Siput

We were reading the menu and discussing what to eat when the waitress suggested in Bahasa Indonesia "siput", snail, for minimum 400 grams. Since we were thinking of getting jelly fish, we both thought she meant snail.

Then when she said "we also have fish for a minimum 400grams" as if it was part of the "siput", we both started to get confused. We found out she meant to say "seafood" but pronounced it "siput". She commented, "yes, different P".

Anti Mosquito Anti Me

The bloke showed us an Iphone app that supposed to be an anti mosquitoes. He turned it on about 50 cm in front of us.
+ The guy said this app emits sound that irritates mosquitoes, but maybe I'm deaf, I dont hear it.
- It does, I hear it. peep...peep.. very high.
+ You hear it?
- Yeah. It is irritating.
* Seriously? Let me try [he put the iphone next to his ear] hmm, nothing.
-Seriously. [both looked at me surprised]

Fact: I hear high pitch sound that irritates mosquitoes, rats, and that 'silent' ringtone that kids nowadays use but I have trouble hearing low pitch sound with background noise and I have a certified audiogram result to proof it.

What Are You Trying To Say?

Monday: This guy told me how he proposed to his fiancee. Super sweet.
Tuesday: This other guy told us how he celebrate his 10th anniversary. Amalfi, Capri, Heli ride. Need I say more?
Wednesday: stumbled on a movie located in Ireland with a proposal ending. Crappy fake accent. super view.

Time Is Up

An acquaintance of mine just lost her step-son 4 days ago. He had his general check up a few weeks ago in Singapore and was declared in perfect health. Since there was no autopsy, nobody really knows the cause of his death.

He was reading a novel when he passed away. Forty-two years young.

Meanwhile, a dear uncle of mine in his 70s is still standing despite diabetes, heart problem and kidneys failure that requires dialysis twice a week.

I guess when it's your time, it is your time.

Tired

When I grew up we were told Indonesian is very nice and polite.
The longer I live in Indonesia the more I believe it was a myth.
I've never been angrier before I moved back to Indonesia.

I'm tired of dealing with backstabbers.
I'm tired of dealing with hypocrites.
I'm tired of dealing with ungrateful people.
I'm tired of dealing with crappy people.
Especially the one with (little) power.
Dead tired.

This place drains me.

ps: I know you gonna say they are every where. Yes. It's just I've met them heaps over here.

Weird Conversation #5

Mom was doing crossword when this happened
+what is masturbation?
-how many letters?
+five
-o-n-a-n-i

I lived too long in lowland

Dont Know About You..

..But what Debora Cahn wrote ring true to me:

There’s an awful vertigo that sets in when women who were raised to be strong, and independent, and decisive, learn that they’re no longer supposed to make their decisions alone. They’re supposed to consult someone else. Hear their opinion. Consider it. And sometimes bend to it. It’s a nightmare. We were raised to do the opposite. Generations of our foremothers fought tooth and nail, so we could make our own decisions. And we’re still supposed to consult someone else?

Is It Just Me, Or There Was No Wedding Scene?

Last night I was working in front of Grey's Anatomy season 7 on the telly during prime time. It's the "White Wedding" episode. For those you uninitiated, it's a drama/comedy about doctors at Seattle Grace-Mercy West Hospital. Basically they are all hot, screwing each other while fixing their patients.

I actually watched it before, so I knew the story.

Like I said, I was working, so not really concentrating on watching it. However, I didnt recall seeing the lesbian wedding. I saw the talk between Miranda & Callie, then I checked my emails, the next thing I knew I saw MerDer in the Justice Office, then the lesbian party. A few minutes later, the episode ended. I looked at the clock, the whole thing wasnt even 45 minutes long. I knew without any ads the whole episode is about 42 minutes. My gut feeling told me they cut the wedding scene.

Later on they replayed the episode and I made a point of watching the whole thing just to see if they cut the scene. This time they have the scene and it lasted with ads for more than 50 minutes.

Unless my mind tricked me, I really do think they cut the lesbian wedding which is shown in between MerDer Justice Office scene during prime time. Come to think of it, perhaps because it was prime time, kids are still up and the show is broadcasted in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, they cut the lesbian wedding. People are afraid seeing lesbian wedding. They even more afraid of he scene corrupting the children.

I think Miranda had a quote in her scene with Callie that voiced my sentiment in her last 3 sentences:

"Okay, first of all, you do not need the law, or a priest, or your mother to make your wedding real. And the church can be anywhere you want it to be: in a field, on a fountain, right here in this room, anywhere. Because where do you think God is? C'mon now! He's in you, he's in me, he's right here between us. Now your church hasn't caught up to God yet. Your mother, she hasn't caught up to God yet. And, by the way, she may not ever catch up, but it's okay. It's okay. If you are willing to stand up in front of your friends and family and God and commit yourself to another human being, to give of yourself in that kind of partnership, for better or worse, in sickness and health — honey, that is a marriage, that is real, and that's all that matters. Besides, girl, I got legally married to man in a church. Look how good that turned out."

Night and Day

Within a week I had the opportunity to try the internet in two of the biggest IT related company. One of them is in Singapore, where I tried their impressive teleconference. You feel like your counterparts are in the same room as you and their mic is sensitive enough that when you move while talking, you counterpart natural reaction is to turn their head to the side where you move to. Not to mention you counterpart is pictured as big as the real person. They have not only one, but at least 3 rooms for such service. Talk about using a lot of bandwidth. I was in 'teleconference heaven'.

Today, I ended up 'working' in one of Indonesia biggest internet providers' office. Let me just say this: OMG! It took me ages to open my gmail account, then after I saw the list of my emails I could not do any thing at all. Nothing. Nada. Zip. even I couldnt log out! I tried opening up this website that I need and it took ages. I tried logging in to their intranet email service and it took ages to open up their lotus, plus the email I had been waiting for wasnt there even though I could see it already on my gmail list, which of course I couldnt open.

So, now I get it why my home connection which is provided by them is so darn slow for the connection I am paying for. They couldnt even have a decent connection in their own office. Seriously. When I commented about the speed, the lady who works there said because they have to split the connection with the whole building. Again, seriously!

Two companies, in two countries. It feels like night and day.

My "Mudik"

Someone asked if I go mudik this year. I said,"yes, to Singapore". The truth is, I have to work on Friday over there and stayed there for one night even though the office is close for a week.

It's my first proper stay in Singapore. Normally I just transit or visit my cousin for a few hours. Somehow I dont share the attraction of going there which a lot of Indonesians have. However, since I had this invitation and a meeting, I managed to visit Dali Exhibition while I was there.

After landing, this woman approached me, asking if I went to this university and if I was in her year. I did. That's the first time we met after gazillion years. We used to be in the same group because our names close to each other in the list. Small world, eh?

After checking in, I took a cab to MBS, Marina Bay Sands to see Dali. They currently also host Van Gogh and shipwrecked exhibition. Since I've been to Van Gogh museum many times before, I dont see the point of seeing his paintings projected. Besides I've never been a big fan of his anyway. In fact, the first time I saw his early painting I thought I knew better how to paint shadow when I was in elementary school than he was at his twenties. Suffice to say, that's when I lost my interest in him. But I digress.

Dali Exhibition was pretty good. There are plenty of his drawings and sculptures. Most of them are about his symbolism. I love his Lady Godiva and Space Elephant sculptures. To bad they didnt show his lobster phone while putting up his quote "I do not understand why, when I ask for a grilled lobster in a restaurant, I am never served a cooked telephone." it's like a loose end.

I think Dali exhibition at Boijmans Museum, Rotteram back in 2005 was bigger and better. Not to mention it was more fitting to his surrealism. MBS attempts to add something to his collection is by putting up funny mirrors in front of a wall of many kind of clocks. You can make your own picture of melting clock just as Dali did.

I then went to my meeting where I could try this state of the art tele conference. Apparently the Australian government use them. It's fab, you feel like you are in the same room with your counterpart and there was no delay in its connection. Too bad, we dont have the infrastructure to make it available every where in Indonesia. However, I do know there is at least one place in Jakarta using it.

From there I went to Orchad rd. and was sucked in ION for an hour. Dashed back to the hotel to change before going to this party. I met my girls at the party and had a good time with them and was introduced to a lot of people. Some are coming over in a few weeks. It was good that I saw the girls, but also sad as it was a farewell party of two great people. The host is charming as ever. I think one of the requirements of being an Irish Ambassador is being charming. The food is great. If you are ever been to the place, try the carrot pudding. It's gorgeous.

The next day, I had about two hours trying to find this Bialetti I wanted to give to a buddy of mine, but with no luck. No one but this girl ever heard of it.

On my way back, I was in the same flight with Yuni Shara & her toyboy. That's my Mudik story.