anything about blogging, a friend of mine introduced me to it and helped me creating this blog, and I have been blogging ever since. This blog has done a lot for me, from being a place for me to express anything in my mind to making new wonderful friends!

I know this last one year has kinda been a not so productive year for my blog, with "only" 109 entries this last one year. Even, 50 of them were posted between this very date last year until August 2009. This means there were lesser entries per month in average since then.

Well, even so, this blog has been there for me. It has recorded my life within the last five years, and it is irreplaceable. This blog has recored my life from the time I was in my sophomore year of high-school, until now that I have graduated from my under-graduate study. I think it's likely that it will record further more!!

Thank you all for your support. Please keep supporting me in this blog! ;-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Yah, hari ini blog-ku menginjak umur lima tahun, yang berarti aku sudah blogging selama lima tahun loh sekarang, di BLOG INI!!! Wow, waktu benar2 cepat sekali!! LIMA TAHUN!! Bayangkan deh tuh!! Lima tahun lalu aku nggak tahu apa-apa tentang blogging, seorang teman yang mengenalkanku padanya dan membantuku membuat blog ini, dan aku terus blogging semenjak itu. Blog ini sudah melakukan banyak hal untuk aku, mulai dari tempat untuk menuang segala hal dalam pikiranku sampai bertemu banyak teman baru yang asik2!

Aku tahu setahun terakhir ini adalah tahun yang tidak terlalu produktif untuk blog-ku, dengan "hanya" 109 posting dalam setahun terakhir. Bahkan, 50 di antaranya di-posting di antara tanggal ini tahun lalu hingga bulan Agustus 2009. Artinya, semenjak itu rata-rata banyaknya posting dalam sebulan menurun drastis.

Yah, bagaimanapun juga blog ini sudah ada untuk aku. Ia sudah merekam kehidupanku selama lima tahun belakangan ini, dan itu tak tergantikan. Blog ini sudah menjadi album rekaman kehidupanku sejak aku masih seorang siswa kelas 2 SMA, sampai sekarang ini dimana aku sudah lulus menjadi sarjana. Aku rasa, blog ini akan merekam lebih jauh lagi!!

Terima kasih ya atas dukungannya. Dan terus dukung saya untuk terus nge-blog! ;-)

#811 - Four Random Things

ENGLISH

Well, another week has passed and here we go again, it is Saturday evening. If you read my last week entry, you will easily guess that I am now in my boarding house again, spending my time in front of computer and TV. Hmm, it just reminds me that I have something to do, I must create a simple program for my parents' business! haha... . Anyway, let me redo what I did last week, by writing some random things about me this week.

1. I finished reading The Lost Symbol, a novel by Dan Brown, this week. My review can be read here.


2. Actually I caught a flu (I guess) this week. Even though it did not affect my activities at all, it still annoyed me as it gave me insomnia. You might wonder how could a flu trigger insomnia in me? First of all, I need to warn you that the explanation might gross you. Well, a natural body reaction when we got invaded by flu virus is by secreting mucus to trap the viruses. This time, the mucus was somehow trapped in my pharynx. Of course it was not comfortable at all, feeling all those mucus inside your mouth. That's why I found it hard to sleep, because my kind kept thinking about it. I tried to swallow it, but of course my body would still secret it. So, swallowing was not a solution. I just tried to focus to sleep and after reaching a point, I would be tired myself and slept, hahaha...


3. I love cheese. That is why when I ordered a pizza yesterday and the waitress asked whether I wanted extra cheese on my pizza or not, I said yes (it was comparatively cheap though with the pizza's price, only an extra Rp 7,000.-). But then, my pizza had already had cheese on it, I ordered a stuffed-with-cheese crust pizza, and also Garliccheese Bread. When I ate them, I just realized that my meal was way too cheesy! I loved the first several bites before finally I felt a bit fed up with it. But I am not the type of person who likes to throw edible food away. I decided to take them slowly and finally I finished all of them, in 2 days, haha.


4. When I went on small grocery-shopping yesterday (yes, it was 'small' because I only bought water, some instant noodles, and Vitamin-C supplement), I found a really WEIRD promotion. For a package of instant noodles, which consisted of five packs, we should pay Rp 6,650.-. Then, I walked to another rack to check its unit price. The unit price was: Rp 1,225.-. Multiplying Rp 1,225.- with five will generate Rp 6,125.-, about Rp 500.- cheaper than the package price! In this case, of course I would rather buy FIVE packs in unit price. Well, usually a package price is cheaper than unit price because it should force people to buy more, right? Anyway, yes, I do the math every time I grocery-shop :-)

::: Garliccheese Bread and Pizza with Cheese-Stuffed Crust plus Extra Cheese. So cheesy!!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Satu minggu lagi terlewati sudah dan kembalilah kita disini, di malam Minggu. Kalau kamu baca postingku minggu lalu, pasti akan mudah menebak bahwa sekarang aku lagi ada di kos saja, menghabiskan waktu di depan komputer dan TV. Hmm, baru inget nih kalo aku memiliki sesuatu hal yang harus dilakukan, yaitu membuat program sederhana sementara untuk bisnis orangtuaku! haha... . Yang, ngomong-ngomong, biarkan aku melakukan hal yang aku lakukan minggu lalu, dengan menulis beberapa hal acak tentangku minggu ini.

1. Aku selesai membaca The Lost Symbol, sebuah novel karangan Dan Brown, minggu ini. Review-ku bisa dibaca disini.


2. Minggu ini aku kena flu (rasanya). Walau tidak terlalu mengganggu aktivitasku, tetap saja menjengkelkan karena flu ini membuatku mengalami insomnia. Hmm, mungkin pada heran ya bagaimana bisa sebuah flu mengakibatkan insomnia? Pertama-tama, perlu aku beri peringatan dulu kalau penjelasannya mungkin akan menjijikkan. Yah, reaksi alami tubuh manusia ketika diserang virus flu adalah dengan menghasilkan lendir yang berfungsi untuk memerangkap virus-virus itu. Kali ini, lendirnya itu karena suatu hal kaya terperangkap di bagian faringku. Tentu saja tidak nyaman sama sekali, merasakan lendir-lendir itu. Makanya kan jadi susah tidur karena aku memikirkan ketidaknyamanan itu. Aku mencoba menelan tuh lendir, cuma percuma saja karena lendir lain akan tetap dihasilkan. Jadi, menelan bukanlah solusi. Aku mencoba saja untuk fokus tidur kan akhirnya pada suatu titik badan akan capek sendiri dan akhirnya tidur, hahaha...


3. Aku suka banget keju. Makanya ketika aku memesan pizza kemarin dan mbak-nya tanya apakah aku mau keju ekstra di pizza-ku atau tidak, ya aku jawab ya saja (soalnya harganya relatif murah sih dibanding harga pizza-nya sendiri, cuma Rp 7.000,-). Tapi kemudian, pizzaku kan sudah ada keju tuh di topping-ny, aku juga memesan pizza dengan pinggiran yang diisi keju, aku juga memesan Garliccheese Bread. Ketika aku memakannya, baru deh sadar kalo ternyata kejunya jadi kebanyakan! Aku suka sih di beberapa gigitan pertama, cuma kemudian jadi eneg sendiri deh. Yah, karena aku bukan tipe orang yang suka membuang makanan yang masih bisa dimakan, ya aku makan pelan-pelan saja. Akhirnya habis loh, dalam dua hari, haha.


4. Ketika aku belanja kecil kebutuhan sehari-hari kemarin (ya, 'kecil' karena aku cuma beli air, beberapa bungkus mi instan, dan suplemen vitamin-C), aku menemukan promosi yang ANEH. Untuk satu paket mi instan, yang terdiri atas 5 bungkus mi, harganya adalah Rp 6.650,-. Kemudian aku jalan ke rak lain untuk melihat harga satuannya berapa. Ternyata, harga satuannya adalah Rp 1.225,-. Mengalikan Rp 1.225,- dengan lima akan menghasilkan Rp 6.125,-, sekitar Rp 500,- lebih murah dibandingkan harga paketnya! Yah, untuk kasus kaya gini ya mending beli LIMA mie dengan harga satuan dong. Ya biasanya kan harga paket itu lebih murah karena harga itu untuk mendorong orang beli lebih banyak kan? Ngomong2, ya, tentu saja aku selalu menghitung ketika belanja untuk keperluan seperti itu :-)

#810 - The Lost Symbol

note: This entry will only be written in English

Warning : This Entry Might Contain Spoiler

About two weeks ago, I bought Dan Brown's newest novel, The Lost Symbol. Okay, it might not be that "new" because it was internationally released in September 2009, so it was like half year old. But I just had the opportunity to read it now (so yeah, poor me, hahaha). Anyway, I was really excited to (finally) read the novel, because I always like Dan Brown's style of writing, especially the two involving Robert Langdon, 'The DaVinci Code' (DVC) and 'Angels and Demons' (AnD). The latter is actually my most favorite novel of Dan Brown.

Well, I won't write the synopsis here since we can find it anywhere in the internet. Mainly, the mystery in this novel revolved around Freemasonry and also the (fictional) Solomon family.

::: The cover of the Indonesian version of The Lost Symbol.

However, this time, some mysteries were kinda really easy to solve (for the readers). I mean, it was kinda obvious that Mal'Akh was Zachary Solomon. Even though his real identity was kept secret until the late chapter of the novel, if we analyze the story a bit deeper, we can make a good guess in the middle of the novel that Mal'Akh was really likely to be Zachary. Why? Because somehow Dan Brown wanted us to believe that Mal'Akh was co-inmate of Zachary when he was jailed in Turkey and Mal'Akh was now after the Freemasonry's Secrets. The thing is that Dan Brown didn't specifically say Mal'Akh was the co-inmate. He just gave several statements which potentially could lead us to jump to conclusion (using false logic of course), that Mal'Akh was the co-inmate. However, if we thought about Mal'Akh's motives and way of thinking deeper, it was nearly impossible for someone who only knew Zachary for about 1 day to know that MUCH about the Solomon (including how to get through the Solomon's mansion gate, by finding a hidden key), and also the mysteries surrounding the Mason Pyramid. Okay, the latter still could be actually acquired if he did some extensive researches though. Another point, Mal'Akh seemed to possess a lot of money while he was in jail. Then, the co-inmate had been in jail longer than Zachary, why did he wait that "long" to bribe the prison warder to get out? He HAD the money! It all made sense if he was Zachary. Zachary was a rich boy! Also, Mal'Akh seemed to be too "concerned" for Zachary. I mean, if he wasn't Zachary, why would he be that mad to Peter for not bailing Zachary out from the prison? It was not his business at all. Those are why I concluded Mal'Akh was Zachary, when I was in the middle of the novel ;-)

Well, even so, Dan Brown was still really good. He created the thriller atmosphere; he knew when to spill the secrets a little, making the readers anxious about it, then jump to another scene, leaving the readers much more anxious. The mystery and thriller part was actually the best part of this novel. Reading his novel, people will keep turning pages, won't be able to stop (unless they are too tired and need some sleep or rest, LOL).

Dan Brown definitely made the main mysteries super intriguing, leaving people wondering how could Ancient Mysteries be a potential threat to the National Security? Well, as layer by layer (of mysteries) was revealed, it left me kinda a bit disappointed. Well, apparently I was expecting for something "bigger" and "unpredictable". Somehow, I felt that the mysteries was a bit too far-fetched. Still, the symbols and puzzles the characters needed to solve were still cool and enjoyable, though I don't think they were as complex as symbols and puzzles in DVC or AnD. They symbols and puzzles in this novel were kinda "too simple" for me.

Even though Dan Brown was really brilliant in most part of the book, in some parts the story was also really boring. In some parts, I felt like that I was in the middle of a lecture, reading serious papers or listening to a history or symbology professor giving a lecture; or that I was in a church, listening to a priest giving very deep and reflective contemplation. Some characters at some parts were like living encyclopedia or an old-wise hermit talking about how to interpret the bibles, that God is within ourselves and other things. The worst part was actually the closing, after Mal'Akh's death. To me, it was boring to hell. I literally couldn't wait until the last page of the book. I expected something better to close the novel.

Well, finally, even with those "flaws", I still enjoyed The Lost Symbol. I can't put it on my "most favorite" Dan Brown's novel though, Angels and Demons is still reigning that honorable place. The Lost Symbol was definitely much more interesting than Digital Fortress (DF), which I thought was the worst Dan Brown's novel. Somehow The Lost Symbol came neck to neck with Deception Point (DP). In fact, in some ways, the storyline of these two novels were similar! Anyway, I still think The Lost Symbol got a slight more points on term of better reading (than DP). That put this novel #3, behind AnD and DVC, but not that far behind from DVC.

So, yeah, another good and enjoyable novel from Dan Brown.

#809 - Five Random Things

ENGLISH

Because I have nothing much to write (actually there might be one topic I can bring up, but then I decided to give myself more time to prepare for it), I will write some random stuffs about me this week.

1. Finally, two of my favorite TV shows were getting much more interesting this week. Actually, The Amazing Race 16 got back on its 'track' last week, after that fabulous episode of Seychelles. This week's episode, though objectively not as great as the previous, was also really exciting to watch mainly because I had ever been to the destination, Penang, Malaysia. It is actually kinda nice to watch TAR visited a place that you have ever been, especially when you were there in less than one year ago. After a disappointing half season, American Idol is slowly getting its way back. The show is getting much more interesting each week with each contestant performing better. It is still not as great as the previous season, but it is getting much more exciting to watch. I hope it is not that I am desperate for good TV show so that a lousy show turns to be enjoyable for me, hahaha....


2. It is Saturday evening and, as usual in Bandung, I only stay at my boarding house or just spend my time not so far away from it. It is because many Jakartanese (and other non-Bandungers) flock to Bandung and trigger severe traffic jam everywhere around the city. Getting yourself out of where you live and going downtown will kill you tenderly (LOL). You will be irritated by the long line of cars moving really slowly on the streets before you find out that the cafe/restaurant/mall/etc you are going to are already full/over-booked/sold out. Therefore, it is wiser to just stay home and indulge yourself.


3. Speaking of indulging myself, the idea of a Saturday evening in Bandung for me is just to stay in front of my computer, surf the internet, probably have several snacks and several sips of tea. Speaking of which, I experienced a unique incident tonight. I boiled water in my water heater to make a glass of tea. Just right after the heating lamp turned off, I poured the water to my glass. And suddenly, an incident that I learnt in theory for years occured. My glass cracked due to the sudden temperature change. It is not that it was my first time making tea, but probably the glass was finally giving in after surviving the fate several times, LOL.


4. I am now relieved that I have made hotel reservations for my vacation to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Krabi next June. I have also bought my flights tickets last November which means it is about 80% set right now. Now I still need to consider whether I will buy the local tour in Krabi via internet or I will make the deal there, when I am in Krabi, doing travel-agents-hopping.


5. Apparently, last month I forgot to take my teaching salary!! Well, partly it was because I went back to Yogyakarta mostly during last month, so somehow probably it slipped out of my mind, LOL. That is why this month I got two paychecks, mwahahahaha....

::: My Cracked Glass. For some reasons, the water only leaked when it was cracking. Right after the incident, it did not.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Karena nggak ada bahan untuk ditulis (sebenarnya ada sih satu topik yang bisa dibawa, cuma sepertinya sebaiknya aku mempersiapkannya dulu deh), aku akan menulis beberapa hal acak tentang diriku minggu ini.

1. Akhirnya, dua acara TV favoritku menjadi semakin menarik minggu ini. Sebenarnya, The Amazing Race 16 kembali ke 'jalurnya' yang benar minggu lalu, setelah episode yang bagus di Seychelles itu. Episode minggu ini, walau secara objektif sih nggak semenarik episode minggu lalu, lumayan ok juga koq karena aku sudah pernah pergi ke destinasi yang ditujunya sih, yaitu Penang, Malaysia. Ternyata menonton TAR itu asyik juga ya ketika tempat tujuannya sudah pernah kita kunjungi, apalagi kunjungannya dilakoni kurang dari setahun yang lalu. Setelah setengah musim yang mengecewakan, American Idol juga perlahan kembali ke jalurnya nih. Acara ini jadi semakin menarik tiap minggu terutama setelah kontestannya tampil semakin baik. Masih nggak sekeren musim lalu, cuma makin menarik aja. Mudah-mudahan ini bukannya aku yang sedang putus asa mengharapkan acara TV yang bagus makanya acara yang payah jadi nampak keren, hahaha....


2. Sekarang ini malam Minggu dan, kaya biasanya di Bandung, aku hanya tinggal di kos aja atau menghabiskan waktuku tidak jauh darinya. Ini karena banyak orang Jakarta (dan orang-orang non-Bandung lainnya) yang berkumpul semua ke Bandung dan memicu kemacetan yang sangat amat parah di seluruh penjuru kota. Keluar dari tempat tinggal dan pergi ke pusat kota akan membunuh Anda perlahan-lahan (LOL). Anda akan merasa sebal gara-gara antrian mobil yang panjaaang banget yang bergerak dengan sangat pelan sebelum Anda diberi kabar bahwa ternyata kafe/restoran/mall/dll yang Anda tuju ternyata sudah penuh/dipesan/habis. Makanya, lebih bijaksana untuk tetap tinggal di rumah dan memanjakan diri sendiri.


3. Berbicara tentang memanjakan diri sendiri, malam Minggu di Bandung bagiku adalah duduk aja di depan komputer, internetan, mungkin makan beberapa snacks dan minum teh. Ngomong-ngomong tentang itu, aku mengalami kejadian unik malam ini. Aku memanaskan air dengan pemanas air untuk membuat segelas teh. Nah, setelah lampu pemanasnya mati aku tuang deh air panas itu ke gelasku. Dan tiba-tiba, kejadian yang sebelumnya hanya aku pelajari secara teori bertahun-tahun yang lalu terjadi. Gelasku retak karena perubahan suhu yang tiba-tiba. Bukannya ini kali pertama aku membuat teh sih, cuma kayanya akhirnya gelasnya menyerah deh setelah beberapa kali lolos dari nasib itu, LOL.


4. Aku sekarang lega karena sudah membuat reservasi hotel untuk liburanku ke Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, dan Krabi Juni nanti. Aku kan juga sudah membeli tiket pesawat November lalu yang artinya sekarang sudah sekitar 80% beres lah. Sekarang sih mesti mempertimbangkan enak beli tur lokal di Krabi lewat internet atau disananya langsung ya, yaitu ketika di Krabi dengan melakukan kunjungan ke tiap agen perjalanan.


5. Ternyata, bulan lalu aku lupa mengambil gaji ngajarku loh!! Hmm, sebenarnya setengahnya itu karena aku kan balik ke Yogyakarta hampir selama sepanjang bulan lalu, makanya karena itu sepertinya jadi kaya kelupaan gitu, LOL. Makanya bulan ini aku mendapatkan dua bulan gaji, mwahahahaha....

#808 - Easter Holiday Summary

ENGLISH

Well, this weekend I have been in Yogyakarta. Tomorrow afternoon, I am going back to Bandung catching Wings Air's flight. It has been another busy days in Yogyakarta.

I arrived at Yogyakarta last Wednesday, in which the trip back to Yogyakarta was somehow "exciting". Anyway, on Thursday I hanged out with a friend. On Friday, I accompanied my parents to go to East Java. We went to Tulung Agung and Blitar but also made a two hour stop at Solo. We went to my great-grandparents' graves. We went back to Yogyakarta on Saturday. On Sunday, I hanged out with other friend. On Monday, I kinda helped my parents and we went to Parangtritis Beach in the afternoon, at around 4 PM.

Well, that was it, a short and compact paragraph, isn't it? LOL. I am not kinda in a writing mood recently, so I hope these pictures can pretty much tell most things, hehe :-)

::: Sempor Reservoir, Central Java, as seen from 15,500 feet during my flight back to Yogyakarta.

::: Soto Gading at Solo. I don't really like the taste.

::: Some Meals at Nirwana Restaurant, Nganjuk, my father's favorite.

::: Cenil, A Traditional Local Delicacy in Blitar.

::: Soto Tamanan at Tulung Agung.

::: Pempek Palembang (Kapal Selam, Lenjer, and Lenggang)

::: Soto and Pindang Kudus.

::: One Spot at Parangtritis Beach.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Wiken ini aku di Yogyakarta nih. Besok siang, aku akan balik ke Bandung lagi deh naik penerbangannya Wings Air. Lumayan sibuk juga nih perjalananku ke Yogyakarta kali ini.

Aku tiba di Yogyakarta di hari Rabu, dimana perjalananku balik ke Yogyakarta dapat dibilang cukup "mendebarkan". Yah, trus di hari Kamis aku jalan2 dengan seorang teman. Di hari Jumat, aku menemani orangtuaku pergi ke Jawa Timur. Kami pergi ke Tulung Agung dan Blitar, dan juga mampir selama sekitar 2 jam di Solo. Kami pergi ke makamnya kakek dan nenek buyutku. Kami balik ke Yogyakarta di hari Sabtu. Di hari Minggu, aku jalan2 dengan temenku yang lain. Di hari Senin, aku bantu2 orangtua sedikit dan sorenya kami pergi ke Parangtritis, sekitar jam 4an lah.

Hahaha, itu dia, bener2 paragraf yang singkat dan sangat padat kan? LOL. Entah kenapa akhir2 ini sedang agak malas menulis nih, makanya mudah2an gambar-gambar di atas cukup mewakili ya, hehe :-)

#807 - Bandung Summary

ENGLISH

Damn, it has been another while since my last entry, hahaha. Now, after spending one week in Bandung, I am back in Yogyakarta for my Easter holiday. Anyway, let me recap my latest not so interesting activities in Bandung.

Well, nothing really much happened there actually, except that last Friday I accompanied two friends to survey a private bottled-drink company near Bogor for this year's Company Visit. We literally circled half of West Java, haha. We departed there driving on the Bandung - Cianjur - Sukabumi - Bogor route. Then, we went back to Bandung driving the Bogor - Jakarta - Bandung via Jakarta - Cikampek - Bandung highway. It was kinda fun, but surprisingly not as tiring as last year's survey. Anyway, OOT a bit, now I am confused why I categorized my survey trip last year under the label My Vacation, because it was not a vacation at all and it was tiring, haha.

The other thing is that finally I got my Graduate Certificate last Monday. But now I had it processed to be translated to English though, so I will actually get them (in both languages) next week.

Anyway, last Wednesday I got back to Yogyakarta, catching Wings Air's flight. I just realized that Wings Air now only operates one ATR 72-500 in Java, which is registered as PK-WFG. I concluded that because in all my three trips catching Wings Air, I was in the exact same aircraft all the three of them, which is PK-WFG, hahaha. Anyway, the last trip was probably the most exciting one. I had such a new experience from that: "aborted take-off". So, just when we had been ready to take off and the take off itself had actually started (the aircraft was speeding on the runway), three seconds later she suddenly braked. The pilot decided to turn back to the tip of runway 29 and did some checks on the problematic indicator. He wasn't happy with the result and taxied back to the tarmac. At the tarmac he did one more test and it worked. So, we headed back to runway 29 and finally took off. The flight itself was a normal flight, hehe. Aborted take-off is a normal standard procedure which can be performed during a flight, and it can happen to any random flight because we can't never know when a problem will occur, right? Executing this procedure is actually a good thing to do, because it's better to make sure that the aircraft is fine rather than choosing to airborne knowing something is possibly wrong with the aircraft, right?

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sial, udah lama juga ya sejak posting terakhirku, hahaha. Sekarang, setelah menghabiskan waktu seminggu di Bandung, aku balik lagi di Yogyakarta nih untuk liburan Paskah. Ngomong2, biarkan aku menulis tentang aktivitas terakhirku yang biasa2 aja di Bandung.

Yah, nggak banyak seh yang terjadi, cuma saja Jumat lalu aku menemani dua teman dalam acara survey ke perusahaan swasta minuman dalam botol di Bogor untuk Kunjungan Perusahaan tahun ini. Eh, kami benar2 mengelilingi setengah Jawa Barat lho, haha. Ini karena kita berangkat melalui rute Bandung - Cianjur - Sukabumi - Bogor. Kemudian, kita balik ke Bandung melalui rute Bogor - Jakarta - Bandung via jalan tol Jakarta - Cikampek - Bandung. Asik seh, dan yang mengejutkan nih, nggak semelelahkan survey tahun lalu loh. Eh, ngomong2, sekarang aku koq bingung sendiri ya kenapa koq posting tentang survey tahun lalu itu ada di dalam kategori label My Vacation yah, padahal kan itu bukan liburan sama sekali dan juga bikin capek, haha.

Hal lain ya aku akhirnya mendapat Ijazah Sarjanaku neh Senin kemarin. Cuma saja sekarang sedang dalam proses untuk alih bahasa ke bahasa Inggris sih, jadi baru bener2 dapet (dalam dua bahasa) ya minggu depan.

Ngomong2, Rabu kemarin aku balik ke Yogyakarta naik penerbangannya Wings Air. Aku baru tahu neh kalo ternyata kini Wings Air cuma mengoperasikan satu ATR 72-500 di sekitar Jawa, yang teregistrasi PK-WFG. Aku menyimpulkan itu karena dari ketiga perjalananku dengan Wings Air, semuanya aku naik pesawat yang sama, PK-WFG, hahaha. Ngomong2, perjalanan terakhir kemarin adalah yang paling seru mungkin. Aku mendapatkan satu pengalaman baru darinya: "aborted take-off alias 'pembatalan lepas landas'". Jadi, ketika kami sudah siap lepas landas dan bahkan lepas landasnya sendiri sudah mulai (pesawatnya sudah mulai berlari kencang di landasan pacu), sekitar tiga detik kemudian tiba2 pesawatnya direm. Pilotnya memutuskan untuk kembali ke ujung runway 29 dan melakukan pengecekan pada indikator yang bermasalah. Ia kurang senang dengan hasilnya dan memutuskan untuk kembali ke tarmac. Di tarmac, pilotnya menjalankan satu tes lagi dan ternyata berhasil. Langsung deh kami kembali ke runway 29 dan melakukan lepas landas. Penerbangannya sendiri normal-normal saja koq, hehe. Pembatalan lepas landas adalah prosedur normal yang bisa dilakukan dalam satu penerbangan, dan bisa terjadi di penerbangan mana pun karena masalah kan muncur secara acak kan, kita tak tahu kapan masalah akan muncul, ya nggak? Menjalankan prosedur ini adalah tindakan yang baik, karena tentu saja lebih baik kita yakin pesawat kita dalam kondisi sempurna daripada memutuskan untuk terbang dengan kemungkinan ada instrumen yang tidak berfungsi dengan baik, ya nggak?