Saturday, January 30, 2010

The List Of Things To Do Before Dying

Some would call it Life Targets. Me? I prefer to have a To-Do List Before I Die.

In no particular order:

Create. To be decided: raise a pet, plant a tree, have kid, or build an intelligent robot.
Destruct. Literally destroy something big in pieces or win a sword fight; preferably non-lethal one.
Dive. Confront fear of height and depth with something rewarding.
Tell Mom I love her in person.
Get completely wasted.
Go to Kings of Convenience, The Boy Least Likely To, and/or Earlimart live.
Be in a place where the sun don't set/rise for more than 24 hours.
Sleep on a grassfield underneath the stars , or sleep on a beach with a fire nearby.
Learn to play at least one musical instrument.
Implant adamantium claw. Ha!
Change the world for the better. To be decided: How.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Euphoria

ITB C won IVED! Now I can be euphoric at least for a day.




Being the host is already a challenge, and to top it off, winning the whole thing. One thing I don't like is I can't be there. But still a hearty congratulations for Marsha, Kirana, and Dito!
On another note, I'd hate to be called superstitious, but save for NEO, where I was present, all ITB victory announcement seems to require my absence? JOVED, I was en route to train station. NUEDC, I was already in the train station. IVED, I'm miles away. The list is fairly populated. While I'm there, if I am in the finals representing ITB, it seems to require me losing. One, two, three tournaments. Oh well. at least I can be euphoric for the day.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Free Thinkers

"Are you a free thinker then?"

Duh berat yah labelnya. Terus terang saja, saya agak kesulitan menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan seperti ini. Jelas tidak mudah mengkondensasi hidup belasan tahun (setelah dikurangi tahun-tahun awal) menjadi jawaban dengan durasi 30 detik yang bagus, menjelaskan dan mencerahkan.

Nampaknya ini juga yang membuat saya tidak tertarik sama sekali dengan formspring.me, situs tempat orang-orang bisa mampir dan menanyakan pertanyaan apapun secara anonim. Rasanya saya sudah dapat cukup pertanyaan selama SMA dan di dunia nyata. Yang saya butuhkan adalah kebalikannya: psikolog gratis, tempat saya bisa bertanya mulai dari hal-hal remeh sampai yang tidak terlalu remeh. Tempat yang beda dengan kolom salam tempel Lampu Hijau. Kalau misalnya ada calon psikolog yang nyasar ke sini, tolong digarisbawahi bagian gratisnya.

Misalnya: mendingan saya panjangin rambut, mencoba ke barbershop, atau botakin aja sekalian? Atau bereksperimen sendiri? Mendingan saya nonton Passion Pit dan Phoenix sendirian atau nabung duitnya aja? Mendingan saya bertahan di astronomi atau mengejar apapun itu yang ada di luar astronomi?

Tapi kembali ke pertanyaan awal: waktu saya mencari di wikipedia, ternyata saya dibawa ke laman ini. Nantilah saya bikin tulisan sendiri tentang hal-hal semacam ini (baca: cari bahan copy-paste untuk membahas blogpost orang lain, niatnya sudah dari dulu, tapi...) . Jadi memang judul post kali ini memang tidak ada hubungannya dengan isinya.

Dan untuk sementara waktu, blog ini akan bebas dari rant tentang frustrasi. Kalau Crocs di Pearls Before Swine punya Box O' Morons, saya punya Box O' Frustration and Sadness di Posterous.

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P.S. Susah juga ternyata menulis dengan bahasa Indonesia.
P.P.S. Merasa ada yang beda? Dari hitam ke abu-abu ke ochre, dan sekarang: putih. Paling tidak template ini membuat dimensi tulisan menjadi lebih lebar.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Tweet Proklamasi

Ever wonder how we'd read our independence history had Twitter been around in 1945? But if you are easily offended please save ourselves some time and don't read this. In no mean I intend to disrespect our founding fathers, but had Twitter been around when I was in high school, this may give the re-enactment drama assignment more flavor. Also, this is the result of a caffeine overdose, please forgive the accuracy (though some events are re-interpreted to fit the short burst nature of microblogging service)

Soekarno RT @bbc Breaking News - Fat Man Dropped on Nagasaki http://bbc.co.uk/2de43S
On Aug 9th 9pm from web
Soekarno Ha ha! RT @bbc Breaking News - Japan Surrenders http://bbc.co.uk/2Fr2DD
On Aug 15th 10pm from web
Hatta Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi rojiun RT @bbc Hundreds of Thousands Dead in Little Boy and Fat Man's Trail http://bbc.co.uk/4sdg3W
On Aug 15th 10pm from web yellowdoorknob.blogspot.com
DarahMuda otw ke rumah bung karno. awas aja kalo dia masih banyak bacot ga mau proklamasi #idmerdeka
On Aug 16th 11am from mobile web
Soekarno Kayak rame di depan ada apa ya?
On Aug 16th 12pm from web
MrsSoekarno Wah banyak tamu nih. Mudah-mudahan gulanya cukup buat bikin teh manis.
On Aug 16th 12pm from Snaptwo
Soekarno Bah! Anak muda jaman sekarang! Ga bisa ditolak dikit langsung main culik aja!http://myloc.me/2nn3R
On Aug 16th 1pm from Twitter for BB
DarahMuda @Maeda Bang, kita maen ke tempatmu ya.
On Aug 16th 1pm from mobile web
BonekSBY @DarahMuda WOI nyetir yang bener! Malah twitteran
On Aug 16th 1pm from mobile web
DarahMuda @BonekSBY mpret. ada juga lu jagain si sukarno di belakang biar twitter dia ga pake location service. Ketahuan ntar kita.
On Aug 16th 1pm from mobile web
MaedaJR @Maeda pah, ada temen-temen papah di rumah. Katanya mau pinjem tempat buat nyekap oom soekarno.
On Aug 16th 3pm from web
Maeda @DarahMuda bilang maen doang, taunya bawa-bawa anak orang. Gue ga ikut-ikut ya.
On Aug 16th 3pm from keitai web
Maeda @DarahMuda Awas aja kalo lu ngabisin cemilan gue.
On Aug 16th 3pm from keitai web
DarahMuda @Maeda sip bos! makasih ya.
On Aug 16th 3pm from mobile web
Soekarno Primbon praktis untuk Gemini, Jumat legi adalah hari baik untuk memulai usaha baru, melamar calon... http://prmb.on/re3I
On Aug 16th 5pm from Primbon Praktis Serbaguna Service
Soekarno Udah diculik, disuruh bikin teks proklamasi lagi. Pokoknya harus gue yang bacain besok.#idmerdeka
On Aug 16th 9pm from Twitter for BB yellowdoorknob.blogspot.com
DarahMuda @Soekarno jangan narsis dulu lu. Besok proklamasi #idmerdeka sama @hatta juga.
On Aug 16th 9pm from mobile web
Hatta Teks proklamasi cuman secuprit gini alamat bakal jadi figuran doang nih. #idmerdeka
On Aug 16th 9pm from Snaptwo
smelik Alhamdulillah, kerjaan ngetik malem ini cuman sedikit #idmerdeka
On Aug 16th 9pm from web
Soekarno @MrsSoekarno bune, kita jadinya besok proklamasi #idmerdeka. Tolong jahitin bendera buat dikerek ya. Merah-putih aja gpp.
On Aug 16th 10pm from Twitter for BB
DarahMuda @BonekSBY lapangan ikada udah keburu dibooking buat senam SKJ. ada ide tempat baru ga buat proklamasi? #idmerdeka
On Aug 17th 5am from web
BonekSBY NOOOOOO!!!! RT @DarahMuda @BonekSBY lapangan ikada udah keburu dibooking buat senam SKJ. #idmerdeka
On Aug 17th 5am from web yellowdoorknob.blogspot.com
Soekarno Dibs on the prez! #idmerdeka
On Aug 17th 11am from web
Soekarno Proklamasi beres, tinggal jumatan trus makan. #idmerdeka Bune @MrsSoekarno bikin tempe bacem lagi ga ya?
On Aug 17th 11am from web

Friday, January 1, 2010

Gion

If you're in a hurry basically the following happened:

I came. I saw. I went home. 

But if you have time to read my rants, here's what happened:

The day before yesterday. Onta told me I need to go out, and I concur. I googled what people would do at new year's eve. Turns out that people either go to Shito shrine, or Buddhist temple. Out of the various places mentioned in the articles, I can only found one in the map. Yasaka shrine, at the end of 4th avenue, around the area called Gion.

Yesterday noon. I looked it up some more. Being lazy that I am, my google maps research told me that the last train available from 4th avenue to my dorm is exactly at midnight. During the remainder of the day I tried to study, but it really was feckless. 

The new year's eve. After much deliberation, I decided to go out and see the atmosphere. To really understand what transpired then, you need to know that the village where I live is served by two lines of trains from two different railway companies: JR and Keihan. As it happened, JR station is closer by around 300m than Keihan station to my dorm. So I took the JR line to Kyoto Station. At the Kyoto station, this was usually one of the busiest place in Kyoto with so many people, but at 9pm, this place was oddly deserted. I checked out the schedule, and it confirmed that the last train from Kyoto station to Obaku, the nearest station to my dorm is at 23.59. So I stepped outside to see that even the Kyoto Tower is closed. I decided to walk from Kyoto Station (which was close to 9th avenue) to 4th avenue. 

So I walked. And I walked. And the roads are practically deserted along the way to the 4th avenue. No traffic jam as there was basically no vehicle on the road. And I saw places I have yet to see before and made a pact to myself to get around this place again sometime. And at 5th avenue, it started snowing. But just so you know, this paragraph actually has nothing to do with the narrative that I wanted to tell, which is at the next paragraph. Oh, by the way, no pictures here. I was too lazy to bring my camera. And it's not like I have company.

I arrived at Yasaka Shrine a few minutes before 11, and the place was already packed. At the entrance, there were so many stalls and booths selling various foods (takoyaki, yakisoba, apple caramel, even frankfurter), oracles, and some sort of string--for lack of better word--to let you bring an ember home. And boy, there was a lot of people. 

I was, again, alone. Illiterate of japanese culture, both in its traditional and the more popular one. So I was just following along, and suddenly I was in the middle of a massive queues. I waited and waited, feeling really out of place, shortly after 11pm I get out of the queue and decided to start walking to the nearest station. As I get out of the exit, I saw that the whole 5 lanes of 4th avenue has been closed for vehicles and there was people, throng of thousands of people on the street. Which means that I actually was in a good position of the queue. 

But I was thinking that if I missed my last train to my dorm, it will leave me almost 20 km away from home and no place to stay for the night. And there I was, heading home, going against the direction of thousands of people.

The nearest station is Gion station on the 4th avenue (Gion Shijo station) of the Keihan line. So I waited for my train home, and at the platform, I saw the announcement that Keihan's operation hour was reversed during the holiday. Instead of having the first train at 5am and the last train at 12pm, their schedule now listed the first train at 7pm and the last train at 10am. But I was already on the platform. and now did not really see the point of returning to the shrine. And so i decided to go home. 

Home, no sound of a single firecracker, no sight of any fireworks, away from the throngs of people, undisturbed by blaring trumpets, retreating from the cold wind to the warmth of the bed. Let the day pass and we can start anew.