>> PLAYING GOD

many of us -- especially in indonesia -- are quite familiar with the term "orang pinter" or psychic. these people are known to have ESP (extra special power) that allows them to have visions of what had happened in the past and what could happen in the future. according to the research, these powers cannot be proved to exist. in the beginning, there were some buzz that it does work and it does exist, thus creating people to believe in this type of thing. people would come to them to ask about their fortune, their missing cat or dog, even their missing child, etc. but as the research extends, the scientists just find these powers to be merely some 'coincidences'. in a recent tv show on hbo, police were interviewed to find out if there were some cases of missing person that involved a psychic. it turned out, they have tried to include these people in their investigations but none of them had actually helped to find the missing person. in fact, not one single case in america would be solved by a psychic vision. isn't that surprising?

well, i'm not quite sure if it does exist or not but i don't really believe in this type of thing. however, watching about these kinda powers being used in the tv shows or movies are quite entertaining, isn't it? makes you just wish that it does happen and you do have the powers... maybe if it does exist, there would be many who becomes millionnaires from the lottery, wouldn't it?? hehe..

anyways, one of the tv show that include this 'psychic' vision is the dead zone. one of my favorite tv shows every sunday night. based on stephen king's book (and movie) with the same title, the story is about a guy, johnny smith who got into an accident and was in a coma for 6 years. one day he woke up and there were some areas in his brain cells that were being used due to his brain damage from the accident. this area is called the dead zone because in a normal person, people don't use these brain cells. the side effect of this dead zone was his ability to have visions. psychic vision that he'd receive when he touches people. so the show was pretty much about his stories with his visions and how he helps people with it.

last night's story was quite interesting. so johnny, the psychic, was visited by his high school friends who happen to be brother and sister, jason and kate moore. turned out that the brother is dying. he has a heart problem and was in need of a transplant. after tired of waiting for the transplant to come along, he came to see johnny to see if johnny can find out what's gonna happen to him. he doesn't really care what's the outcome is, but he needs to be at peace to know if in fact he's going to die or if he will get the transplant so he can get on with his life. after touching jason's hand, in his vision, johnny saw that jason will receive a transplant of a healthy heart and will live. so the celebrate it by throwing a party.

at the party, kate and jason wanted to take a picture with johnny and accidently johnny touches kate and sees that the heart jason will receive in fact comes from kate's. kate will die in a car accident and her heart will be saved to be given to jason who is in need of a heart. johnny was confused. he needs to choose who he should help. kate or jason? if he tries to avoid the accident, kate will live but jason wouldn't get his heart. so johnny is trying to play God and ask for a help to find a heart for jason through other channels, so maybe he can save them both. but the problem is, for every heart that was available for a donor, there would be a name on the list that is in need for it. because there are a long list of recipients who are waiting for a donor. johnny decided that maybe he should talk to the 'potential driver' who would hit kate's car in an accident that would cause her death. the guy is apparently a drunk. he will hit kate's car because he will run a red light under the influence of alcohol. so johnny goes to the bar and talk to him. while talking to him, johnny made up his mind that he wants to help kate. but when he touches the 'drunk', he saw that although kate will live, the drunk will in fact hit a busload of children and thus kill more lives, including jason's who wouldn't get the heart. but on the other hand, kate will live.

so in the end, johnny coulnd't really do anything but to let it happen as God intends to. kate died in the accident and jason receives her heart. i know this was all just fiction, a tv show.. but if this was happen in a real life... heck, if it happens to you.. what would you do?

this was just a reminder, that whatever power we have in this world, it's nothing to compare to God's destiny. we may create our own by making it happen, but if it is our destiny to die or to become successful, etc.. it will just happen as it as intended. what we can do is try to do our best to make the good things to happen and avoid the bad things from happening, the rest is up to God. after all we're just a human being in God's world and no matter how many special powers we have *if even there is such a thing* it's nothing compare to the merciful God's.

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/31/2003 11:28:00 PM | [ ]

>> TILL DEATH DO US PART....

udah lama gue gak update berita² ttg selebritis dari indonesia. so.. sambil lunch, gue web-surfing ke beberapa situs tabloid indonesia. wah wah.. ternyata banyak berita² baru walopun dengan cerita² yang sebenernya gak jauh tentang si A pacaran sama si B, atau si C yang kawin sama si D, atau si E yang cerai ama si F, si G yang lagi hamil ato udah melahirkan .. pokoknya masalahnya cuman urusan romance dan berikut2nya lah.. dan mostly it's all about the bad part. well what can you say? after all it is a tabloid.. they don't care about other stuff.. just the juicy stuff about someone else's personal life, in this case the celebs.

berita yang lumayan bikin gue tertarik tuh berita ttg penyanyi cilik *yang udah gak cilik lagi* si eno lerian. dikabarkan si eno baru² ini tiba² menikah dengan pacarnya, padahal umurnya baru aja menginjak 20 tahun. it says that the reason of her sudden and quiet marriage was due to the so-called 'accident' that got her pregnant *doh!*. she's already in her 5 months term and to avoid the family from further humiliation.. so there she goes getting married to her boyfriend at such a young age. emang sih umur gak bisa dijadikan patokan kalo emang seseorang udah siap kawin apa belom. but at 20 years old? damn.. at that age, all i care about was moving to a new apartment and find myself a summer job in new york so i can hangout more with my friends. and i thought i was matured enough among my peers.

now goes on to the next celebrity subject.. salah satu mantan gadis sampul yang juga pernah jadi gadis sunsilk (no an, not annissa!). gue lupa namanya siapa.. tapi yang diberitakan.. kalo pengadilan agama udah meluluskan permintaannya untuk cerai dari suaminya. her husband for 3 years.. and she's only 24-years old. gilee... emang sih waktu dia kawin dia gak kena 'accident' kayak si eno, but still.. a widow at 24-years old.. isn't that quite too early?

i find it quite interesting that it feels as if it's a trend for someone to see 'marriage' not as sacred as before. the institution of marriage, i feel, just a status symbol so you can brag about your life that somebody had proposed to you. maybe it's not to that extreme.. but we see it left and right how people can get married and get divorce as easy as clapping your hands. what happen to '... through better or worse, till death do us part...'?? what about love and romance?

in eno's case.. apa iya dia decide untuk nikah karena dia emang cinta ama cowoknya dan bukan karena that's the right thing to do daripada malu. gue tau kalo ini emang 'aib' banget buat tiap keluarga, tapi udah jadi rahasia umum kalo ini terjadi dan semua orang udah somewhat maklum. ya abis mau gimana lagi? mendingan dikawinin aja biar si cewek gak melahirkan sendirian tanpa suami. but that question keeps popping up.. what about love and romance?. kalo emang si cewek tiba² udah hamil dan si cowok emang ngajakin kawin karena mereka emang cinta satu sama laen.. ya i have no problem with that. i'm not saying that's not the case with eno cuz i don't know her and i don't know what really happened with the both of them. i'm talking in general case.. apa bener lebih mending dikawinin aja dan memaksa mereka berdua untuk jadi dewasa karena si bayi kecil akan lahir ke dunia ini? lahir ke dunia yang potentially becomes a hard place to live cuz the parents will fight a lot, their young hormones will arise and ended up in a divorce. it happens a lot already.. so, is it better for them to get married or just take care of the baby together? i'm not saying that when it happened, mereka bisa seenaknya aja ninggalin anaknya.. of course not. the parents will definitely have a hard time taking care of the baby, putting themselves behind the baby's priority and like it or not, they have to grow up... they put themselves in that position.. so they have to be responsible for their action. but is marriage always have to be the answer?

gue gak tau jawabannya buat pertanyaan di atas. all i know that marriage is supposed to be a sacred thing. something you have to think about seriously, based on something solid. gak karena menutup aib keluarga. emang sih alesan laen juga biar si bayi lahir dengan ibu dan bapak.. but either they get married or not.. they both still be ibu dan bapak buat anak mereka kan? emang gue setuju kalo dengan dikawinin, mereka jadinya taking responsibility of their 'action' and have to grow up faster that their age intends to. but without getting married, they would still have to get the responsibility, wouldn't they?

gue jadi inget ama temen gue yang kebetulan juga seorang artis dan baru² ini diisuin hamil. cowoknya jauh lebih muda dari dia dan temen gue ini udah janda anak satu. trus dengan cowoknya ini, dia hamil dan akhirnya melahirkan sampe diincer² ama wartawan yang heboh pengen tau cerita sebenernya. sampe akhirnya dia ngaku kalo dia emang udah melahirkan hasil dari hubungan dengan cowok barunya itu tapi mereka decide untuk gak kawin, but live together and be a responsible parents to the newborn baby. masalahnya mereka gak tau kalo marriage would be a good answer, knowing they've only been together not very long and there are my differences between them. emang sih, kayaknya aneh banget keputusannya itu.. tapi gue mayan kagum dia bisa bikin keputusan kayak gitu.. man, that's gotta be tough.. especially doing it in indonesia. although we were friends when we were in junior high.. i never really fond of her. but she's a good person, and i know for sure, she never care shit about what people think about her. gue gak tau kabarnya dia gimana and whether her and her boyfriend are being a good parents to the baby, i hope they are. but one thing for sure, it shuts the hell up people. mau gimana lagi.. mau diomongin jelek, ya dia juga udah ngaku.

i know in our culture, things like this don't fit. belom lagi dari segi agama yang penduduk kita mayoritas nya islam. tapi what they did in the first place juga udah melanggar ajaran agama islam or even any other religions. so putting those aside.. would marriage would still be the next option, on top of love and romance and the well-being of themselves? wouldn't it be better for them to grow up and know each other and tackle those problems? so when they do get married, they wouldn't be easily take divorce as their option? hmm.. i don't know.. i totally don't! all i know that marriage should be somthing sacred, something based with solid reason, something that cannot be broken up just because of small reasons.. something that should still stand.. for better or worse, till death do us part...

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/28/2003 03:11:00 AM | [ ]

>> AN IRAQI KID'S PLEA

honestly, i really don't wanna do any posting about the war. it's too sad. and for some reason.. the comments i received were quite disturbing. i posted all of those because i'm against any war.. no matter what. i don't care about the players because they must have their own reasons.. reasons beyond my way of thinking.. whether they were right or wrong. all i care is those who are victimized from the war.....

i got this from a friend of mine.. true words.. beautiful writing.. and please.. when you wanna make a comment, don't comment who's to blame on this war.. there's no point!! comment on how we can do to better our lives.. start from ourselves.. don't bring out the hate in us.. bring the love...

**********


I watch them dig my grave
All gallant men so brave
With all their might and mien
I see the cinder glean

For them it is a game
Culling a face without a name
But I'm my mother's son
Tell me... is dying fun?

They promise me toys and shoes
Frilly clothes with varying hues
What use are toys with limbs gone?
Shall clothes my festering corpse don?

They see not my stifling fears?
My cheeks speckled with tears?
Or are they men of steel?
My behest not make them feel?

I'm told it'd be a cinch
I'll hurt not nor flinch
But I know I'm going to cry
I don't yet want to die!

Kill me not, oh please
Pray halt your hand
I'm just a child
Like children in your land!

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/26/2003 02:16:00 AM | [ ]

>> HITLER OR BUSH... ???





:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/24/2003 11:26:00 AM | [ ]

>> ME NO HABLE ESPANOL

i've written about how people always mistake me for being other than indonesian. it still irritates me that i wanna write it again. new york city is known as a 'melting pot', where you can find everybody from everywhere in this city. not just the people, the culture live with us. apa sih yang gak ada di new york? gitu kali kalo sok²an nya.. don't really take it literally but practically it's true. sebagai orang indonesia, pasti dong ada yang nanya.. emang ada makanan indonesia disitu? atau cabe rawit ada gak? heheh.. what a question!! out of all the places i've been, i can say that new york city is the place that can make me miss jakarta a little less, especially food-wise. dari cabe rawit, tahu, tempe, terasi, sambel abc, indomie, teh botol sosro *walopun di kotak*, sampe kacang garuda dan kue biskit 'selamat' pun ada disini. mau warteg? ada. mau nasi padang? ada. kemaren gue online ama temen gue yang di jakarta dan pengen manas²in gue pake bilang.. ".. gue musti bangun pagi besok, nemenin nyokap ke pasar.. asiik.. makan lontong sayur, mau gak?" i didn't say anything but little did he know that i can always get lontong sayur just by taking the subway down to the chinatown. there's this little place where they serve indonesian food.. and guess what? including lontong sayur!! emang mungkin gak seenak aslinya.. tapi lumayan.. dan at least kalo gue kangen.. i don't have to wait until the next time i go home. ya kan?

anyways.. kok jadi ngomongin makanan ya? so you got my point... you can find anything here in new york from all over the world. tapi kenapa kok, indonesian people are so unknown? at least that's what i always thought. what i mean by 'people' is the looks. some friend told me that they could never recognize if a person is from indonesia because there are so many ethnics in indonesia.. and they don't look the same, belom lagi yang chinese-indonesian.. that'd be so hard to guess. and it's true. i agree with him. but it still annoys me when somebody can't guess where i'm from.

well, maybe not the fact that they can't guess it.. but maybe because sometimes they can be so sure that they would come up to me and ask me in their language.. which most of the time would be in spanish!! and this does not happen once or twice.. it happens a LOT!! i take it as a compliment that they think i'm a hispanic.. soalnya biasanya kan cewek² hispanic tuh cantik² *ehem!* heheh.. and i know there are many people from different countries use 'spanish' as their language.. tapi jangan suka sok tau dong!!

a while ago, i was on my way to work and in the subway. when it reached to a stop point, there was this lady trying to get a direction. apparently she can't speak english and the only thing that came out of her mouth was, "fifty-seventh street! fifty-seventh street!" to point she wants to go to the "57th Street" stop. she tried to find out which train to take to get there. so this guy helped her, by answering in .. 'english' of course!! but she still couldn't understand *doh!*. so she saw me sitting down inside the subway and she walked right toward my direction and started speaking in weird language, which apparently was in 'spanish'. at the first five seconds, i tried to make sense what she said then i realized it's the language i don't understand.. so i just answered her, "sorry, i don't understand you!". so she shut her mouth and walked away. no sorry no thank you no nothing.

another time i would be buying some food at the nearest deli at work. and the guy who helped me would ask me in spanish. biasanya kalo dulu² i would just smile and say i don't speak spanish, sorry!. tapi kalo lama² capek juga. and then it got me to think.. kok bisa²nya sih mereka yakin banget nanya pake bahasa nya mereka. the least they can do ask where i'm from first.. ya gak sih? i mean if i see someone who looks like indonesian on the street and i wanna say hi, i'd start by asking in english.. are you from indonesian?. not just directly speak in indonesian to them cuz that'd be RUDE!!

maybe i should start learning spanish now.

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/22/2003 03:54:00 AM | [ ]

>> WHAT KIND OF A PERSON...

what kinda person would be so stubborn that he ignored what everybody says around him?
what kinda person would risk letting babies grow up without their fathers?
what kinda person would let people die for the sake of oil?
what kinda person would be so selfish?

what kinda person so ignorant that he pulled out a leader out of the nation?
what kinda person so ignorant that he has the right to rule other people's country?
what kinda person starting a war to be in the 'safe place'?
what kinda safe place would it be when there is a war going on?

what kinda person used a propaganda to iraqi citizens saying the US attack to iraq -- when saddam refused to leave -- is not intended to the innocent people of iraq?
.. although they will definitely be the one who suffer...
what kinda person so selfish that rather going to war than seek other options?
what is he so afraid of?
what kinda person is he?

oh i know.. a fuckin' ignorant american who just got lucky to be a goddamn president!!

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/19/2003 06:24:00 AM | [ ]

>> SPRING CLEANING

so it's time to get ready for the warm weather. yaayy!! warm weather means ... yup, spring cleaning. it may be too early for it but i figured that it's time to re-arrange my apartment. especially after my parents are coming and my brother is moving back in with me. and rearranging a studio apartment can be a bitch. especially when i'm trying to get as much space possible. i'm trying to make my apartment cozier as ever knowing that when my parents come, there'll be 4 people living in a studio apartment. dang.. my mom's gonna go crazy!! i definitely need to upgrade to a bigger apartment now i'm living with my brother again.

so rearranging day. a bitch! we spent the whole day from 12 in the afternoon till 12 at night rearranging, cleaning, moving stuff, and throw away unnecessary junks that were lying around. and the biggest problem with my stuff are.. books. i have so many books, i actually have 2 bookshelves in the apartment. and it's just cramping up the whole place. it's a good thing that my kitchen is unbelievable 'big' for new york apartment's standard. so i decided to move my biggest book shelf to the kitchen, near the dining table, so whoever wants to read or study, it'll be reachable.




so that's how it looks now, well some of them. you can see from my pic of the week the before and after picture of my apartment on "rearranging day".

MOVIES 411
well, turns out spring cleaning also goes to my blog. i managed to create a new blog last week called movies 411. i've been reviewing a lot of movies here.. and i mean A LOT!! it got to the point that i feel like everytime i wanna mention a movie, i don't have time to write anything else. so i figured that i should just make an independent movie blog that everyone can see... and maybe even do some guest-blogging too. so, please visit it from time to time. i will update it at least once a week. if you want to participate, just email me and i'd be glad to share it with you.

cheers!! one day to go on a weekend.. enjoy it as much as you can!! i know i will...

UPDATE: i think almost everyone misunderstood me. the before picture was the picture during the "rearranging day" -- when i have to dump all my stuff in the middle of the room so i can move the furniture around. masak sih gue segitu messy-nya to have that kinda of apartment from day to day?? hahahh.. ya engga laaahhh... besides.. if you look closely.. kok bisa²nya gue selalu online sementara my cpu is in the middle of the fuckin' room? heheheh.. so ralat aja neehhh...

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/17/2003 01:01:00 AM | [ ]

>> WHO LOVES YOU, BABY?

one of my co-worker, michael, used to ask this question to everyone he came across in the hallway. he'd enter an office and said, "who loves you, baby?". it's funny how people react to that one question. some would answer it full-heartedly, some would just shrug and walk away, some would answer and start a conversation with him.. and some would get annoyed and get offended by the question. i couldn't remember what my answer was when he asked me the first time. "my parents do" or i don't know" or "definitely not you" are among all the answers i would give him, all in a casual manner. or sometimes i would just smiled to him and asked him back the same question. i admit, at one point i was annoyed everytime he asked me that, but then i realized he'd just want to make a chit-chat in between our busy work. we'd end up in a conversation and know more about each other, especially he was one person who likes to talk alot.

two months ago, i heard that michael had passed away *may God bless his soul*. he had some incurable illnesses for a while *cancer is one of them* and left the company some 2 years ago due to these illnesses. although i didn't hear much from him anymore, his 'legacy' still continues in the office.

nowadays, tal, my office-mate *we share the same room* continues the so-called legacy and asks it to everyone who enters our office. and as before, the answers would always be colorful, but one thing for sure, it leads them to talk more and share more. many of them would just ended up talking about their family, what's going on around them, and so on and so forth. of course, the ultimate answer should be, "God does", but other than God & your parents, who else?

it's funny how a one small question can be answered differently at any given time. that one question has brighten up our work days, cuz during work hours, people are just so busy with their own crazy things, they forget to look up and sincerely ask how are you? to the next person he's talking to or sit with. new yorkers are known for its bad manner. everybody walks very fast, without even looking at the faces that pass by, i mean really looking. all they care about is to go to point A or go back to point B. everything just becomes a routine.

it's funny how that one question can somewhat 'slow' our pace at work. get our chin up from our work and just be a human-being and talk casually for 5 minutes, heck, at least for 5 seconds. michael always loved life and i guess even after he had passed, he still embraced it with his so-called legacy.

so, who loves you, baby?

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/13/2003 11:44:00 PM | [ ]

>> LIGHTNING NEVER STRUCK TWICE

so i went for snowboarding trip up in poconos, pa. left pretty early from new york, tapi dasar anak indonesia.. rencana jam 7 tetep aja baru cabut jam 9 *ngaret abish* eventhough everybody was on time.. heheh.. but that's ok, no rush. arrived in camelback ski resort around 11.30pm. went online for the "afternoon" tickets (some of us bought the "twilight" tickets so they can go on the lift from 12.30pm till 10pm). but i figured that i don't wanna stay that late. 4.5 hours of going up and down the slopes is quite a long time. dan emang bener aja.. by 5.30pm, everybody was already tired and ready to leave. well, not everybody.. pr and ki stayed.

snowboarding is hella fun!! i finally got the hang of it. didn't even fall for the first 2 hours, except when i get off the lift *still can't do it straight, dang!* and when i got so tired and dehydrated *no water*, i can't concentrate and just kept falling. but i tried to go through the 'black diamond' once. and i managed withouth falling.. except that i didn't try the terrain with crazy jumps.. no, i'm not that good yet. hehehh...

the weather was quite warm that by the end of the day, my whole body soaked with sweat. especially because of the snow climbing i did at the end of my ride down. snow climbing? you asked. yeah.. what a sweat breaker!! so at the end of our last ride, about 7 of us went to the top of the mountain. and ohmigod, the view was awesome!! so, we took the longest route to go down because we want to take our time and one last ride to the base. we were divided by 3 groups. the beginners *who still falls down from time to time*, the careful ones *like me! no rush as long as i don't fall and enjoy my ride* and the crazy ones *who would go down as fast as they can*. so me and han *who's on the ski* went ahead through the path. but when we got to the bottom of the slope we found ourselves on the other side of the base. and to go to the main base we had to take another lift up and then find our route to another path that'll go to the main base. so that's what we did. unfortunately, the path to go is not going down but a straight one *datar*. so for us, snowboarders, it means we have to get off the snowboard and walk until we find a downhill to force us to ride down. and that means i had to walk and carry my board across the path, while han can just slide on her ski. the problem is, when i see a downhill, i have to put on my board and strapped them tightly on my shoes. and that's a bitch!! especially when the board is not attached to the shoes. when i dropped my board to the snow path.. it slided all the way down without me able to chase it. at one point, it stopped because it hit a girl who was snowboarded down the path *sorry!!* so i ran down in my heavy snowboard boots and going down that path means i'm going to the other base, so i have to climb up to the right path.. and that, my friends, takes a lotta work!! by the time i got to the base area, my whole body was soaked, my head was just wet, and my face so all red. all i can think about is to get a bottle of water.

when i woke up the next day, my whole body was just so fuckin' tired.. i can't even lift my arms!!


well, it's weekend.. and even though i went for my snowboard trip, i did manage to watch a movie, sweet home alabama. light movie!! definitely a chick flick. it's about a girl, melanie (reese witherspoon), who left her hometown down south and went up to new york to become a successfull fashion designer. she is the envy of the girls.. with success career and a handsome boyfriend (patrick dempsey) who happens to be the son of nyc mayor *btw, doesn't it remind you of jfk jr?*. so one night, her boyfriend andrew took her to a dark room that turned out to be the first floor of tiffany & co. and proposed to her in front of the tiffany's employees who would help mel to pick any ring she likes if she said yes to the proposal *what a sweet idea to propose someone!!*. the problem is, mel is still married to jake (josh lucas) who lives in alabama and refused to sign the divorce paper. jake and mel are childhood sweethearts that when they were 10, jake would chase mel around to ask her to marry him. so the rest of the movie is just basically how mel tried to get back to her 'roots' that she had forgotten and to get jake to sign the divorce papers. jake finally gave up and signed the papers and mel went on preparing the wedding. but the ending is not that simple.. you gotta watch it to find out. a little quote on the movie that i like:

mel: why do you want to be married to me so much?
jake: so i can kiss you anytime i want.

to end my movie review, i want to mention a bit about this short movie by none other than our own mr. d. two weeks ago, he finally premiered his short-movie (only 9+ minutes long) called dalam satu jam. i'm very impressed. the shots are very good, with very interesting angles that looks classic. not that many people who watched it can get what the story is about because it only shows one actor talking in angry manner. the problem why we couldn't figure out the story line was because we watched it together with everyone tried to comment on the actor *who we know*. so we kinda missed the whole monologue. the story line was smart, i think. i like the ending that shows what it's all about. it gets the audience to think to what just happened to the characters. love the title too. creating short movies is very hard, i'm sure, cuz you tried to tell a story in such a short time while you need to lay out all the background and the plots. mr. d created it by picking one scene with a monologue that somewhat explains what is going on. the ending and the flashback scenes are the pieces that connect them to what had happened. i love it!! good job, niel!! keep up the good work!! gak sia² kan ngilang beberapa lama.. kalo hasilnya cukup memuaskan.. so, stand by peeps.. you'll hear more good things from this guy. [see niel.. gue penuhin janji gue yang mau ngebahas ttg DSJ. kalo ada salah² kata.. sori deh.. namanya juga critics!! but these are my honest observation].

that's all folks

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/11/2003 06:32:00 AM | [ ]

>> DOLLAR DOLLAR BILL, YO!

it's been a while since i complained about nyc regulations. at one point i was just fed up with it. don't wanna follow it anymore. but yeah... i peeked on it from time to time.. just hardly follow it closely.

a while ago i posted about some new regulations being implied for the new yorkers. with the slowdown in economy and the budget deficit in result of 9/11 attack, nyc got hit pretty hard with budget deficit. before 9/11, rudy giuliani *the mayor then* had a pretty good spot for having a budget surplus. then after bloomberg took over the city in such a perfect time right after the 9/11, he had to manage the city's budget that had decreased in significant amount thus, created a budget deficit. being a goddamn business minded as he is.. he looks at every possible corner in order to raise money to balance the budget deficit the city is having. and he did a numerous amount of change, from increasing tax on cigarettes *saying that he also wants to increase the awareness for smoke-free environment*, beefed up parking ticket, commuter tax rate, decreasing budget for NYPD and FDNY as well as for public schools, and also the ongoing subway fare hike. i was hoping that the latter option would not go through. i mean even with $1.50 per ride that we're paying now.. many of the new yorkers are not satisfied with the service. the train mostly delayed and crowded, especially from my area. to think about raising the fare to $2.00 is just so ridiculous.

but guess what, my fellow new yorkers? as of thursday (march 6), mta -- not for mau tau aja mind you.. it stands for metropolitan transportation authority -- approved the proposal for fare hike. so starting may 4, new york commuters will have to pay $2 per subway ride. what a pain in the ass!!! it's not like we're getting a raise this year. hell no!! with the economic slowdown, everything is cut off!! i know my boss is squeezing my brains out to make sure i look over at every possible way to reduce our costs in every department. in the meantime, my rent still goes up when the lease ends, cable service still increase their premium monthly bill, the only thing i see going down is my account balance in my checking account. now i heard that bloomberg is thinking of raising the city water bill. those who are homeowners.. really hit it hard this time!!

on the other hand.. bush is strongly believe that going on a war is the right thing to do. isn't that ironic? i'm not talking about politics-wise here, i'm talking economically. when the country is having a depression due to the slowdown in economy, when every state is trying to raise money to balance its budget, muthafuckin' bush is trying to spend it all on a war. and for what? to get more civilians killed? the other day i had a small discussion with my brother while watching saving private ryan for the gazillion times. he had a good point by saying that whatever it is, if we are going to war, civilians will be the target, direclty or indirectly with the scare on the biological weapons that might be used and the ongoing terorrism. back in WW2, it's a war between the trained army with another trained militia. this time is certainly going to be different.

last wednesday, students in schools around manhattan walked out of the classroom at one point in joining the march to protest the war. these are high school students and some college students. one of them gave a comment on tv...

"i don't understand why bush wants to spend all these money on a war during the economic slowdown. our city is having a budget deficit, kids cannot get the right education because schools cannot get the money its needed to accomodate new students. yet, we are going to spend it all if we are going to war... "

coming from a high school kid.. it's really ironic, isn't it? maybe bush should go back to school and learn his algebra again ... or maybe.. he just doesn't need to know his algebra [or a brain?] to be the president of the united fuckin' states. who knows?


:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/08/2003 05:10:00 AM | [ ]

>> WEEKEND CERIA

wah.. ada apa yang dengan blogger? makin lama suka makin aneh. gue pengen post, ternyata bisa, tapi malah gak keluar di postingan account gue. aneh!! anyways.. gue lagi rada males nulis karena gue lagi rada sibuk akhir² ini. dan gue pikir mungkin saatnya gue nulis² daily do's deh. udah lama juga gue gak update kegiatan sehari² gue, especially in indonesian. so mind you.. so sorry for those who can't understand the language.. this entry will be mostly in indonesian.

>> SCHOOL
hmm.. sekolah! capek! males! had enough! itu lah perasaan gue tiap gue musti pergi ke kampus. tapi ya mau gak mau. udah semester terakhir ginih. at the beginning of the semester i was so happy cuz both classes are electives, which means i don't really have to put too much efforts in it. belom lagi karena gue emang milih kelas² yang professornya bakal gak ngasih banyak project. teehee...

2 kelas terakhir gue emang cuman elective. yang satu elective buat major gue dan yang satu lagi elective buat kelas business. so pilihan gue di kelas business telecommunications for my IS major, dan kelas international business yang title kelasnya aja gue gak hapal. pokoknya it had something to do with globalization lah. kelas international business sih emang dari dulu fave gue. walopun ini kelas gue musti presentation, and do a bit of case study, tapi masih mayan tolerable lah. soalnya gue juga emang seneng belajar case studies ginih. trus presentation nya musti di group, dan pas hari pertama kelas, cewek belakang gue langsung ngajakin buat grup bareng. ya udah gue sih ayo-ayo aja. pas dia nanya nama gue.. dia langsung nanya, "are you indonesian?". ini cewek putih gitu.. tampangnya sih asia.. tapi gak asia banget. ternyata dia orang india. trus dia langsung bilang "apa kabar?". gue kaget juga sih.. trus pas gue tanya... eh, ternyata dia tuh dulu pernah kerja di singapore airlines jadi pramugarinya. dan of course, dia sering gaul lah ama pramugari² dari indonesia.

unfortunately, kelas business telecommunications gue gak seasik kelas gue yang atu lagi. padahal i expect so much out of it. tema nya kan interesting banget.. business telecommunications = networking. waktu hari pertama kelas sih kayaknya bakal asik, apalagi ada temen gue dari semester lalu yang satu kelas ama gue. trus professornya juga yang kayaknya seru gitu.. especially knowing that he's a director of information technology di pfizer. wah.. anak² kelas gue malah nanya² ttg pfizer gitu hari pertama. trus pas minggu kedua, tiba² kelasnya di cancel. begitu juga pas minggu ketiga & keempat. udah nyampe di kelas, gurunya gak nongol², akhirnya kita ngimel dia.. dan dia bilang kalo dia ada family emergency dan udah bilang ke department. tapi anehnya kita pada gak tau. makanya pada dateng ke kelas semua. but it's so ridiculous lah.. udah minggu keempat, kita belom belajar apa², dan kayaknya ada yang ngimel ke dean nya langsung.. so by the fifth week, the professor has changed... for the worse!! sialan. professornya aneh banget dan ngasih tugas banyak banget. well, gue sih sebenernya males urusan.. udahlah.. yang penting kita mulai belajar. eh, tapi anak² kelas gue malah yang pada bersikeras kalo tugas² yang dikasih itu kebanyakan. minggu setelah itu kita disuruh baca almost 100 pages.. buat quiz the next week nya. but wtf.. namanya juga master program ya wajar ajalah menurut gue.. dan itu dia susahnya ngambil kelas elective di semester terakhir.. most of my classmates just started their program last semester.. jadi mereka tuh masih belom bisa adapt ama situasi sebagai anak master program jadi yang ada kompleeenn mulu. capek deh gue dengernya!!


>> WORK
boss gue lagi pergi ke asia. gak jelas juga perginya kemana. cuman yang pasti sebelom cabut dia ngimel gue dengan title.. "organize your department". wtf? dia tuh sebelom cabut marah² mulu katanya department gue gak beres lah. sementara gue coba explain ke dia.. kalo gue ini perlu asisten.. gue perlu bantuan.. tapi dia gak ngerti²! nyebelin! i never really asked about it cuz i know that the economy is down and he wouldn't budge to hire another person as my assistant. tapi gue sebel banget malah bilang kerja gue gak bener. kalo gak ada gue, bakal lebih gak bener lagi.. mau apa coba? blaaahh...

ya udah.. emang sih selama dia gak ada, gue akhirnya jadi bener² pengen nunjukin kalo dia balik.. semua pending work gue udah musti beres. yaa.. rada² impossible sih kalo bilang semua.. but at least, gue pengen nunjukin accomplishment gue.. dan juga di laporan gue mau detailing how time consuming my work is.. jadi gak bisa deh dia maen seenaknya aja!! dasar ya.. boss tuh emang suka sok tau!! kerjaan gue kan penuh dengan numbers.. very detailed-oriented.. kalo salah dikit ya salah semua.. makanya gue bener² take my time sebelom gue nyelesein review & analysis... kalo salah kan malu!!



>> HOME & MY FAMILY
udah hampir sebulan gue gak ngebersiin rumah. alesannya sih gara² emang males aja. mana dingin.. hihih.. so akhirnya gue udah fed up. weekend kemaren ada ultahnya ari. well, dia gak ultah sih taun ini sebenernya.. soalnya ultahnya dia tuh tgl 29. tapi kita bikin ngumpul² gitu lah hari sabtunya. hari minggu gue pergi ke sports authority buat nyari² snowboarding gears.. soalnya sabtu ini mau pergi snowboarding rame² wohoooo... *gak sabar*. abis dari sports authority ke bed bath & beyond buat beli alat² perlengkapan kamar mandi. kamar mandi gue tuh udah jelek banget.. perlu dibersihin dan di make-over, jadinya gue belanja belanji gitu deh. gilee.. abis hampir $100, langsung bokek mendadak gue. pas di kasir.. gue ampe yang nanya² gue beli apa aja yaa sampe segitu banyaknya tapi pas gue teliti receiptnya.. semuanya gue butuh.. jadi yaa.. mau gimana lagi? tapi akhirnya pas makan ke warteg, gue malakin adek gue buat bayarin makanan. hihi.. kali² lah, masak gue mulu yang bayarin tu anak.. lama² bolong juga nih kantong gue.

abis dari warteg, gue pulang.. dan mulai ngebersihin rumah sementara adek gue pergi nge-band. bagus lah.. jadi gue bener² bebas mau ngebersiin ini itu.. walopun sebel juga gak ada yang bantuin. hasilnya? waahh.. amat sangat memuaskan. sampe² gue jadi betah di kamar mandi dan di dapur. mungkin 2 minggu lagi gue mau ngerombak layout apartment gue.. biar tambah lega. soalnya kemaren nelpon bokap-nyokap.. mereka jadi dateengg!! woohoo... sukses deh gue ngambek ama mereka dan gak nelpon² dua minggu. akhirnya bokap gue give-in dan confirmed kalo mereka pasti dateng. asiiikk.. heheh..


>> MOVIES
kayaknya gak asik kalo gue ngomongin weekend tanpa ngomongin pelem. weekend bagi gue pasti bakal nonton 2-5 pelem. kenapa? karena gue emang movie freak, apalagi sekarang ada netflix, cuek mau minjem terus.. *hihi.. seperti kata hani, gue mustinya dapet endorsement nih dari netflix* weekend ini gue nonton beberapa film tapi mostly film lama dan re-run *soalnya adek gue belom nonton* yang film barunya cuman ada dua the banger sisters and city by the sea. the banger sisters ternyata lumayan bagus, tapi gak bakal gue review lah. gue review yang atu lagi aja.

film production house nya robert de niro. yang maen juga dia sama frances mcdormand & james franco *yang jadi harry di spiderman*. ceritanya ttg joey yang drug addict trus accidently killed his drug dealer. ternyata bapaknya si joey ini polisi, yang dulu walked out of his life and his mom's. kakeknya si joey dari bapaknya ini, dulu pernah di hukum mati gara² kidnap anak kecil yang akhirnya mati pas lagi diculik. it was a big news di kota mereka.. di long beach, ny which also known as city by the sea. trus media tuh jadi rame karena mereka bikin as if it's in their genes to be murderer. dan si joey ini kabur dan dicari² ama polisi. sebenernya ceritanya bagus.. cuman waktu gue nonton trailernya, kesannya tuh ini film action gitu. tapi ternyata filmnya tuh full of talking.. but it's good. yang bener² bikin gue suka tuh cara pengambilan filmnya yang bener² old school banget. kesannya antik banget.. typical classics gitu. apalagi maennya di ny dan soundtrack nya juga lagu² lama gitu. asik juga sih nontonnya.. typical banget bikinannya tribeca film, production house nya robert de niro itu.

mau dibilang bagus banget filmnya enggak juga. dibilang jelek juga engga, tapi gue suka banget ama teknik & angle² di filmnya. robert de niro maennya biasa aja. james franco justru yang mayan bagus, soalnya disitu dia jadi drug addict. in the entire movie, dia tuh keliatannya lusuh dan junkie banget. bener² beda ama karakter yang biasanya elo liat dia.. kayak di spiderman yang selalu rapi & cakep.


ya udah, segitu aja update dari gue. review buku bulan ini kayaknya belom sempet deh. soalnya bulan february pendek banget.. dan gue juga belom selse baca buku nya. soalnya buku yang gue lagi baca mayan tebel, dan gue lagi in between antara baca novel ato baca chapter² pelajaran buat kelas gue.... buku apa yang gue lagi baca? ya tungguin aja review nya... hihihi..

*tootles*

:: sLesTa

>> posted on 3/05/2003 06:16:00 AM | [ ]