>> GLOOMY FRIDAY

wet..wet..wet... yup, new york city has been poring with rain since last night. they say it's because of the isadore storm that is around our way, although not quite make it *well, hope not!!*. but we got the splash from it. well, we need the water.. our water reservatory level has been really way down since the beginning of the summer and it hasn't reached to the satisfying level yet. we even had a drought emergency warning since summer and people are drown with flood in new orleans.

anyways, i don't really have too much stories for today. been busy at work cuz i've been procrastinating my work. my boss has been away to asia since two weeks ago and there's no better time than to enjoy it while i can. yaaahoooo!!!

just one good story and one bad story. let me start with the bad one. i have posted before about new yorker has lost their tolerance what's so ever!!! and here's another proof. today while waiting online with my co-worker aimee to get my sandwich at subway i saw a guy went ahead of us and standing as if waiting to get served. so when the helper called out for the next person in line, he raised his hand and said.. "i'm next!". i was having a conversation with aimee when i thought how unfair it was. so i called him up...

me: "sir, there is a line behind us and you cannot break it just like that. my friend here is the next customer, you should go back to the line."
him: "what are you talking about? i've been here before you."
me: "no you're not, i saw you came in after us. besides if you were here before us, you wouldn't be in front of that guy, cuz that guy has already ordered his food and the next person is my friend who's standing right behind him."
him: "you know you have a big mouth.. bla...bla..bla.. i'm here first so fuck off!" *he actually said.. bla..bla..bla.. how childish is that??*
me: "what the fuck? don't you have any fucking manner? just for a freaking' sandwich, for godsakes!! where have you been? on mars? don't you have any idea what a freakin' 'line' is? you stupid asshole!!"
aimee: "that's ok, sLesTa... calm down. there is no more gentleman in new york!! and he sure ain't one!!"

he keeps talking and talking and cursing off. i got so freakin' pissed off, i was shaking. but i don't really want to make a fight so i just let it go *i'm a peaceful person.. ahem*. what i don't get is that how the hell people like him who obviously was wrong keeps insisting that he was right. what a goddam-stupid-freakin'-ass!!!

now on a lighter note, i got a call from an insurance agency who i have been keeping in touch for the past two days. i have randomly put my information on one of the sites i couldn't remember for my search on a car-insurance. and the rep has called me up with a quote. and guess what?? it's not that bad.. actually it's even lower than i paid with geico right now!! woo hooo.. i'm so happy. thanks allstate! you have made my day!! and by the time i stepped out from the office.. it's no longer raining.

have a good weekend, everyone!!

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/28/2002 07:31:00 AM | [ ]

>> WEB CRIMES

made small changes on my page. if you can't see it, then you're not a regular here...*lol*. here goes, created a new page 'about me' and 'pix gallery'. deleted my 'about me' and 'my pix' columns from the left table. my 'about me' page is pretty much completed but i still have to work on the 'pix gallery' page. that's it!! so does it count? well, you tell me!!

anyways, been busy lately. so many things happened but i haven't had the time to write it down yet. i'm having writer's block, i think. but what the heck, i'll just write whatever's on my mind.

i have an interesting story to post *maybe leads to a little discussion...??* a dearest buddy of mine --who asked to be anonymous-- just had a recent misfortune. he has been looking for a computer *a laptop to be exact* for the past few months and his dad has given him money to get one, after his complete proposal of why he should get one. he's still a student, majoring in information systems, so it's obvious that having a computer would be a big plus to support his study. so he looked around. he should've just bought the computer right after he got the money, but instead he wants to make sure he is getting the best one there is out there with as little money possible *as people in business says.. maximize profit with as little cost*. so he ended up going to one of those bidding sites and actively started bidding the computer he wanted.

last week he got his eye on a sony vaio with top-of-the-line specs and he started bidding for it. the original price for this laptop is $2500. so he waited until a couple of minutes before the time for the bid to close and bid $1500 and he won the bid! so the seller contacted him and asked him to send the money via western union because he lives in romania and getting the money through western union is the best way for him. after so many emails being sent back and forth, my buddy got so excited and made the payment and the seller promised to send him the tracking number within 10 hours.

so, to celebrate this, after everything's settled, he went out to a bar with his friend that night. on the way home, something stuck on his mind, and decided to go back to the bidding site again and see the terms. by the time he logged in to his computer and checked his reserved money, turned out it has already been picked up. wasn't that fast? so he read the terms and saw a warning about these type of transactions *exactly the same modus operandi* and he got shook up thinking that he could be a web-crime victim... WEB-FRAUD!! so he contacted the bidding site and asked about this seller id. in the mean time, he tried to call this seller in romania *good thing he got the seller's address and phone number* and tried to find out why he has not sent the email with the tracking number when he already picked up the money. at first the guy answered the phone and said everything's fine. then he received an email from the bidding site saying that this seller id is a confirm fraud! so my buddy called the romanian guy again but he kept hanging up on him. so, it's confirmed that he's been a victim of a FRAUD and had lost $1500!!

now, after this, he keeps smashing his head on the wall saying he was so stupid to act through his excitement and not using his brain.. bla..bla..bla.. and believe me!! he's never like that before. and as i mentioned he's a student, so you can imagine how much money that is for him. not to mention his responsibility to inform his dad and how his dad will be so disappointed in him.. and so on and so on.

when i heard this, i keep trying to look for a loophole on how to get this guy. who should be responsible for this? of course, my buddy was at the low point when he just transferred the money withouth thinking ahead, but at the same time... if the bidding site knows that this seller id is a fraud, so why don't they have a firewall or somekind of protection to kick this seller id from placing a product to sell, or to even login to the site. so can the bidding site be responsible for it? we all know that with the advance in technology, particularly the internet, it creates many crimes, anything that scammers can think of. and the worst part is there has been no law whatsoever that cover the crimes on the net. basically.. it's so hard to get this guy or any scammers on the net for that matter. so what can we do? what can we make sure something like this wouldn't happen again to any of us, the so-called-innocent-users?

i know i am very careful about these kinds of things. i never bought anything from the internet, unless it's something that doesn't cost as much or as long as i can use a credit card or paypal *cuz they're fraud-protected*. but again, with the advance of the market and how companies are trying to create the consumer habit of buying online, things like this should be avoided from happening. but then there's always an argument that when somebody create a high security there's always a loophole for people go around it and beat the system. so what do you think my buddy should do? do you have any suggestions?? ideas, people??

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/27/2002 01:41:00 AM | [ ]

>> INCOME TAX JOKES & AUDITORS

yeah.. i know i know.. it's way after the hype of tax-income filing and way before we have to do another one.. but i came across these jokes and it cheered me up after having a 'bad day' fighting with damn auditors at work... *sigh*. so i thought i'd share it wit ya..

******

Tony died and was sent to be judged. He was told that he had cheated on his income taxes, and that the only way he could get into heaven would be to sleep with a stupid, butt-ugly woman for the next five years and enjoy it. Tony decided that this was a small price to pay for an eternity in heaven. So off he went with this woman, pretending to be happy.

As he was walking along, he saw his friend Carlos up ahead. Carlos was with an even uglier woman than he was with. When he approached Carlos he asked him what was going on, and Carlos replied "I cheated on my income taxes and scammed the government out of a lot of money." They both shook their heads in understanding and figured that as long as they have to be with these women, they might as well hang out together to help pass the time.

Now Tony, Carlos, and their two beastly women were walking along, minding their own business when Tony and Carlos saw their friend Jon up ahead, with an absolutely drop dead gorgeous supermodel. Stunned, Tony and Carlos asked Jon how is he with this unbelievable goddess, while they were stuck with these awful women. Jon replied "I have no idea, and I'm definitely not complaining. This has been absolutely the best time of my life. There is only one thing that I can't seem to understand. After everytime we have sex, she rolls over and murmurs to herself, 'Damn income taxes!'

******

A little boy wanted $100 badly and prayed for two weeks but nothing happened. Then he decided to write a letter to the Lord requesting the $100.

When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to the Lord, USA, they decided to send it to the President. The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5.00 bill, as this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy.

The little boy was delighted with the $5.00, and sat down to write a thank-you note to the Lord. It said:

Dear Lord,
Thank you very much for sending me the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through Washington, DC and as usual, those jerks deducted $95.

******

oooh, speaking about income tax, yesterday i received a letter from "Internal Revenue Service", aka IRS. i was hoping for the worst *like getting audited for my income tax* but when i opened the letter, it turned out that they had made an error on my income tax credit this year and sent me a refund check. woohoo.... an extra $80 in my pocket..!! for once, i didn't get fu©ked over by the government. what a surprise!!

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/25/2002 04:18:00 AM | [ ]

>> KISSING JESSICA STEIN

this past weekend, i rented this video "kissing jessica stein". it's a modern love story of the same-sex couple. ceritanya si jessica ini sering banget punya kejadian jelek setiap dia 'date' ama cowok. she's coming from an old conservative jewish family and her family wants her to settle down. apalagi dia udah semakin 'berumur'. tapi jessica malah ketemu ama cewek, helen, yang bener² click ama dia. so walopun rada² in denial, akhirnya dia berhubunganlah dengan si helen ini.

at the same time, her parents--particularly her mom--keeps trying to match her up with some jewish guy in any occassion they have. thinking her family is very conservative, jessica is getting the pressure to 'come-out-of-the-closet' about her new relationship with helen, but she chose not to reveal it, instead. nah, here's my favorite scene.. during her family dinner at the night before her brother's wedding, jessica suddenly cried cuz she feels she has hurt the only person that she cares the most *helen* because she refused to reveal her 'girlfriend' to her family. knowing that she might disappoint her parents, she just cried. then her mom comes to calm her down and finally told her "i think she is a really nice girl..." gituu... dan ceritanya setelah itu masih panjang siiihh, cuman that scene was very emotional. soalnya walopun selama ini nyokap nya kenal helen sebagai sahabatnya jessica, dan terus menjodoh²kan jessica, nyokapnya memilih untuk menerima jessica apa adanya. dan emang yaa.. 'mother knows best' soalnya she can find out that jessica has chosen to go to the 'other side' even though jessica never gave out any signs of her being a homosexual.

speaking about gays, kemaren ini gue lagi jalan² di west village *7th avenue south area* trus gue ketemu.... RUPERT EVERETT *tau kan? yang jadi sahabatnya julia roberts di 'my best friend wedding' dan sahabatnya madonna di 'the next best thing*!! well, it is a gay area *they even have a freakin' gay street in this area* jadi wajar aja kalo si rupert ada di daerah itu.. hmm, cakep juga ternyata kalo ketemu aslinya.. sayang dia gay!! oh, why...???

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/25/2002 04:07:00 AM | [ ]

>> MY MORNING COMMUTE THOUGHTS

as always, i took the train to work this morning. nothing fancy, except that i left really early from home and i was really sleepy. so instead of doing my regular thing while in the train *reading my book* i just went ahead and closed my eyes for a catnap. at one of the stations, i kinda opened my eyes a little and saw there's this woman in front of me with a bulge in her stomach. it's very obvious that she's pregnant and been standing there for a while. i was so freakin' surprise to find out that none of the people around me even tried to get up and gave her a seat. i mean, she's so obviously pregnant!! *not like one of those people that you wonder if she is pregnant or just overweight*

i saw a guy sitting next to me reading a newspaper, a young girl on my right doing nothing *and wide awake!* and they didn't even do a thing *while others are either have their eyes closed or some old people*!! where's your fu©kin' tolerance, people??? so i called her up and gave her my seat. she took it and whispered a 'thank you' to me. why, i've never been in her position before but i KNOW that i would want people to do the same if i were.

now it happens a lot of times. there are many times during my commute in the subway, i saw pregnant women or old people standing up while nobody is willing to give out their seats. sometimes i understand how people feel about giving up their seats on the train. i mean, people are tired , especially after a long day of work, and getting a seat during rush hour is like going on 'vacation' after a long hours of work. but as a human being, we have qualities that separate us from animals, one being our feeling of 'tolerance' towards others. i'm not saying that i always give up my seat everytime *kadang2 soalnya kalo lagi capek banget gue suka pura2 tidur.. heheh.. sorry.. tapi gue malah jadi merasa bersalah banget and ended up giving up my seat anyways!!* well at least i always try to. but, i'm always so pissed when i see a young and healthy guy sitting down on the train and wouldn't give up his seat for a pregnant woman or for an old person *as in really old, like your grandma's age*?? what's wrong with that picture??

a couple of weeks ago, i heard a similar topic on the radio, but it's more about whether we should give special treatment to 'old people'. for example, if we were online in grocery stores, should we let an old lady behind us to go ahead?? is it fair to let them break the line.. just for the main reason that they're 'old'? now many says that it depends on how old they are. if a person is old *like 50 years old, who's still NOT considered old enough* but he/she is in good health, have good legs and having no trouble of waiting online for 10-15 minutes... so why should we let them go first?? and sometimes old people are so rude. instead of asking us whether they can go in front of us because they have bad legs or whatever, they would just go right ahead in front of us, no questions asked. while on the other hand, i've had experiences with old people whom when i told them to go ahead or to take my seat, they became angry.. thinking that they're not THAT old to be given up a seat for. nah, serba salah kan??

of course, ini orang2 tua yang tinggal di amerika. it's different with how we treat old people in indonesia. i, myself, have always been taught to respect older people, that if a woman *my mom's age* tiba2 maen langsung motong antrian gue, walopun kesel, yaa.. biarin lah. karena gue sadar, mereka tuh lebih tua dari gue, dan tidak pernah diajarkan tata krama buat 'ngantri'. walopun kadang2 kalo kesel suka gue tegor juga, apalagi sekarang kan jiwa 'ngantri' tuh udah populer di kota2 metropolitan kayak jakarta. . nah, beda kalo ama orang2 kolot disini.. they've always been taught to go online, and it's just freakin' sad that they would do the same just for a reason that they're too old to wait online. sad.. sad.. sad... where's your freakin' tolerance, people??

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/23/2002 10:11:00 PM | [ ]

>> WHAT IS YOUR BRAND??

hmm.. pagi2 tuh paling enak, nyampe kantor trus nyalain komputer, login to the internet, ngecek2 email sambil makan dunkin donuts's "egg & cheese in a croissant" and a nice cup of french vanilla coffee... yummee...

anyways, i had an interesting discussion last nite on my "Systems Analysis & Design" class. my professor is an adjunct professor who's also an expert in IT industry, working for top corporate companies in the country as well as globally. one thing that i like about my school is that they provide so many adjunct professors who are experts in their fields. that way we are able to gain some knowledge coming from the 'real world' experience, instead of just learning from a bunch of theories from the text books that we could hardly understand from all the jargons it contains. so now, although that class is an 'information systems' class, he would throw in some 'real life' business problems created from an IT industry and make a good discussion out of it.

well last nite, he was asking us the definition of a 'BRAND'. now, when you hear this word, what is it that you think?? we use this word so much, "i want this brand, or that brand. i use this brand of shampoo on my hair. i only wear this brand. bla..bla.. bla.." you got my point! most of us would think that BRAND has something to do with the quality of the service or product. the logo that they use. the image that they created. the name of the product. the specialty of their product. take coca cola, for example. their marketing people has created a brand for their product that makes people think of their taste, their logo, their red & white color, correct??

so according to my professor, this is what everybody has been misled by the marketing teams. a BRAND does not just appear as an image for a product or a company because the definition of BRAND does not suppose to relate to marketing terms only. instead, a BRAND should be in the core of every busines, in every department. may that be in IT department, marketing, finance, accounting, sales, etc. according to his 'real-world' experiences, he views that many of america's top corporate companies still do not understand this. and in IT industry point of view, an IT person would just drop the idea of a 'BRAND', thinking that it should not be a matter for his/her work, it supposed to be a matter of people from marketing, which is a big NO NO!. because the definition of a 'BRAND' is a PROMISE WE MAKE AND A PROMISE THAT WE KEEP. of course, it is a promise we make on our product or service, and we should keep it accordingly. lightly, it can also apply to us, individually.

now one of the most successful companies in the world have made that promise and always keep it. hmm.. take starbucks. their brand is 'commitment to origins' which is dedicated to creating a sustainable growing environment in coffee origin countries. and they have been keeping their promise by having a connection to coffee farmers in different countries, including providing coffee from sumatera, sulawesi, java, colombia, etc. as long as they keep this promise, people would find them as a 'clean-honest' company who does not try to fool their customers by any necessary means. for all i know, as a customer, i wouldn't care if they use the original coffee or not, but the fact they keep their promise means they are in a business to satisfy their customers. it's a promise they make and the promise they keep and it all leads to their image as a company.

so... what do you think is your definition of a BRAND?? and have you got a good BRAND in you?

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/19/2002 10:43:00 PM | [ ]

>> WHERE CAN I GET LOW-COST AUTO INSURANCE??

when i picked up my mail yesterday i noticed i got a letter from geico. it thought it was my car insurance bill. but i already paid it off and it seems too early to be getting another one. so i opened it. and what a shock!! they could not renew my insurance for the next term due to unknown reason *at least for me cuz they don't really list anything except for adrian's previous violations*

so i called them. adrian got a speeding ticket this past january. and i have put his name along with my brother as the additional operators of my car *soalnya gue suka males nyetir.. ada cowok kok gue yang nyetir..?? hihii...* so i thought maybe because of his recent run-in with the law, geico thought that it's very risky to renew my insurance for the next term. and i called them thinking that if i dropped his name, it should be ok. turned out the whole problem was because of the accident we had about a year ago. the car that we rear-ended *although it was only a scratch and my front-end was almost totaled* filed a claim, and we didn't. and adrian was the one who's driving, except that at the time, i have not put his name as an additional operator yet. after the accident, i asked them to put his name as the additional operator. turned out their underwriters thought that this was a 'lending-loss' for them cuz this behavior would mean that i might have lent my car to people who are not covered in my insurance *as the rep. said*. what da fu©k??

so i asked if there's anything i can do to avoid this from happening *the termination of my insurance* but the rep was just saying that there's nothing they can do. the underwriters have made their case. dammit!! so the whole night i was pretty much in the bad mood. cuz i know how expensive car insurance is. i've been with geico for the past 2-3 years and they have given me a really good rate, knowing that i'm under 25 and live in new york. i only paid about $1300 per year and that's considered cheap for a new york city rate.

so i called up some other insurance companies, thinking maybe they would have the competitive rates as geico. and OHMIGOD.. progressive quoted me for $1898 per 6 mos, and liberty mutual quoted me $3500 per year *this after so many discounts i got as an alumni from my old college*. how da hell they expect me to pay for that?? i thought of selling the car instead *which is easy enough, i hardly use it anyways.. i go around by subways...* but my bro needs it. in fact, he's the one keeping the car during the week so he can drive to school. so it's impossible to sell it.

so after spending the rest of the night looking for some quotes on car insurance, i called arman. he said that he knows a place in queens boulevard that offer low insurance. so i might go there this saturday. adrian called his mom in south carolina for some advice. another option, change my license plate to south carolina's so i can get a full coverage for less than $1000. i don't really want to.. but it's much better option than paying $3500/year for a freakin' car insurance.

anybody knows any low-cost auto insurance provider *especially low for the state of new york that is* ??? HEELLLPPP!!!

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/18/2002 03:28:00 AM | [ ]

>> RAINY DAY

hmm... iya nih kayaknya fall emang udah di depan pintu nih. *seperti katanya hanzky* it was raining the whole freakin' weekend.

on saturday, gue tadinya udah mau ketemuan ama han & may, tapi jadi nya males. padahal gue udah rapi, udah dandan, udah tinggal pergi.. end up nya malah nonton tipi. i was gonna clean up my apartment, but i ended up just watching the videos, 'queen of the damned' and 'the rookie'. both were good.

on sunday, my bro and i was thinking of getting a new cell phone. the ones that we have now are analog *digital pcs* and although i've been with that number for a very long time, i decided that it's time for a change. i need one that i can use globally. not that i would call overseas a lot, it's just that the rest of the world are using gsm service, and my service is still in analog. can't text message, can't do nothing with it.

the weather looked ok, so i decided to go. just by the time i stepped outside, it started raining so hard. but we're already on the highway, so might as well go all the way to manhattan. we stopped by at the cingular store in lexington ave. we decided to go ahead with it *after doing research for the past 2 weeks* so, we got ourselves new phones. i got that new sony ericsson and my bro got the nokia. it's my new toy, i just ended up playing with it on my way home.

after we're all set with our new phones, i called to discontinue the service of my previous ones. and guess what?? they offered me a free month of service and all other craps just so i wouldn't discontinue the service. well, yeah, it's true i've been with them for a long time, but all this time i was thinking that they never appreciate us, the long time users. eh, pas gue mau matiin baru di- offer. but too bad, i already hooked up with my new phone. but i still took that 'one month free of service' offer, cuz i'm thinking maybe i can find somebody who would want my number and just continue my service. saves them money for not spending another activation fee. so, anybody??

han & may called while we're still in manhattan. they wanted to hang out at palacinka, but i didn't feel like it *sorry guys!* and we just went home. stopped by at top line to buy some groceries *i'm so fuckin' hungry.. didn't have anything to eat the whole day!* and off we went back to my apartment.

my bro kept asking me to start cooking already, padahal gue lagi asik maen ama telpon baru gue. but then i realized i'm so hungry too. so after roughly about an hour, we had dinner with stingrai salted fish, bokcoy in garlic & oyster sauce, and my mom's sambal terasi *broght from jakarta*. i also made pempek palembang cuz my bro insisted me to make it for him so he can take 'em to his apartment in jersey. came out pretty good.. and the sauce is pretty spicy too.

and all the while, it was raining the whole time outside... it's so nice to stay at home and do nothing!! *well.. sort of!*

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/17/2002 02:16:00 AM | [ ]

>> SWEET REVENGE

tadi malem gue nonton video 'the count of monte cristo'. at first i thought it was just gonna be one of those adventure movies, tapi yang maen si guy pearce *from memento & time machine* so i thought it's probably worth to watch. i was damn right. it was a really good movie.

along with jim caviezel *high crimes, angel eyes, & frequency* they give sizzling performances in this movie. it's about the greatest tale of betrayal, adventure and revenge the world has ever known. when the dashing and guiltless edmon dantes *caviezel* is betrayed by his best friend *pearce* and wrongly imprisoned for 13 years, he becomes consumed by thoughts of vengeance. after a miraculous escape, he transforms himself into the mysterious and wealthy count of monte cristo, insinuates himself into the french nobility and puts his cunning plan of revenge in action.

it's a good one and i really recommend it. *oh and psstt... jim caviezel disitu cakeeepp bangeetttss!! hihi*

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/14/2002 10:20:00 PM | [ ]

>> THE UNLUCKY FRIDAY THE 13TH

of all superstitions, perhaps the most pervasive -- and yet least explicable -- is the aversion to the number thirteen. many buildings *particularly hotels* tall enough to have a thirteenth floor will not number it as such. i have read somewhere that the registration of princess margaret's birth was delayed so that she would not be entered as number thirteen. so firm is its grip upon us that even hospitals, those supposed bastions of rational thought, decline to label their operating theaters with the number.

so, what's with this supersitions?? what is it about the 'devil's dozen' that poses such evil portent? the answer is go way back centuries ago, way to biblical times. here are several of the stories on the myth of the unlucky 13th i have come across:

>> thirteen is especially unlucky terms of dinner parties, referring back to the last supper or the norse feast: it is believed that one of the thirteen diners will die within a year. but the fear exists in every occurrence of the number. throughout the western world people can still be found numbering their houses '12 1/2,' to avoid living in number 13. The state lotteries of france, italy, and elsewhere never sell tickets with that number. as i have mentioned before, many hotels and hospitals, and similar institutions, often have no room numbered thirteen; and many big hotels, like the new cavendish hotel completed in london in 1966, also have no thirteenth floor. fear is also aroused if the thirteenth of the month falls on a friday--in itself a notoriously unlucky day, largely by association with good friday.

>> when making beds, mattress should never be turned on a friday or a sunday. sunday is taboo, of course, because of the biblical prohibition working on the sabbath--the jewish sabbath being transferred to the first day of the week in christian practice-- and friday because of the general bad luck attributed to it. many people consider that this attribute of friday is due its being the day of the crucifixion, but the belief in its ill luck probably goes much farther back in history and may have something to do with the sacrifices offered to the goddess friga in norse mythology.

>> in scotland, thirteen is known as the "devil's dozen" --a title characteristic of the worst associations of this much abused number. i have already made reference to the question of thirteen sitting at table together. but the romans considered that the fatality followed the number whenever and for whatever purpose thirteen people gathered together.

this superstition is probably among the most popular myth in the world. and so that’s what i found out about the background of friday the thirteenth. my sources weren’t impeccable, but they were the only ones available to me *or the only ones i looked up.. hihih..*. i’m sure there are many other sources with other derivations. who’s got another version? which one’s right? who knows?

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/14/2002 07:07:00 AM | [ ]

>> SAY WHAATT??

i just got this an email from my friend in jakarta. she wrote:

anyway, i saw you on tv today. kok sama ceritanya sama kayak yang lo ceritain ke gue tentang 911.... kurang mendramatisir lo, nggak cocok jadi spokeperson... kurang memakai majas hiperbola. tapi lucunya, yang diinterview di tv yang bahasa indonesianya blepetan cuma elo. gimana sih, waktu SMP bahasa indonesia lo sembilan... sekarang jadi new yorker yah.... hahahahahahahaha

jadi ternyata interview gue ama metro tv beneran ditayangin. wuaaduhhh!! i wonder how it goes. dan dari komen temen gue itu, so it's true ...ella, we do have similar problems.. hahhah. apparently we no longer know how to speak proper indonesian!! wah, parah deh. bukannya gak bisa sih sebenernya, rada kagok aja.. soalnya selama di amerika kan kita terbiasa untuk berbahasa inggris. sekalipun berbahasa indonesia, pastinya dengan bahasa2 gaul atau bahasa slank. nah, jangan kan kita2 yang tinggal jauh dari negara sendiri, banyak kok orang indonesia yang lahir, sekolah, dan tinggal di indonesia *particularly jakarta* dan gak bisa memakai bahasa indonesia yang baik & benar. kenapa coba? apalagi anak jakarta... yang emang ketauan dari dulu paling ngetop dengan bahasa slank nya.

gue punya cerita... sekitar 2 tahun yang lalu ada anak jakarta yang maen ke new york. ternyata dia sekarang udah jadi salah satu model ngetop di jakarta *waktu dikenalin sih gue gak tau, tapi dari gerak geriknya bisa rada2 ditebak kalo dia tuh model*. nah trus pas kita lagi ngobrol2 gitu.. tiba2 gue kok ngerasa aneh dengan cara ngomongnya. gue sih ngajak ngomongnya pake bahasa indonesia yaa.. tapi pas dia jawab dengan bahasa indonesia juga, kok kedengerannya ada accent yang aneh. terus gue bilang ama salah satu temen gue yang dengan cueknya langsung nanya...

TEMEN GUE: "kamu dari mana?"
TAMU: "dari jakarta"
TEMEN GUE: "ooohh.. emang dulu pernah tinggal di luar?"
TAMU: "enggak, dari dulu selalu di jakarta. ini juga saya baru pertama kali ke luar negri, dan ke new york"
TEMEN GUE: "ooh gitu.. kok kalo gitu kamu ngomongnya ada aksennya gitu sih??"

nah itu cewek langsung merah mukanya. tapi emang beneran dia ngomong pake aksen yang kayak orang bule ngomong bahasa indonesia. pokoknya aneh bener. sementara gue gak pernah tuh berbahasa indonesia dengan aksen sok bule. yang ada malah jadi betawi banget. malah temen gue pernah bilang kalo gue tuh ngomong inggris nya bisa cas-cus-cis-cus gitu.. tapi pas pindah ngomong bahasa indonesia jadi medhok banget. same with most of my friends. the fact that we sometimes throw in some english words in our conversation kan bukan berarti sok2an tapi karena kita udah terbiasa untuk berbicara, berpikir, sampe bermimpi pun dalam bahasa inggris. nah kalo gue misalnya udah tinggal di indonesia, dan musti menyesuaikan diri dengan cara berpikir dan berkomunikasi dengan bahasa indonesia yang bener, i'm sure i wouldn't have any problem with it. after all, it's my mother's language. the language i was born with. and the language i was first introduced and learned and speak.

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/12/2002 01:57:00 AM | [ ]

>> 9/11 IN REMEMBERANCE

it seems like yesterday that i rushed to my office after i had been stuck inside the subway tunnel for close to half-an-hour. by the time i got to fifth avenue, i saw people are facing south of manhattan watching the horrendous thick smoke coming out of the twin towers. at first, i just ignored it. the only thing i had in mind was i was incredibly late for work. by the time i got up to my 20th floor office, i heard a loud noise of radio being played on, people are crowding the west side of the office, where we have this big window facing directly to the world trade center. i rushed myself along with them with a big question mark on my head. i could not believe that just before my eyes, i'm seeing the worst tragedy of the century. a mass murder!! i saw with my own eyes how the tower collapsed one by one. something that until now seems very surreal to me.

now a year after the 'attack', i feel that life must go on. while i was in jakarta, every people i saw asked me about how it was during the 'attack'. and of course, i said as a matter-of-factly. one of my friends is a producer at metro tv and was doing a project for a program in remembering the 9/11 attack. she asked me to do an interview for them, which i did. out of all the questions, one keeps echoing in my head. "how is life in new york city nowadays? how does the attack impact you personally, you being a muslim?" now, at that time of the interview, i just answered *the interview was all in indonesian.. and i tried so hard to answer it in the right & proper indonesian...*

"i just realized that life must go on. new yorkers are made out of tough people. people from all over the world might think that new yorkers have cold heart, but that's not true, cuz when tragedy happens, we go hand-in-hand to make sure everybody would get up and continue on living a normal life. it's true that life forward might not be the same, but we have to continue to live normally as hard as we can. as in the impact to me personally.. well, i have not experienced any hate-crime since the tragedy. maybe the fact that i don't wear head-dress *jilbab* and not carrying a muslim name does not associate me as a muslim. for me, life must go on. there's nothing we can do. we can't just stay at home and cried..."

so that was my answer. but for some reason, the question keeps ringing on my head over and over. i never really thought how this 9/11 attack impacts me in personal level. in fact i just never thought about it. i heard about there are many counseling service for people who are impacted emotionally. i just thought that it would be for those who directly related to the tragedy, who has lost someone they loved, or worked on the site and saw horrible things from the aftermath. i just thought that it wasn't for me. and even though i eyewitnessed the whole ordeal when the building collapsed and people pouring on the streets walking and trying to get to their home, i never felt anything that needs counseling for. the 'attack' just don't impact me in personal level.

until last nite. after work, i took the R train and on the way suddenly it stopped. it strangely silenced all of a sudden. a weird silent. a mild panic came in to me. everybody stayed quiet. i looked up from the book i was reading.. and the conductor announced "there has been a traffic from the train ahead of us. we apologize for the delay, and we shall be moving shortly." you see... this thing happens a lot of time within the past year or even years before that. it's something normal to be happening on the train during rush hour. but this time it kinda scared me a little. it's true, nothing happened, it was just a congestion in subway line last nite. but in that moment of silent --knowing that it's near the time of the 'attack' happened... and not knowing what really happened--it brought me back to september 11, a year ago. the time i got stuck inside the subway tunnel for nearly half-an-hour with the announcer saying "there is a red signal ahead of us. there has been an accident in downtown. we will be moving shortly." it was just a short message. all went through my mind was that i was so late, my boss will kill me!! i would never have thought in a million years that the 'accident' has been the tragedy of 9/11. the saddest day of the year. and i was actually in the middle of it.

so, no.. i don't think i'd need counseling. but i do know now.. it does impact all of us, no matter how small or big the impact is, close or far we are from the ground zero. i realized that it scares me a little. i do feel safe to live in new york, nothing has changed since then, but it does scare me knowing that anything might happen and in-fact it did happen.

and there is nobody in this world could say and guarantee that it will never happen again.

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/11/2002 10:57:00 PM | [ ]

>> TUYUL OR MBAK YUL...???

percaya atau enggak, if you are from indonesia, or at least have lived in indonesia, you would've probably heard this thing called tuyul. it's that creature that is believed could be trained to steal money. it has a master that would collect the stolen money and would make him rich. honestly, gue sih sebenernya gak percaya2 amat. karena kalo dipikir2 tuyul itu kan bukan manusia, dan bukan setan juga. jadi apa dong? jin? who knows?? it might as well be just a legend.. so people would be careful to put their money.. honestly, i dunno!

nah ngomong2 tentang tuyul pernah ada kejadian lucu di rumah gue waktu gue balik ke jakarta. for some unknown reason, i've been hearing so many ghosts stories. not just the ghost stories from jakarta, but also stories from places in america. who would've thought that there are ghosts in america?? *ya ada aja laaahhh...!! poltergeist & the exorcist salah satu contohnya...heee.* pokoknya gue tuh denger cerita2 itu langsung jadi rada2 serem sampe2 gue gak mau tidur sendirian di rumah. mom told me that people in my complex think that there are spirits in my house underneath the sukun tree. gak tau deh bener apa enggak, tapi banyak yang bilang begitu. mom said it's good that people think that there are ghosts in my house so they would be afraid to even come in to the house, especially with bad intentions. apalagi kadang2 yang di rumah gue tuh cuman nyokap gue ama pembantu cewek satu2nya. dad sometimes travel out of town for weeks. dan cuman ada dua cewek di rumah pastinya bikin serem juga.

so back to the story, lagi seru2 nya ngomongin ttg setan ama nyokap dan adek gue...tiba2 nyokap inget kalo pembantu gue pernah ngeliat anak kecil botak lari dari tanah kosong yang di depan rumah gue. katanya ngeliatnya waktu itu udah rada malem, dan nyokap ama pembantu gue ngejar ke jalanan samping. pengen tau itu siapa karena dikirain ada anak2 bandel yang nongkrong di tanah kosong depan rumah. tapi nyokap gak nemuin tuh anak kecil. trus gue dan adek gue langsung bilang.. "tuyul kali mah!!. nyokap gue langsung penasaran soalnya dia bilang..

MOM: "eh, mungkin bener tuyul kali yaa?? soalnya mama tuh suka berasa kalo duit mama kok suka cepet bener abisnya..."

after saying this, she opened the drawer beside her bed and pulled out an envelope with money inside, and started to count it.

MOM: "eh.. tuh kan.. kok duitnya kurang lapan lembar nih??"

she showed me segepok duit lima puluh ribuan. gue ama adek gue started to count the money thoroughly. bener, kurang lapan lembar! that's empat ratus ribu rupiah! kita langsung nuduh kalo mungkin nyokap lupa kalo udah ngambil a couple of sheets to pay for some bills or whatnot. soalnya kan suka ada aja orang yang dateng ke rumah minta duit, atau bayar ini bayar itu. but mom insisted that she put that money aside and never opened it up until now. but she seemed not sure cuz there could be a chance that she did take the money by mistake. suspecting our maid was out of the question cuz mom really trusted her and we know she wouldn't do stuff like that. so we suggested that my mom put the money somewhere else *padahal udah dibilangin not to put the money inside the house, but she insisted that she doesn't want to put the money in the bank, for god-knows-what reason...* soalnya menurut cerita2, kalo duitnya dipindahin, tuyul-nya musti nyari lagi, dan it'd take time. udah gitu musti dikasih sehelai rambut...biar gak diambil lagi... *gak tau deh ini dari mana ide-nya or whether it even works.. tapi kalo emang bener tuyul, yaa.. cobain aja.. siapa tau berhasil?? ya gak?* and that's what my mom did.

several days passed by, then one day mom wants to pay some guy for some bills. she went over the drawer on the other side of the room and took the money out of a zipped binder and opened it. she counted it slowly and then yelled...

MOM: "loh kok kurang lagi nih?? 3 lembar dua puluh ribuan dan satu lipetan yang isinya ada 10 biji dua puluh ribuan. jadi semuanya ilang dua ratus enam puluh ribu.. kok bisa ya?? padahal mama waktu itu udah bener2 diitung, semuanya udah bener kok..."

gue yang kebetulan lagi di kamar cuman bisa bilang...

ME: "yakin mah?? bener mama ngitungnya gak salah? abis siapa dong yang ngambil?? masak sih tuyul??"

lagi bingung2 gitu, bokap masuk kamar trus langsung dilaporin ama nyokap... instead of panicking.. he was getting angry at my mom...

DAD: "lagian...mama tuh udah papa bilang, jangan naro duit di dalam rumah. kita kan mana tau kalo ada orang yang masuk dan ngambil duitnya?? kita sih gak mau nyalahin orang, tapi mungkin aja kejadian, soalnya kunci kamar kita kan ilang satu. gak tau kemana, ya gak mau nuduh orang juga..."

my dad is one of those person who always think logically. he doesn't believe in those types of bullsh*t like tuyul and the kinds. he believes that there should be an explanation to all of this.

we were ready to go out, and after this discussion, with my mom still wonders what happen to the money and keeps talking about it... dad decided to put a trap on the money stealer.

he purposely laid down 21 sheets of lima puluh ribuan inside the drawer. marked the money carefully in the corner of each sheet and put a couple invisible tapes on the door after he locked it. so when somebody opens the door the tape would go inside and we would know if the money was stolen by somebody who comes in to the room.

so we left. after several hours we went back to the house. my dad hurrily walked to the room and confirmed that somebody did go inside the room. he opened the door, checked the money inside the envelope and it was missing one sheet!!!.

since there are nobody else in the house but my maid, it is obvious that she had taken the money. my parents confronted her and found the marked money inside her wallet. apparently she had found the lost key and decided to keep it. my mom was in total shock cuz she really trusted her and never thought in a million years that she would do a thing like this. my parents was forgiven enough not to fire her, because in days like this, it's so hard to find a good maid and she's been with us for a while. one thing for sure, we can't really trust her as much, and sure enough, my mom changed all the locks in the house while my maid was away to the market.

in the end... is there really a tuyul or it has always been a mbak yul all along???

moral of the story? USE A FREAKIN' BANK TO STORE MONEY, THAT'S WHY THEY INVENTED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!! *hihihi...*

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/11/2002 12:12:00 AM | [ ]

>> RANDOMS ACTIVITIES TODAY..

* i already uploaded my vacation pictures. created a new table of 'my pix' on the left that lists all the links to my photo album. you can see my vacation's pics under summer vacation 2002 or by clicking this.
* very busy today at work. pretty much going back and forth all day.
* my class has started. tough class. my schedule is mondays & wednesdays. mondays i have finance class 'money & capital markets'. tough professor! wednesdays i have my IS class. should be fun. can't wait to go...!!
* gotta clean up my apartment this weekend.
* gotta buy books for my classes.
* gotta start reading my finance book, otherwise, i'll be lost in the class *sigh*

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/10/2002 10:47:00 AM | [ ]

>> ARJUNA MENCARI CINTA

Sudah... kudaki gunung tertinggi
Hanya untuk mencari di mana dirimu
Sudah... kujelajahi isi bumi
Hanya untuk dapat hidup bersamamu

Sudah... kuarungi laut samudra
Hanya untuk mencari tempat berlabuhmu
Tapi... semakin jauhku mencari cinta
Semakin aku tak mengerti

Akulah arjuna... yang mencari cinta
Wahai wanita... cintailah aku

Mungkin.. kutemui cinta sejati
Saat aku hembuskan nafas terakhirku
Mungkin... cinta sejati memang tak ada
Dalam cerita kehidupan ini

by DEWA

*********************

you all probably familiar with the above lyrics *maybe not*. it's one of dewa's new song "arjuna" good lyrics, good music.

is there an 'eternity love'? i myself still not sure. i myself still looking. i might have gotten it, i might have lost it, i might have not even come close to it. who knows?? i certainly don't!

now now.. i don't really wanna talk about 'eternity love' though.. i think it's very sensitive subject, at least for now. maybe some other time.

but i do wanna write about the song. i fell in love almost immediately after i heard it. i'm not sure if it's the music or the lyrics. i'm mostly sure it was the lyrics.. and the singer. but nooo.. bukan dewa yang nyanyiin!! bingung kan??

gue udah tau ttg lagu ini yang lagi populer di indonesia. tapi gue belom pernah denger lagunya, even setelah gue nyampe di jakarta. mostly mungkin karena gue terlalu sibuk jalan2 dan enjoying my time, sampe2 gue gak menyempatkan waktu untuk dengerin lagu2 yang lagi ngetop di jakarta. shopping pun gue gak tertarik!! *hihi...* dan waktu gue ke bali, i went to hard rock cafe one night and they were having this band *energize band* performing. there are 7 of them, six guys and a girl. all of them sing and only the girl doesn't play any music instrument. pertama nya sih gue mikir paling one of those band who sings top 40 songs. well, iya sih, tapi mereka nyanyi lagu2 all in english. after the show, i got introduced to them, soalnya ake ternyata kenal sama mereka. turned out mereka bukan orang indonesia. they're from the neighboring country yang di contract untuk jadi house band di hard rock cafe all over asia. so i was pretty surprised, apalagi dua orang leading singer nya cakep2 dan mereka juga ngajakin gue ngobrol terus.. *berbunga2 hatiku..hihi..najis!!* dan mereka ternyata bagus banget maennya. and the fact that the two lead singers are cute.. bikin banyak cewek2 jadi pada groupies gitu. nongkrong di luar hard rock cafe after the show just to get to know them. sok2 ngajak jalan. typical lah!! luckily, i don't have to do that, karena as i said my friend knows them *they're friends* so we got to hang out anyhow.

kedua kalinya gue ngeliat mereka manggung, itu lah pertama kalinya gue denger lagu "arjuna" ini. it took me by surprise because they sang it really good *knowing that they're not indonesian to begin with*, but i haven't heard the original one to compare with their version. the crowd seem pleased to hear them sing the song, so they must be good. after that show, we went out for dinner. alvin, the lead singer and the singer for "arjuna" song, made a joke how he almost died singing that song on stage because the tune was really high. but i didn't even notice that. we had a good time hangin' out. got to know how they got in to the business. zai, another singer dan yang paling cakep menurut gue, ternyata kerja sebagai art director di perusahaan advertising di negaranya. after working for 10 years he decided that the job had become a routine for him and he felt that he had lost his artistic inspiration. so he quit the job and joined the band to refresh his brain *way to go, zai!!* bell, the cutest girl on the band, very soft-spoken in real life. but when she got on the stage, her voice is so loud and solid, sampe nyanyiin lagunya mary j. blige dengan persisnya. miko, the keyboardist and seems very serious. in fact he is. frankie, the guitarist, and he is a damn good guitarist too!.. one of the show dia maen lagunya jimi hendrix, saking seriusnya dia kayaknya sambil maen sambil berkhayal kalo dia lah jimi hendrix.. dan emang bagus banget sih maennya... ken, the drummer... cakep juga, very loyal to his wife.."the family man". dia yang paling bagus bahasa indonesia nya, sampe2 gue kirain dia orang indonesia beneran. and the last guy rocky, the bassist. denger2 sih dia yang paling tua, although he doesn't look like he's that old. i didn't really speak to him that much. he's very quiet.

so when i got back to jakarta, i bought dewa's cd. heard the song. yup, they sang it as the original alright. thanks to the band, the song just gave me another good memory and a nice story to tell. *and still can't get that song out of my head!!*

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/06/2002 11:32:00 PM | [ ]

>> IF ONLY EVERYONE .....

it was hot and humid that day. i took a half-day off work and on my way home after running some errands. on my way, i saw a street vendor selling ice cendol. in a hot day like this, getting an ice cendol would really quench my thirst. so i walked over to the vendor. right next to it, i saw an old man sitting on the side of the road. homeless person, i assume. he looks so skinny. it seems that age has eaten up his flesh and only skin wrapped his aged bones. as i passed by i dropped a sheet of a thousand rupiah to his hand. in this day and age, it's uncommon to see people begging for money or food on the street. life is getting hard in this metropolitan city *jakarta*.

while enjoying a glass of my ice cendol, i heard a sound of a bell ringing from the school across the street. the sound of kids running out of their classes following the sound of the bell. then i saw this young boy came out of the school gate and ran toward the ice cendol vendor. with his cute boyish voice, he said:

little kid: "bang, how much is it to buy a half glass of that ice cendol?"
vendor: "one thousand rupiah"

then he reached to his pocket and looked at how much money he had. *the price of a glass of that ice cendol was two thousand rupiahs. after a while...

little kid: "how much if i want it without coconut?" *the vendor puts few slices of coconut meat in the ice cendol*
vendor: "i'll sell you for Rp. 800 without coconut and ice"

after thinking for a while, the little boy agreed. at first i thought, maybe he wouldn't be able to finish the whole glass that's why he ordered it for a half only. but after his second question, i thought maybe he didn't have enough money to buy it. i thought maybe i should've bought this little boy his half-ordered ice cendol since he seems to wanting it and i have some extra money in my pocket. then...

the little boy decided and said OK to the half-glass-no ice-no coconut drink, took out a sheet of Rp. 1000 and gave it to the vendor. he took the change of Rp. 200 from the vendor and ran over to the old guy on the side of the street and put the money in his hand.

it hit me so hard. how could a small kid like him has such a big heart. he was willing to sacrifice his needs and wants of getting a nice cold ice cendol just so he would be able to give some change to the homeless old guy. although he only put Rp. 200 to the hand of that old man, its value is far more greater than the Rp. 1000 i gave. if only everyone has a big heart like him.....

[taken from setitik embun column on kartini magazine, august 2002 edition. short translated to english by sLesTa]

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/05/2002 09:47:00 PM | [ ]

>> JAKARTA.. OH...JAKARTA

hmm.. setelah melewati 3 minggu di tanah air, tentunya gue punya banyak cerita dong... cerita seneng, cerita seru dan gak seru. tapi gue pengen share nih cerita2 kesaharian di jakarta dan tanah air kita, in general, yang gue liat. well, for those who live in jakarta, mungkin nganggep apa yang gue liat dan gue bahas sebagai satu hal biasa, tapi for me, who's been living far away from my home land, and live in more developed country like USA, particularly a city like new york city, pastinya gue rada2 seneng bercampur kangen. it reminds me times when i was young, things that i have forgotten already and now remember. some of the stories even made me compare of how our country still needs to work hard to grow. now, don't get me wrong, i don't want this topic to be political, it's more like sharing my thoughts and what i saw while i was back in my homeland.

on our independence day, gue waktu itu lagi on the way dari jakarta ke bandung.. dan lucu aja, karena kita sempet stuck kejebak macet pas udah mau nyampe karena banyak orang2 yang sebegitu senangnya ikut memeriahkan acara 17 agustus-an sampe pawai di jalanan dan bikin macet total. lucu juga sih ngeliat semua orang begitu antusiasnya memeriahkan 17 agustus-an. anak2 kecil yang pada pake kostum kedaerahan dengan full make-up bo!! trus ada yang pake baju perang2an, trus ada yang pawai dengan tugu dari rt/rw masing2.. walopun sebenernya yang mereka bikin rada gak nyambung.. masak ada yang bikin ayam segede bagong *maksudnya apa gitu loh? gak ada nyambungnya ama hari kemerdekaan bukan?* trus ada yang pas lagi pawai masang lagu2 daerah sambil joget2an gituu.. and mind you, yang joged itu bukan anak kecil, tapi ibu2 yang udah bisa dibilang kolot.. lucu banget deh!! dengan semangatnya memake baju kebaya mereka yang terbagus *my assumption only* dengan dandanan yang menor dan dengan semangatnya menggoyangkan pinggul dan badannya... aduuuhhh... lucu deh..!!

now, out of all those scenes, i'm thinking... like any other country, we want to celebrate our independence day. and like any other country, we do it to show that we got freedom and independence... but do we really? i'm not gonna answer that... as i said, i don't want this to be political.. instead, i just leave it at that. gue cuman pengen share aja apa yang gue liat pas gue lagi di jakarta...

another story, waktu itu gue lagi mau apply visa di US embassy. nah itu kan kantornya di deket monas. trus setiap gue kesana pasti lagi ada demo. gue pikir ini apa yaa?? apalagi yang di demo-in ama orang2?? pas the second day gue lagi ke kedutaan itu (gak mau bilang embassy entar disangka club yang di taman ria lagi..heheh) tiba2 lagi banyak ibu2 berjilbab berdiri di depan gedung yang di sebelahnya kedutaan amerika. to tell you the truth, i don't know what building that is, but i assume gedung itu ada hubungannya ama gubernur sutiyoso *gubernur dki jakarta skarang* pertamanya sih gue kira paling cuman demo2 masalah apa lah gituu.. eh taunya masak di salah satu poster yang dibawa tuh tulisannya gini.. sudah saatnya jakarta punya gubernur orang betawi *not the exact words, but just as close...* intinya mereka tuh demo karena mereka gak mau sutiyoso yang bukan orang betawi dijadikan gubernur jakarta lagi. what a reason!! gue sampe bingung antara mau ketawa, shock, atau bingung denger alesan mereka. *again, karena gue cuman dateng buat vacation, gue kurang ngerti juga pangkal masalahnya kenapa mereka pengen sutiyoso turun dengan alasan bukan orang betawi, they probably have a good reason for it.. tapi buat gue yang numpang lewat pas ngeliat demo itu, bener2 aneh aja dengernya...wtf!*

another good one nih. ini bener2 menggambarkan betapa prihatinnya dasar hukum & ketertiban di negara kita tercinta. jadi waktu itu gue pagi2 buta mau nganterin nyokap maen golf di gading, serpong dalam rangka ladies open. waktu dari rumah sih jalanan lancar sekali trus pas udah mau nyampe di daerah serpong nya *gue kurang ngerti waktu itu dimana letak persisnya.. yang pasti udah deket ama lapangan golf nya aja...* trus tiba2 jalanannya jadi macet banget. gue kirain sih mungkin itu daerah tempat mangkalnya angkot2 yang suka berenti sembarangan. tapi kok gak gerak2 setelah setengah jam. nyokap gue udah mulai panik soalnya udah mau telat. trus mobil2 udah dengan seenaknya bikin lane sendiri2 di sebelah kanan dan kiri. setelah beberapa lama kita udah mau deket pangkal macetnya, itu ternyata karena dari jalanan yang harusnya 3 jalur, terpaksa harus masuk satu2 karena jalanan di depan lagi digali & di perbaikin ama PU. nah, ini sih emang udah biasa yah. dimana2 di jakarta banyak banget perbaikan2 jalanan yang kayaknya gak penting.. *abisan setelah beberapa bulan diperbaiki, jalanannya rusak lagi...dan diperbaiki lagi, dan bikin macet lagii...* tapi permasalahannya nih yaa, orang indonesia kan pada gak sabaran, jadi ngeliat jalanan cuman jadi satu jalur, yaa.. heboh lah pada rebutan jalan apalagi angkot2 yang gak takut mati. kalo mobil2 bagus kan rada serem juga gitu maen masuk aja, takut mobilnya kesenggol or whatnot. nah lagi seru2nya gitu gue ngeliat banyak polisi di depan jalan yang dengan entengnya melambai2kan tangan supaya mobil2nya jalan. and my comment was.. "what the fu@k are they doing?? kalo cuman ngelambain tangan doang mah gak ada gunanya... toh everybody will move anyways!! stupid cops!! *sorry to say.. but they were!!* harusnya kan mereka berdiri di pangkal masalahnya *pas orang lagi pada rebutan jalan* dan menertibkan pemakai lalu lintas dengan menyuruh mobil untuk satu2 masuk ke jalanan satu jalur itu. jadinya lebih tertib dan gak berebutan. dan lebih parahnya lagi, ternyata polisinya tuh banyak banget di depan. tapi mereka cuman berdiri doang dan sok sibuk sambil maenin walkie-talkie nya.. duh!! pas mobil gue pas di sebelah pak polisi nya, nyokap gue yang emang cablak dengan cueknya buka kaca trus tereak.. "pak, jangan berdiri disini mejeng doang dong!! orang ribetnya di sana kok berdirinya disini, gak guna tau gak?" dasar emak gue!! tapi tuh polisi cuman senyam senyum doang belagak gak denger... asssaaaalllll!!! duh jakarta...oh.. jakarta...

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/04/2002 09:15:00 PM | [ ]

>> WIDE AWAKE

this is what happened if i let myself sleep during the day. it's two freakin' o clock in the morning and i'm wide awake. padahal seharian gue udah jalan2 kemana2... woke up early around 7 o'clock then by noon time me and dri already went to sears auto to look for new tires for my car. finally, after more than six months i have the time to do it *duh!! my bro was supposed to change it, but waiting for him to do it means nothing will happen!! damn brothers!!* while waiting for the car to finish, we walked around *in the rain, mind you... and no!! it's not freakin' romantic, it's awfully wet.. duh!* around queens center. was looking around for those nice nikon coolpix 2500 cuz they were having it on sale at the wiz.. on of those 'everything must go' sale. pretty cheap, but still thinking of buying one....! crossed the street to circuit city and got myself a sony dvd player *finally, i'm up to date to the twentieth century... hihihi*

on my way back to pick up the car, han called. people might have a get together for anita's last day. apparently, she is going back to jakarta for good. i said i will follow to the city after i picked up my car. pretty excited to meet up with my peeps after 3 long weeks.

but then, after picking up my car with its new yokohoma tires *hihi...* we went back to my apartment, and suddenly i feel my head so heavy and it's already around 6pm. so i stayed for a while then decided to call up on people that i might not go to the city... instead i'll just meet up with them if they're back in queens. so i waited.. rested... and fell asleep. i didn't even wake up until.... now!!! freakin' two o'clock in the morning!! and i'm wide awake...!! ngeselin... i don't even know if they called or not... duh! anyway, i'll see u again anita....

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/03/2002 01:57:00 PM | [ ]

>> I'M BAAACCCKKKKK!!!

so, here i am .. back to my real world. what a wonderful vacation, short *yeah right!* but wonderful!!! arrived in new york yesterday morning by myself with two big luggages. thank God custom didn't stop me, kalo enggak males aja ngebukain koper2 gue yang gede tapi gak ada isinya itu.. hihi!! it was a full & horribly long flight. by the time i got to frankfurt, my body was just aching so bad, i wish i didn't go back *huh?*

i make some necessary changes on my list on the left, but i couldn't really put the pictures i have when i was away. i got some nice pics but my bro is now taking over the camera with all the pictures in it. so sorry peeps, i guess u won't be able to see it until next week... hihih...

just a little flashback from my vacation, here's what & where during the my MIA for the past 3 weeks..

saturday i got in to jakarta, i felt so tired. it was a full flight and i pretty much didn't sleep during the flight. my mom kept insisting me not to go to sleep because some people are coming over... plus i thought if i didn't sleep until at night, i should be able to get rid of my jet lag. so i stayed awake as hard as i could. by 10pm, my eyes are so tired and ready to hit the bed. then my friend aldi called and said he's coming over. i waited for him only to show up at 11.30pm. *u can just imagine how my eyes felt by this time* along with his girl & my other friend, donny *who's staying over at my place* we talked until about 1.30am. by the time he left, i just hit the sack as fast as i could. the next day, me & donny went to irma's sister's (fenny) wedding. then pretty much stayed home for the next couple of days. just hung out with my folks. eat out or dine-in with my mom's wonderful home cooking.

i had a bbq at my house on friday, went to bandung right after the bbq with donny, irma, and aretha. went to see melda and her husband denny and their cute kid keenan. didn't really go out much in bandung cuz i just wanna hangout with melda and her family as much. kangen juga udah lama gak ketemuan. by sunday we're already on our way back to jakarta cuz donny & irma has to go to work on monday.

that monday, just hung out with my mom. pretty much just go around with her to places. harusnya janjian ama aretha & intan tapi berhubung mom asked me to come with her. and of course i couldn't say no to her. by tuesday morning, i already on my way to bali!! now here's when the fun started!! i had such a good time in bali *too short thought!* that i wish i could stay longer. ake picked me up at the airport. i haven't seen that face for the longest, i'm so glad i finally saw her again. *alaya, sorry berat gue gak nelpon, i lost ur number!! and i didn't have access to email, sorry!!!* by the time i arrived i pretty much just hung out at the kuta beach & at legian, did a little shopping, saw the beautiful sunset, played with the waves. aaooohh.. it was sooo much fun!! at night we went to explore the night life. saw this band at hard rock cafe, really really good band. turned out ake knows them. so we hung out after the show. nice people...

the next day, we went to ubud then to kintamani, and danau batur. took such many good pictures. and what a view!! by the time we got to danau batur, ake realized that on the other side of the lake is a village called "teruyan" it's this small village whose tradition is to lay the dead underneath this big tree called "karumenyan". nobody is buried from that village unless if they died with unnatural causes. we took a small boat to cross the lake. took us about 45 minutes to get there. took some pictures. kinda scary but not so eerie knowing that there are so many skulls & bones around us. it was an experience. then we went back to denpasar, stopped by at pasar sukowati to get some sarongs & barong shirts. then did some window shopping at legian again, seminyak, and just walked around kuta area. nice walk!! by the time the sun goes down we're already on our way to jimbaran cuz i've been craving to have some fresh seafood *although i did go to this seafood place in jakarta before i went to bali but the fact that in jimbaran you eat the seafood while facing the beach really excites me!!* the place is so romantic but since i went there with ake and mbak amelia it was just as fun. we had such a big dinner with grilled red snapper, 2 kilos of mussels, grilled calamari, and es kelapa muda. it was really really good!!! after dinner we went to this place called GWK *i forget what it stands for* where we can see the view of bali from atop. very very nice!!

now the best part is when the next day i went early in the morning to this place called lovina beach. i was gonna go to lombok, but it turns out that i need to take at least 24 hours to really enjoy my time there, so the locals (ake's friends) suggested me to go to the beach in the north of bali instead. it took us two hours and a half to get there. we had to go through the batur mountain, through the small streets.. but at the end... it was worth the trip!!! the beach is so nice and clear. no waves, but the water is so clear. even when i swam far off the shore, i can still see my feet. and the good part is... hardly any tourists go there!! we could've gone to see the dolphins at this beach, but by the time we got there was too late, we figured that the dolphins were probably hiding already *hihi.. padahal males aja, i was just enjoying the beach so much!* we stayed about 4 hours there, did some tanning first, swimming, and off we went back to denpasar again. went to enjoy the night life again. hung out with those kids from the band again. so much fun.

by the fourth day, i'm already on my way back to jakarta *hiks, i wish i could stay longer* and the rest of the week before i came back to new york, was pretty much standard. hung out with my mom & dad during the day, and then went out for dinner with my friends at night... that's pretty much my schedule until i left!! so that's all peeps... as i said, i wish i could stay longer.. i had so much fun!!!

and it's 8 o'clock in the morning right now, on labor day and i'm already refreshed and wide awake. feel good to be back, but i hate it at the same time cuz i have to go back to my real world

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 9/02/2002 07:01:00 PM | [ ]