It sucks. It does.

I'm the odd new guy. Story of my life. Can I have another set of personalities? You know, just as spare and variation. I'm bored with this one already.

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Update

I decided I'd better move the whines and rant. Not really encouraging, that's why. So I made it un-public. Thank you for those who gave me support in response for the post. Time to move on, I guess.

The Pirate Solution

I always love The Big Bang Theory, but now more than ever, the newest episode just really got to me. Boy, it's hilarious!

Raj: By the way, when I say squat,I mean diddly-squat. I wish I had squat.
Sheldon: So, wait, what have you been doing for the past six months?
Raj: You know, checking e-mail, Updating my facebook status, Messing up wikipedia entries.
Raj: Hey, did you know netflix lets you stream movies on your computer now?
Sheldon: And you've continued to take the university's money under false pretenses?
Sheldon: Highly unethical for an astrophysicist. Although pctically mandatory for a pirate.

First impressions

Today is the beginning of a long weekend in Japan, and there has been so many things done and waiting to be done, impressions, hopes. Let's get on it reverse chronologically.

Day 3 i.e. today
not much being done yet, but this is the first day I can wake up at 10.50! and to think that last night I went to sleep at about 11pm here, so I got almost a 12-hour sleep. I like to think that I need this much sleep as previously my sleeps were scattered in couples of hours but I hope I won't need this much sleep in the future. Else I'm doomed.
Day 2.
the last thing that I did yesterday was knocking on other people's door and being knocked. Some guy ringing my bell looking for a bald, Chinese guy. Obviously wrong room number. But before that, I had a chat with other Indonesian student who also lives in the same international house, in the same floor. Unaware that I had been spent 2 hours inside my own room, I stepped out to his room with only a polo shirt on. Obviously not long after we're pretty much shivering from the cold. From our conversation, it can be concluded that there is one Japanese dish that is pretty much safe (that means halal) though I can't catch the name. Honestly, I'll put my concern more on other issues, as..
I already found out that the tap water is safe to drink. Thank god I didn't bought the bottled water. It was only on my way home from the supermarket that I realized that the lack of bottled water display are probably because of that. Nevertheless, I did some shopping for sustenance, bought several foods and more. However, what really baffled me is the sections that displays various items that I believe has something to do for cleaning. Problem is, I can't figure out what is for cleaning what. I set out to the supermarket with the idea that I needed soap, detergent and dish cleaning liquids. I didn't find the detergent, or at least, I can't read which one is the one saying it's detergent. None of the items displayed are in the form of powder just like Rinso or Attack we had back home. To say that I am baffled would be an understatement here.
On that day, I visited 3 different supermarket/convenience stores, mostly for food. I still thought that supermarket here should be more like in Indonesia, where there's also a section displaying pans and everything/ how am I supposed to cook instant noodles if I don't have any pans? I think I'll find some tomorrow.
I had the time to visit the supermarket because there was an item on the planning list that I haven't got to do: meeting with my professor. You see, from the morning I was already visiting offices: dorm offices, quick tour to what the dorm has, then to Uji city hall, registering for alien card and national health insurance, then to the main campus, registering to foreign student division and making an account in the post office. Boy, it's a lot of walk! I thought this would be a breeze, as I can tire my sister quite easily when we're walking a distance, but this time: dorm-eki, eki-city hall-eki, eki-campus-getting around campus-eki. I'll find out how many kilometers I have walked yesterday.
My biggest surprise happens in the campus: it turns out that I will have a desk! My first thought on that was “I am royally screwed! I am screwed in five different ways from Monday.” I mean, I don't even have any idea what I'm doing here. I thought that I would be able to buy time for 6 month, until the admission test, but no. Urgh. On top of all that, it will require me to actually make a social connection. Unlike Uphie, whose pride was wounded when I called him party pooper and thus able to make a conscious effort to change himself, it was different with me. Of course, I might found myself comfortable around them in the future, but well.
Day 1
on my first night, however, I thought that everything I have was impressive. My flight arrived 6pm, and after I cleared immigration, I was picked up by Mbak Kiki herself. The shared shuttle taxi has to be canceled as the delay was too long, so she decided to pick me up in Kansai Airport. From there we took trains to Uji, and I remembered that I felt I might be interested in pursuing doctorate here, when mbak kiki said that the scholarship can be automatically given if the scholarship recipient is capable. I'll have to cope with the workload first sih to make it that far.
My flight itself was uneventful, though when I watched The Hangover and The Taking of Pelham 123, I regretted why I didn't just watched The Hangover while I was in Jakarta and chose The Grudge 3 instead. It was hilarious! Nonetheless, it's was a good way to spend my time in the air.
Oh, I guess it's pretty clear by now that I should've done my registrations in Day 1, but because my flight was delayed for 9hours, I didn't get to do that. Instead, I got myself an interesting Day 0.
Day 0
It was the day I went from Bandung, went nearing 1pm, and it took us almost 5 hours to get to Cengkareng. My first pick was of course to just go by travel shuttle, but a relative of mine obviously has its own plan. Which involves getting lost for a while.
So I arrived at the airport all grimy and everything, but then when I checked myself in at SQ counter, the guy told me that my flight out of Singapore will be delayed. As it turns out, it was delayed, but then every passengers were given lodging in Grand Mercure Roxy. I couldn't be much happier! Great lodging, great breakfast in the morning after, and I was leaving to Changi in a much much better mood!

So that's how events pretty much transpired here. As of now, I am hoping I will be able to cope with the workload and actually able to communicate with others here. Wish me luck!
And if you're interested, pics of my room and surrounding, as well as the pics of the room at grand mercure are at http://my.opera,com/cormocodran/albums. Until then.

Assorted Finds #1

One thing that I liked about ateneo australs was the fact that they played funny videos related to the debating topics before each heading was announced. It was the first for me to see that the fun in debating tournament can actually be shared by many. Apparently, I am not the only one impressed, as Uphie tried to replicate this in NEO (fail, multimedia not ready), and apparently in the last JOVED as well (wasn't there, can't comment much on it). 

This trend was followed in this year's australs but IMO, the videos aren't as funny as last years'. Perhaps if I can spend some more time I'll list down (and actually embed) the videos from last year here. But in the meantime, I had too many idle times in my hand and actually come across several videos that made its impression on me. So here's two videos that I could've used for two headings:

Technology

Or, alternatively, you can just play Nellie McKay - Clonie for all to see (or listen).

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Update:

I initally put down a video of college humor targeting Don't Ask Don't Tell policy for Sexuality-slash-Bigotry, but after yesterday's Grey's Anatomy, there was one awesome scene where Calliope Torres (Sara Ramirez) and his father throwing bible verses one to another. I mean, that was awesome! Uhm, and touching. You know, that's how I always imagined MTQ debate should be. I tried to find the video at YouTube, but can't find it. Perhaps later.

Merah Putih, Merantau, Cin(T)a

August is nearing its end, and as befits the nationalism-laden month I watched three indonesian movies this month alone: Merah Putih, Merantau, and Cin(t)a. On theatres. Actually spending money. 

Anyway, all in all, I think this is great. When I think about it, there's only a handful of Indonesian movies I watched in cinemas, most remarkable perhaps Gie, with Denias on close second. Jomblo was more weird than comedic--the book was better, and as for 3 Doa 3 Cinta, you can see here. I refused Laskar Pelangi (the book turned me off), and a quick glance of Oh Baby when it is aired on local TV confirms my suspicion: most of Indonesian movies are crap masquerading as arts. 

But back on the three movies for this month, I can't quite decide which is better, Merah Putih or Cin(t)a. Both are not your usual movies seen in theatres. Merah Putih, set in early 50s (?or was it late 40s?) can be easily affiliated to Indonesia-vs-Dutch struggle. The actions scenes are decent, and the explosions was way above normal bar for local movies. Oh, and the bloods are also realistic--to some extent. Minor inconsistencies aside, it has a surprise for you: a plot! (gasp! oh? it's a trilogy? GASP!) 

The conflicts revolves around Javanese smugness to people from other areas in Indonesia, boot camp, and so forth. Again, not your usual menu, yet it failed to keep me on the edge of my seat. I think what the movies lacking is a sense of purpose to engage the audience. Major portion of the movies revolves around the military training, but it didn't felt like there is any imminent threat. Pretty flat, that way. But at some point, BOOM! The movie suddenly shifts into war-mode. In retrospect, the first minutes or so did show a scene where Dutch troops killing locals, but it was soon forgotten. So here's its flaw for you: opening, build-up, and audience. Oh, and I failed to find it's comedic aspect that amusing.

On the other hand, there's cin(t)a. I think that a major reason why I am impressed with this movie is my initial low expectation. I first heard of this movie from Uphie, and did not even aware that this is even a movie. I looked it up at blitzmegaplex.com, and found that the description of the movie there is just gibberish. I barely understand anything written there, and give it a premature verdict of extreme-corniness. Yet then I was clueless on how to kill time, and when some of my friends suggested to watch cin(t)a, who am I to say no? They said some parts were shot in ITB, which also made me rather curious. (You get gerbang depan, stairs to Taman Hewan, and Arsitektur, as well as Perpus Pusat, I think).

So why am I impressed? For one, a lot of the shots are (to me) artistic. I also don't find the movie patronizing, the OST is impressive, and it's unexpectedly profound. I was expecting soppiness and it was there, alright. But not so much that it felt distracting (unlike the sinetron-esque scene involving Lurah in Merah Putih). It's the lead actress' husky voice that's distracting. That, and the subtitles. 

It tackles on inter-religion relationship issue, the inevitable quest and comparison between religion, and this was exactly an additional point as I find the stance both daring and realistic. Inter-racial relationship, not so much (as it's less of a problem in our society anyway, contrary to what the title may suggest). 

As it were, inter-religion relationship is there in our society, but no one really speak of it. I know couples who were in such situation and even in my family as well. But the operative word here is 'frowned'. Still, the subtle and not-so-subtle points are delivered well. 

Now what about Merantau? I was lured by its action, and it did not disappoint when the action was on. Problem was, I spent most of the opening half waiting, thinking, "Actionnya manaaa?" When it's on, I was more 'finally', and even then at one point, the fight got meanwhiled. To be honest, it was not the most gripping fighting scenes (I think one of the best was in Bourne Supremacy, Jason Bourne fighting with pen), but as Astari pointed out, it takes years before Hong Kong movies got to where they are right now, so it's a heartening start. Another minus point, the plot is even more illogical at times (what with the bravado and all), lebai at most (the girl ndeprok inside a cargo container, whispering soft "tolong..."), and its duration is too long (150-ish minutes, compared to 70-ish minutes of cin(t)a). On the other hand, to me Christine Hakim do looked very motherly there. 

If I am to give a rating, cin(t)a would be 7/10 because it's more profound, and I can't give it lower than 3 Doa 3 Cinta, with Merah Putih (6/10) and Merantau (5/10). So cin(t)a wins after all. I think the key here is my expectation, I had high expectation of Merah Putih and Merantau, but ridiculously low for Cin(t)a. 

I think I should do another post on God (not necessarily in correlation with cin(t)a), or on our theatre audience (see Mearh Putih weakness above), but it'll have to wait. Next up should be some travel reports from Lombok trip. Can't say much about Singapore and Thailand.

And call it enough!

You want blood?
Come here and take it!
It's fresh!
Still warm from the life that just left it.
The blood of my brother.
So take it!
Take his blood,
and call it enough.
If you need more, take mine.
Do it!

I surrender. Shoot me.
And call that enough.
Or can one of you come down here...
and show me your face?
Show me that you're more than tank, metal, and shell.
That you're human like we are.
That you breathe, that you bleed.
That you feel and feel pity.
That you live for more than our deaths.

Come.
Any of you who have lost a brother.
Come and tell me it's enough.
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Quote from serial Kings S01E01.

Vietnam, not now.

Around 2008 New Year, I went to Thailand—yet another debating competition. But it was, in a sense, my first international competition (let’s not talk NTU, and AUDC was in ITB). Anyway, what I regretted the most is my lack of planning. We went a day before the competition started, and left Thailand as soon as the competition was over. Only during the competition—and month afterwards I realized that this was a grave error, I could’ve extend my stay and explore Thailand, or like Tika and Sony, went to Vietnam. What I had in mind was only final test for Wave and Statistical Physics. Argh.

So another opportunity arose. As a reward of a pageant, ITB DIKTI actually has money for us to go visit Singapore and Thailand, visiting universities with higher rank than ITB. I was hopeful I will be able to spend a couple of days afterward for unplanned itinerary, perhaps even going to Babel or Vietnam!

But no such luck. Apparently ITB wanted us to be back in Bandung by August 11, for some hubbub on new students. Practically impossible to extend my stay there.

On the other hand, the writing I quoted here from Tika's note in Facebook made me hate the situation even more. Sigh. Perhaps some other day, in not-so-distant future *hoping

A Bay Trip (By Tika Anindya)

I've been writing about the Asian trip for a long time, but I never got around finishing it. Thought this may be an interesting review for some.

So now that we’ve swarmed around the Hanoi area, we started preparing for Ha Long Bay. We booked a trip for two to the receptionist in our hotel, who claimed she handles these sorts of bookings all the time, and the next day, we were conveniently picked up at 6 AM. Half the people in the car were Caucasians and the other half were Asians, and it was pretty obvious that all the Asians know each other. The Guide, a young Vietnamese girl, explained what the program looks like. We’ll mostly stay in the ship and sail around for two days. There will be cave explorations and kayaking, both of which I couldn’t imagine doing in this cold weather. I voiced this concern to Sony and he brushed it off, saying it’s too much fun to pass, and I didn’t think it was worth mentioning that I’m worried about sea sickness too. So after a couple of hours, we arrived at the pier, where about 20 large ships huddled tightly. All the ships were made to look old-fashioned, with wooden finish and, in some cases, dragon heads on the side. We climbed into our ship, which was much harder than it sounds, and made our way to the top, which was much more exciting than it sounds. All the ships have an open area at the top where they put some beach chairs for people to enjoy the view. It was a great convenience to enjoy that sort of 360-degree view, and I imagined it would be better if it wasn’t so darn cold.

Our ship looked almost like this, except without those awesome wing-like apparatus.

Anyway, as the ship sailed, our first agenda was lunch. The main part of the ship was set to be a dining room, with a large TV on the side. The bedrooms were downstairs, but we can only check in after lunch. The meal was the pleasant Vietnamese kind – meaning they don’t tell you how much more is coming, so you end up stuffing your face on one course only to find the next one brought out. The Asians, which we’ve now concluded is a large family, occupied a whole table and spent lunch talking in a language we don’t understand. Sony and I sat on the other table with the Caucasians, who did not talk very much. I had to ask the guide if anything was made of pork – after Sony incorrectly identified some pieces of fried meat as beef – but overall, the meal was very good.

Keys were then distributed. Given the number of people, Sony and I have assumed that we will have to stay in one room, which at that point didn’t really matter. The thing is, as we found out later, there was only one bed per room. It was large and obviously fits two very well, but still, it was one bed. We were also excited to see a bathroom in our room – an exclusive bathroom is a luxury we have not enjoyed ever since we left Assumption Uni – but baffled to find how transparent the bathroom door was. Clearly this is a room for newlyweds. You can see so much that one of us had to leave the room when the other was taking a shower. But since everyone else were either families, same-sex friends or couples, we know there’s not much point making a fuss about this, so we didn’t. The bed was fluffy white and the bathroom was clean. We’ve been through worse.

We sailed for about an hour and we observed the absolutely gorgeous scenery : blue-green water speckled with mounting rocks, mostly as high as a three-storey building. We saw some ladies rowing a couple of small boats around us, each of packed with snacks & drinks. It was literally a floating convenience store. One of the Caucasians jokingly shouted out for a Tiger beer. I contemplated buying a can of Pringles from them, just for the hell of it, and Sony noted how these people have probably carried around the same stock for months. I suppose he’s right.

They got a lot of these in Halong Bay. Sony wondered if the products are expired.

Then we arrive at the cave, which was interesting. It’s definitely one of the biggest cave I’ve ever been in, and the Guide Lady was trying to be funny by pointing out animal shapes in the rocks. There was a piece shaped like a big thumb “although the imaginative guys think it’s something else” and I remembered this part because this was where Sony received a call on his mobile. I thought it was very odd that he managed to get reception off the beaches of a foreign country – and in a cave – but he did.

At dinnertime back in the ship, the Guide announced that we were going to have a karaoke party. In fact they were going to bring our ship right next to another one and fasten it so we can move safely from one ship to another, generating more crowds for the party. We weren’t thrilled by the program, but really, neither of us wanted to suggest sleeping, given the shared bed, so we distracted ourselves by sending text messages to people back home. We sent good lucks to Dyota, who was preparing for his FES finals the next day. We vented to Onta, who thought being stranded in the middle of the ocean with 10 degrees’ weather and no sweater is “so cool, I’m jealous” and we thanked Ruli, who recommended Ha Long Bay to us in the first place. Then we slept.

The next day's main attraction was kayaking! At breakfast the guide told us a lot of people are backing out because of the weather. We, on the other hand, were getting really excited, having concluded that it must be several degrees warmer than Hanoi, a fact worth celebrating. We stopped by a small pier, with a small cafe and a place for fishermen to keep their day’s catch. They gave us lifejackets, a pair of rows and pointed to where the kayaks are floating freely, and wished us luck.
Now, I’ve never tried kayaking before, and I expected it to be very unstable (hence the lifejacket). It’s actually very stable, even with me and Sony practicing our asynchronous rowing. Over the journey I couldn’t get over the gorgeous water – almost static-calm and the light green is nearly opaque, it felt like you’re looking at a vast tub of jelly – and now as it’s all around me, the fascination is heightened. I had to resist the urge to dip in. Not only were we now very close to the water, we were very close to the mountains of rocks. Like I said, they were very tall but very narrow, and we were able to circle around a few. Some of these “rocks” are large enough to be called a small island, with flat surface to stand on and such. The rocks are so tall, they’re like isolated pieces of a small hill, scattered in the water.

There was one particular rock with an enticing hole on its bottom, which we hovered around, hoping to see an awesome hidden cave or something. We explored the hollowed area and found out we couldn’t fit the way in, then we tried exiting and found out we couldn’t fit the way out. We spent a couple of seconds laughing, then panicking, then pushing our rows against the surface to propel us away from the rock. Obviously we were eventually released, although I later pondered what would have happened if we remained stuck. I suppose trying to stick yourself into a rock in the middle of the sea, with nobody near enough to hear you scream, is not something particularly intelligent. It's just that the whole view made you feel like you had to touch the rocks, just to see what it’s like, as if you’ve never seen a mold-covered rock before. Needless to say, I found the whole experience amazing.

Coin A Chance

I was wondering if there's a drop zone for coin a chance in Bandung. Apparently, no luck.

Perhaps later, someday, if there is a coin collection day in Bandung. If I'm still in Bandung, that is.

It rains on the just and unjust alike -- Rorschach

So two days ago was my first day back in Bandung!

Not that there's anything particularly interesting, mind you. But I ended up watching superheroes movies in the night. Masked avenger, if you will.

Although Garfield Pet Force may not be my usual diet of masked avenger, it was first, then Justice League - The New Frontier and Watchmen. I have watched the latter two previously, but both is just quotable. I wouldn't even mind watching Watchmen again if it actually screened at the theaters in Bandung.

A few days ago, I wrote in one online forum in itb that there's something that I don't like from Watchmen's ending. Too hasty, and not as profound as the rest of the movie, or at least so I thought, relying on the first impression from the first time I watched the movie in Jogja. What I forgot was that it was completely biased: I was hungry, no dinner before and shivering under the blasting air conditioner. I am how happily say that I stand corrected. It was as good as it gets.

Mundane, I know, but then again, what is this blog but to sate my self indulgence? Eheh.

When the future is set

I am now certain.
That I will waste some 300K away.

I initially thought that I'd rather err on the side of caution; that even when I don't know if I wanted to go to japan, I'd rather not be a helpless tourist there. Hence the language course.

Only after I paid the down payment, 300K, I notice that i will most likely waste the money away. the course is in 3 hours a week, for 12 weeks. and I'll be gone by half of the course.

But I have had history of burning money on courses I don't attend anyway, so it won't be something new. Sadly.