Saturday and Sunday

Woke up around 8 on Saturday morning. Mom was busy making a cake for my girlfriend's Mom. The cake was a failure, so she decided to order one and deliver it to my girlfriend's house.

Went to her place and got there around 12 in the noon. We went to Kelapa Gading, got myself Icee (nostalgic...) and went back to her house round 4.30.

Continued making my assignment at her place. Around 9.30 my friend called and asked to go out and chat a bit. We met at Sarinah's McD. Talked for awhile about work and life. He dropped me home around 12.30.

Went straight to bed coz I'd be seeing my girlfriend the next day at church.


Woke up to a not-so-cold Sunday morning

Went to the church early in the morning. Met my girlfriend there. After that went to her place to chat a bit. Browsed the net for awhile at her place and had lunch. After that I went home, got myself a (very long) siesta. Continued making my assignment and finished it. Phew, at last.

That's all these last two days.

Been Awhile...

...since I last updated my blog. The last time I updated it was on Tuesday, I think. Yeah, Tuesday. Nothing much happened since then. Just three days of trying to figure out what I would write for my PTM paper assignment.

Called my girlfriend several times. Chat a lot with her, as usual (miss you, sweetie).

Found lots of old friends in friendster.com. It's nice.

Been playing Onimusha 2. Thought I should finish that game while waiting for the third one to come out (it's in the near future).

Just found out today that one of my friend is going to Singapore for 2 years. She'll be working there. Well, I told her that we should get together before she leave for Singapore.

Aside from that, there's nothing much happening today (or two days before).

Rest in Peace, Sweet Innocent Child

Little Rasya has left this world on a Monday morning. May his little soul rest in peace.

Rasya was a little baby less than a year old. He was my ex's newborn nephew. It's always sad to hear a small child die. Must be hard on the parents. But he's at peace now. No more pain.

Rest, little child. There's nothing for you to worry about anymore...

I envy you.

Just Another Day At Home

Woke up very early today (around 3 in the morning). I continued watching Saint Seiya anime. Watched 2 episodes before going back to bed. Woke up again around 9.30. Mom was leaving for work. My brother had asked me on Sunday to put together his computer on the computer desk. Before, the monitor, the keyboard, mouse, printer, CPU, all had been disassembled and was put on a writing desk in my room. So I put them together again (you won't believe how dusty my room was) and tested it. The monitor worked just fine. The only problem was that the CPU was acting up. Asked my friend about it, and he said that there might be some problems with the video card. He told me to try unplugging and plugging the video card from the motherboard. I haven't done it up until now (probably tomorrow, I hate dealing with the dust around the computer desk).

Decided to start playing Onimusha 2. That game came out in 2002 and I haven't played it up until now. It was a pretty good game. I continued watching Saint Seiya. I really have to thank my friend who brought the CDs to me.

Tried calling my girlfriend in the night (round 9.30). turned out she was already asleep. She was going to Bandung the next day for her final assignment paper. Her mom asked whether I wanted her to wake her up. I told her not to. She'd be having a long day the next day and she needed the rest.

Well, that was pretty much my Tuesday.

A Very Sushi Monday

That day I woke up earlier than I expected. Thought that I would wake up around 10 or 10.30, but I woke up around 9.30. Not much difference there, is it? That day was my girlfriend's mother's birthday. She invited me over for a birthday lunch, but my mother asked me to accompany her going out with her friends. So that day I went out with my Mom.

First we went to pick her friend. She'll be going along with her daughter. At least I won't be the only young one in a middle of a pack of old hags. My mother's friend had a nice dog at her place. It was easy to befriend him. The daughter was very skinny, reminded me of my first girlfriend.

Since I'm not too good at driving, the daughter was the one who drove the car. Their driver wasn't in for the day. First we went to this restaurant my mother's friend's son owned (along with his friends). And it was a sushi restaurant. My day was getting all the better.

So, I ate lots of sushi. The daughter turned out to be a cool girl too (cause she liked sushi too, and she liked animals too, good qualities in my book). Talked a lot, turned out she liked computer games. A rare thing among girls these days (or was it?).

Two more of my mother's friends came. And they turned out to be okay. My mother's a completely different person among her friends, and she was cool.

After we were done eating and talking (Oh, I LOVE sushi), two of my mother's friends (the ones who came later) went home. The four of us went to Plaza Indonesia EX. They went clothes shopping (they're girls, of course they went clothes shopping, ha ha ha). I wanted to buy some shirt too, but I've already got enough of them at home and I was running out of space to put them in.

We went sightseeing around EX for awhile. Around 3.30 my mom's friend and her daughter went home. Me and my mom went to the supermarket, she wanted to buy some things. I went to the music store to buy a cd bag to put my DVDs in.

After that we went home. Talked to my girlfriend over the phone, told her all the things I'd been doing all day. Asked her about the things she'd been doing all day, what she would be doing the next day and talked about other stuff.

Ha ha ha, the only highlight of the day was that I got to eat sushi. A lot of them. Damn I gotta go back to that place again sometimes.

Watched Saint Seiya Anime in the night. Ahhh, brought back old memories. I first knew this anime when I was still in elementary school. And the story was quite good. I liked it.

Yeah!!! Finished Playing NFSU!!!

Yep, baby. I've passed all of the event in the underground mode of Need for Speed: Underground. All of the available modifications are now unlocked. The things I haven't unlocked yet are some of the magazine covers. Now it's time to move on to another game. Ha ha ha!!!

Summary of a quite busy weekend

So-so Saturday

Stayed home most of the time. Waiting for word from a friend about whether he would be going out with me later in the evening. Called my girlfriend (or text her, I forgot). A friend asked me out, but I couldn't, since I promised my other friend first. Called my friend in late afternoon (or early evening, forgot). Turned out he just woke up. He just had a busy day (didn't sleep the night before) setting up network for his new internet cafe. He told me he would be coming later in the evening.

So I waited for him most of the evening. He came round 8.30 in the evening. Went out to a place in South Jakarta called roti bakar Edi. Had dinner with him and talked about lots of stuff. Heard a lot of stories from him about the ups and downs of preparing to open an internet cafe business.

He dropped my home, and the night was raining. Couldn't sleep soundly that night. Kept waking up. Didn't have a good night sleep, and I had to wake up early to go to the church and meet my girlfriend.

That was all bout Saturday.


Sleepy Sunday

Didn't get enough sleep last night. I felt very drowsy early in the morning. In any case, I promised my girlfriend that I would go to the church that Sunday morning. So round 6 I woke up and prepared myself. Met her at the CC church on Menteng Raya. Thought that I could go home after the mass and get some much needed sleep, but the family took me to have breakfast. After that they took me to her grandma's place.

Turned out that her parents would be going to Bogor that day to pay respect at her grandpa's grave (from the father's side). She wanted to go along. I was very sleepy and was afraid that I would be no fun to take along. But I wanted to go. Though I told her that prolly most of the time I would be sleeping along the way. She said that it was okay.

So, I went to Bogor, slept most of the way there, prayed at her grandpa's grave, had lunch and got back to her house at 5.30 (also slept most of the way back). After talking with her for awhile, I went home, found out Mom had already gotten back from Puncak since the afternoon. Brought home a couple of things from Bogor (her parents gave them to me, they're nice).

Yep, that was Sunday

Friday at Kelapa Gading Mall

Hmmm, I would like to tell you all about my Friday. But it's private, so prolly not. In short, I went to my girlfriend's house, stayed there for awhile, went to Kelapa Gading Mall, and went back to her house. After enough chit-chatting I went home. Nothing much to tell about huh? The details? Ha ha ha, not this time, people.

Mom went to Puncak in the evening today with her friends. Hope she would be having fun there. Well, one less person in our room for the weekend, couldn't complain there. Ha ha ha. It was a nice change for awhile. Three persons in a small room was too crowded at times.

Met an old friend while walking around in Kelapa Gading Mall. Haven't changed much, that guy. Went with him to his old house in Pamanukan back then in 2001 after my final assignment hearing. I was stressed out back then because of my arguments with my Mom (concerning my girlfriend, who had a different religion, concerning my views on religion, concerning my values, and lots of other things you'd find in a teen angst issues), my (then) girlfriend, and my life in general. It was nice going to Pamanukan and it was nice having someone to entertain me for awhile, even if it was only in a small town. I owe him for that.

Heh, turns out I do have something to tell, huh? Well, that's my Friday. It was nice.

Thursday, Written on an Early Friday

So, what's up yo? Woke up quite late again today. I love having nothing to do in a day. Yeah!

Woke up and found out that everyone was gone. Called my campus and faxed my payment transfer for the last trimester of my master program. It was the first time ever I used a fax machine. Used the manual to learn how to do it. Wow, when you think about it, you really DO learn something new every day.

Played NFSU (again, I LOVE modifying virtual cars! Skyline rulez!!!). In the afternoon, my buddy called asking me to go to his workplace at Jamsostek and play pool with him for awhile. So I left round 3.30 in the afternoon. Got there round 4. Found my friend in a very happy mood. The girl he fancied called and asked him to come over later that day. Sounds like tonight's plan of spending my time with him were cancelled. But anyways, I got to play pool for awhile with him and another friend of mine who was going through training at Citibank for an FC position.

Well, after that we went to Plaza Senayan, had dinner. My buddy gotta go early since the girl he was trying to hook up with called and asked him to come over to her house. Ha ha ha, understandable. She smelled better than me, had more curves than me, of course he gotta go to her place. Hang around PS for awhile with my other friend and his pals. went to QB, almost bought a book about God (but decided against it). Friend left earlier than I while I was still in QB. Round 9 I went home.

Didn't call my girlfriend tonight. Quite tired. She was busy with her assignments anyways, I wasn't gonna bother her. Didn't want to bother her.

Well, that's all bout my day.

The Cat

Well, it's nothing really. It's just that there was this cat that has been visiting my house for some time. It (well, I'd like to refer the cat to a 'she' but I can't be sure yet. It sure looks like a she...) usually came to my house late at night. I would run into it whenever I went to the restroom. I would like to run my hands through its fur (I love animals), but it would run away whenever I tried going near it. Would be nice if my family could keep it, since it seems to feel comfortable in our house (it keeps coming back). The only problem is that you can't keep a cat and a dog in the same place. All hell would break loose.

I had a dog at home, Dingo's his name. He was one of the sweetest, most playful (and the stupidest) dog my family has ever own. Me and my mom were just afraid that his reaction to the cat wouldn't be anywhere near kind. So we just shoo-ed it away everytime it came into our house.

The cat could come in unscathed because Dingo's a loyal dog. He's loyal not to me, not to my Mom (my mother has this 'magnet' that draws animals to her), but to my servant. Yes, my servant, who hated dog so much. She kept screaming at him but for some reason he loved her and followed her everywhere. So loyal was he that almost all the time he followed my servant eveywhere she went inside the house. Even when she was asleep. My servant usually slept in front of the house, and Dingo would usually be there and sleep near her. That's why the cat could sneak into our house without Dingo knowing about it. The damn dog doesn't know one thing about guarding a house.

I'm just curious about what drew that cat to our house... would be interesting to find out.

Run, Jury! Run!

Movie Review: Runaway Jury

Casts:
Dustin Hoffman
Gene Hackman
Rachel Weisz
John Cusack

Well, another trial movie. I'd give it 3.75 out of 5. It's okay.

Basically it's about gun control in the US. Dustin Hoffman represented a woman whose husband was shot and killed by a co-worker in his office. The co-worker could obtain the gun because of lack of distribution control by the gun company. Gene Hackman was someone hired by the gun company to 'fix' the trial by selecting certain people for the jury so that in the end the verdict would benefit the gun company. He looked at the people's background and decide whether those people would in the end decide the most beneficial verdict.

John Cusack was one of the people selected to become the jury for the trial. Rachel Weisz was his girlfriend. Apparently there were more to John Cusack and Rachel Weisz than just original citizens of the US of A. Cusack and Weisz claimed to Hoffman and Hackman that they have the other members of the jury in their 'influence' and that if either of them want the verdict to turn out the way they wanted, Hoffman and Hackman must pay them US$10 million. Soon a struggle between Cusack, Weisz, and Hackman ensued in attempting to tighten their grips around the members of the jury.

The acting was okay. Nothing out of the ordinary, a bit above standard, but not by much.

That's all I could say for now. Yes, of course there's a plot twist. It's been like that lately in movies. Quite recommended for those who like trial/law movies, and for a-little-more-than-simple entertainment.

Wednesday

Yes!!! At last I got past that f***ing hard event in Need for Speed: Underground!!!
That's the only exciting thing bout today. Sad, isn't it? Well, that's how it was. Didn't go out anywhere, all I did was browsed the internet, play PS2 games, called my girlfriend, watched a movie on DVD (runaway jury) read Time magazine (a past issue which I haven't finished reading) and and chatted with a friend of mine through sms. Seemed like he's getting his new BMW today, or at least his parents were with him looking around asking for prices.

And I still don't know what to do tomorrow. Oh, well. What else to write eh? Probably not yet for now. He he he. Yeah, Wednesdays are usually so-so. I needed the rest anyways.

Well, it would be nice if I could rest one day at home without having to hear people yelling in my house looking for some missing stuff. Luckily today none of this happened. Thank God.

That's it for now, I guess.

Trip to Dufan

The last time I went to Dufan it was with my (then) girlfriend. It was last year. Back then there were more of us. I went to Dufan again today (Tuesday, March 16th 2004). Now there were only seven of us. And my ex wasn't around. Which was a good thing.

I was supposed to meet my friends at the campus around 9 to 9.30. But I'd been procrastinating lately, so I got there around 11. Found out that there were only seven of us who were going to Dufan. But what the heck, since I wouldn't be seeing them for another week or so (maybe more), I decided to go.

On the way to Dufan, me and a good buddy talked about his relationship with his girlfriend...which happened to be my ex (no, not the one who went to Dufan last year, this one is my first, or second, girlfriend, depending on how you define a relationship. On a side note, I'm the one who hooked them up and I was very happy about it, which some of my friends couldn't understand why I could be happy about hooking up an ex with another guy. Hey, I care about the both of them, and it was great hooking them up. Yeah, he talked about how it had been so fast, but he was happy about it and hey, no complains right?

Got there around 12. After buying the tickets, the first thing we did was going to McD to have our lunch. After that a friend of mine wanted to play Arung Jeram. He was a little bit pushy because he wanted to play it first so that we would get soaked in the beginning and just let the sun dry our clothes while playing through the other games. And also because he would be picking up his wife later in the evening and apparently he had not told his wife that he was going to dufan. So, after noon prayers, we went to Arung Jeram and went through it twice.

After our clothes dried up a bit we went playing other things such as halilintar (a jet coaster), another thing where we sit on a two-to-three-person bench and get swung around, rajawali (kinda hard to explain, all I could say we got swung around again...this one made me a bit dizzy), perang bintang (we sit in a 7-person car equipped with infra-red gun shooting around at targets), bianglala (ferris wheel), kicir-kicir (hard to explain, got swung around again, big time but I didn't get dizzy :p), a smaller version of halilintar, and an entertainment ride where we sit on moving chairs in front of a big screen with the chair simulating the movements on the screen (forgot the name of this thing).

Well, it was fun. Too bad there were only seven of us. My other campus friends couldn't make it. They got other things to do. My friend (who had to pick up his wife) dropped me off at Gunung Sahari and from there I hailed a bajaj and went home.

Going to Dufan was the definite highlight of my day. Got home, took a bath, chatted a bit with Mom and Bro (I rarely chat with my Dad), played NFSU a bit, played with my new handphone .Oh, one thing that ruined my daya bit: at dufan, the thing slipped out of it's slippery cover, fell to the ground, and now there's a small dent on one of the corner, barely noticable, but the good thing was that it was still functioning properly. Gotta buy a new cover and also probably a new casing (if it's not too expensive).

Called my girlfriend, talked about how we'd lived our day that day...

Well, that was Tuesday. Now I'm off again browsing.

A Windy and Drizzling Night

The night was windy and it was drizzling. I walked out of the parking lot of my campus and waited at the sidewalk for a taxi. Not long one came, and I hailed it. In the taxi, on my way home, I pondered about the things I'd done during the day.

Today me and my campus colleagues had our FIA final test. It was also the final day on my lecture schedule. After this there would be no more classes, no more tests. It would be harder for us to get together, especially since everyone would be busy with their thesis.

Before going home, everyone talked about going to Dufan the next day. We wanted to celebrate our last day of lecture. We agreed that anyone who wanted to go had to be at the campus around 9 o'clock in the morning. Well, they'd probably be late anyways...

The street was empty that night. A bit unusual for a Monday night. It was probably because of the wind and the rain. Everyone probably went home earlier tonight to seek some comfort and protection from the elements. I enjoyed the silence.

As usual, I studied together with my friends from early afternoon till early evening in the preparation for this test. I could feel that my friends were all tired from studying. I could feel no enthusiasm in them. Neither could I feel mine. We were all exhausted from a year of studying for our master degree. I really needed to get my study over and done with as soon as I could.

I got home around 10, luckily it was still drizzling lightly so I didn't get soaked. Found my Mom at the dining room. She asked about my day and the test. Told her I did okay. I hoped my friends did okay too. The test was quite hard. Most of the examples of problems we studied didn't come out in the test.

Found my brother in front of the computer, doing his assignment. Asked him what's up, and he said everything's cool.

Dingo was quite playful tonight. Got scars all over my hands. That was his way of playing with me. Biting. After he got enough of me he went back to my servant, Yati.

Took a bath. Enjoyed it. The feeling of water running on my body was great, as always.
Called my girlfriend, talked for about 40 minutes before calling it a night.
Now I'm writing this journal.

The silence of the night, the wind sighing in the night, the drizzling rain. A perfect night for a good night sleep yet I'm in front of the computer, typing my journal. But still, I've always been in love with the wind and the rain. To me, they're soothing. It's as if I could find assurance in them.
Well, that's it for today. I bid the world a good night. Especially for the people of Jakarta. Good night.

My Dog, Dingo

Dingo:
- Likes to bite and pretend to chew my arms playfully.
- Likes to be pat on the head (before he proceeds to biting my arms).
- once or twice tried humping my legs (he does this when he's overexcited, too bad I'm not a dog and not a female)
- Loves my servant so much that he follows her anywhere she goes (makes my mother jealous, animals usually love her).
- Can be very miserable everytime my servant leaves home to buy some things.
- Can be very miserable everytime my servant goes into my mother's room to give her a massage. Waits outside the door with a miserable expression on his face.
- Very spoiled
- Acted as if he was still a puppy
- Very expressive
- Too friendly. Cannot rely on him to guard the house sometimes
- Needs a child of about 7 or 8. Would be very happy if he has some child to play with. I could be a 7 year-old boy if needs be.
- Once wrestle with me on the floor, just for the fun of it.
- Very playful.
- Apparently a bit jealous and suspicious of my new cellphone (looks away every time I tried taking a picture of him, or walks away with a suspicious expression on his face everytime I go near him with my cellphone in my hand). Grumbled everytime I successfully take a picture of him.
- sometimes I have a feeling that he understands every single words we say to him
- I love my dog.

Sunday, March 14th 2004

I woke up late today. 7.15. Woke up cause my handphone was ringing. It was my girlfriend. I'd been attending morning masses at CC for the past two weeks. I usually meet her there. The mass was usually at 7.30. There was no way I could make it there in time. So I told her that I couldn't make it and that I would go to the church in the evening and that I was sorry for not being able to go to the mass together with her.

After that I went to sleep again. Ahhh, what a bliss, being able to go to sleep again....

Woke up around 9.30 (Mom woke me up). I was going to buy a new cellphone that day to replace my 3-year-old handphone. I loved that thing, been with me through happiness and sorrow. I was quite looking forward to replacing it. Ha ha ha!!!! So, got myself ready and with my Mom I went to the place where people usually buy cellphone in Jakarta (ITC Roxy). Asked around, finally decided to buy it from a store a friend of mine recommended. Got also a new battery to replace the battery in my old cellphone. My mom was planning on letting my driver use my old phone.

Went to the supermarket with mom (she wanted to buy a couple of things), went to a japanese fast food restaurant to buy some food for my brother at home. Got home, ate lunch, and slept before going to the church.

Went to Cathedral in the evening. Got home around 6.30. Played around with my new cellphone, took some pictures with it, completing the contact list. Called my girlfriend, talked bout what we both been doing the whole day. Missed her.

Well, that's for Sunday. I had fun today.

Spending a Day at My Girlfriend's House

Yeah, I spent most of Saturday at my girlfriend's house. After dropping my brother at his campus, my mother at her friend's place, my driver dropped me off at my girlfriend's place. I brought along old photo albums containing the pictures of me when I was still chubby. She said that she would like to see them. She also wanted to see pictures of Dingo, my pet dog. Too bad, I forgot to bring Dingo's picture along.

Well, we talked bout stuff (not telling the readers, private stuff, he he he). We watched Lord of the Ring: Fellowship. Mike wanted us to come to a treat he was holding at Samudra in Taman Anggrek. We decided not to come, cause I was quite tired that day and Novy wasn't exactly feeling well (she was recovering from a cold). Had lunch and dinner there, she made this thing called 'pastel tutup' and it tasted great! Had couple of servings.

Well, it was fun eventhough we didn't do much (it's always fun spending my time with my girlfriend). We only talked bout stuff, or just stay quiet. Got back home at around 10 in the night, smiling.

About Friday

Just a litte side note: I wrote this journal on Sunday night (well, early Monday morning to be exact). So I might had forgotten a LOT of details by the time I wrote this, but I'll try to outline the general thing that had went on during Friday. Here I go...

I woke up rather late (as usual). I was suppose to go to campus early this Friday. My friends were planning on going to the campus to learn for the final test on FIA on Monday. Checked my cellphone, there was a message from me. Eka, one of my campus colleague, asked me whether I'll be coming to the campus. Called her immediately and asked whether anyone had already been at the campus. She said that there were only her and a couple of others. She said that it had seemed to her that no one else would be coming. But I told her about our meeting one of the lecturer to discuss our thesis (she, me, and two other people has been assigned to this lecturer for our thesis). She said that she wanted to postpone the meeting cause she hadn't come up with a topic. I hadn't come up with a topic either so I told her I agreed postponing the meeting. She said that I didn't have to come to the campus. I told her I'd be going anyways.

So, I went to the campus. Turned out that she was right, I didn't have to go to the campus. Nobody else came to learn anyways. Spent about one and a half our there before I came home again. Played NFSU, continuing my 'underground' career. He he he (sheepish grin). A good friend called and asked me to hook up with him at his workplace. Can't mention his name (he doesn't want his name or anything that's got to do with him in my journal), but heck, he's a part of my life. So I'll mention him, but not his name. So I went to his workplace, played a couple of game of pool. Got some dinner at an Indian restaurant (the cheese nun, or whatever its name was, was great!). We talked about a lot of stuffs (as usual) while waiting for his driver to pick us up and take us to a girl's place.

He'd been chasing this girl at that time. We'd once fought over this girl, but we resolved it and I backed down. I decided that I wasn't interested anyways. He deserved this girl better than I did. And I decided that I didn't really like this girl anyways.
So, I asked him whether he wanted me along. He said yes, though I was quite sure that I shouldn't be coming along.

When we got to her place, he said that maybe I shouldn't have come along. And I told him that I'd told him so. Ha ha ha. We took this girl to her friend's place for her dose of injected vitamin C. Waited there for about a half hour. I teased the girl's friend's dog. I like dogs. After that we took her home again.

We had some conversation at her house. I let my friend take over the conversation while I just sat there wondering and thinking about my girlfriend.

After that my friend took me home. He borrowed a couple of movie DVDs and he went home. That's all bout last friday.

Thursday, March 11th 2004

Damn, I was starting to forget the details of what I did on Thursday. All I could remember that I woke up quite late. I think I woke up round 10.30. And I remembered playing NFSU up until around 12 in the afternoon. Well, the highlight of the day was a seminar that me and my dad were suppose to attend in late afternoon that day. The seminar was about work ethos.
Yeah, two seminars in a week.

So, round 12.30 I started preparing myself to pick up my dad at his place in Pulo Macan. Left the house round 1.30 in the afternoon. When I got to Pulo Macan my dad was still preparing himself. While waiting I took a look around his place. He got some sort of a small company making dental demonstration tools (tooth statuettes and stuff). So I looked around, wanting to know how his little enterprise was doing. From the looks of things, seemed it's doing pretty good.

After taking a look around and waiting for dad, we left for jalan Wijaya. The seminar was held in a place called Cafe Xi'an somewhere near Pasaraya Grande in Blok M. The place was okay enough, quite comfortable. The event was held on the second floor of the cafe. A nice place overall.

The seminar was about work ethos. The committee of the event was an organization dedicated in the field of human resource development. The speaker was a human resource manager from Indocement.

I regretted not making a journal while attending the seminar. I didn't have any notebook at that time (too bad the people who held this event didn't think of giving the participants notebooks). But all I could say is that the speaker didn't touch the heart of the matter, that was work ethos. He was mostly speaking about the human resource management, the public relations, and the community contributions of Indocement which, in my humble opinion, got little to do with work ethos. To me the seminar was too shallow and off the mark.

But one interesting thing happened. I met an ex-co-worker of mine from Citibank. She was also not working in Citibank anymore. She moved out of Citibank and was working for a consultant company. She asked me how I was doing and gave me her business card. I might contact her sometimes in the future through e-mail.

I got home, had a shower, called my girlfriend and talked to her about my day. That's all I remember bout Thursday, another not-so-ordinary day in my life.

Lost in Translation

Movie Review: Lost in Translation
Bill Murray, Scarlett Johanson

The movie started off with one of the most interesting (at least to my opinion) scene I've ever seen in a movie: Scarlett Johanson's butt in a semi-transparent pink underwear. She's got great butt. But of course that's not what the movie is all about (well, to me, some parts of the movie IS about that).

The story is about a once-famous movie star named Bob Harris (Bill Murray) who went to Japan to shoot a commercial for a Japanese beer. There he met a woman (I forgot the character's name, but she is played by Scarlett Johanson). Murray was having some sort of mid-life crisis (some people call it 'second puberty') while Johanson was having some problems in her marriage too (the husband was too busy and sort of neglected her). They fit right in with each other and started going about Tokyo to have some fun. It was a sort of an affair, but no sexual intercourse happened between them. Well, in short, it's about two lonely people stranded in a strange land.

One of the movie's interesting aspects is the setting, which was in Tokyo, Japan. In short, Lost in Translation is really a fitting title for this movie. The setting also helped create a feeling of loneliness for the characters and also for the audience (for those who don't live in Japan, that is). Some of the scene involving the interactions of Murray's and Johanson's characters with the Japanese people showed how estranged they were in this outlandish (at least to the point of view of their characters) land. That and coupled with their problems (Murray's mid-life crisis and Johanson's loneliness) had made their meeting turned out to be some sort of an affair. A side note, these Japanese people are a really strange bunch indeed!

Murray did a great job of playing (or portraying, whichever term's more appropriate) the character of an actor whose light was waning and who was having a mid-life crisis. Johanson was great in the movie. She was attractive, innocent, captivating, and lonely. And no, I'm not only reffering to her butt. But seriously, both made quite a good couple in the movie.

For anyone who's looking for a good movie with good acting and a bit of a strange setting (I'm still wondering whether the nukes back in 1945 were the cause of the bizzare behaviour of the Japanese), this movie, which was directed by Sofia Coppola, is very recommended.

Seminar Scribbles

Some Scribbles I Made During My Bro's Seminar

Some side notes:
- I've always been wondering whether my brother has any girlfriend. Ha ha ha!
- The dean spoke very AWFUL english
- TMC: Trisakti Marketing Club
- I don't understand what the dean was trying to say
- This Thoby Mutis, Ditha's mother knew him
- The dean was talking gibberish. Couldn't believe someone this dumb could be elected as the dean. The things he said, they just weren't quality stuff. Or probably he was just not good in English. The dean was talking economics in general and politics. I'm sure these things are somehow relevant for marketing, but the relevance was small in regard to this seminar.

Good service = Great marketing
Focus on people --> customers and employees

- Personal touch
- Alliance with strong companies with quality products (for hair care materials)
- Entrepreneurship --> intuition, risk taker, always looking for opportunities

The seminar was quite a good tool for promotion. Apparently, it was also a means to recruit fresh talent. A good step for Johnny Andrean or any other companies.

Second Session
Speaker: Kafi Kurnia --> Managing director of Interbrand
contact at: www.kompas.com

Strategi Pemasaran Waralaba
Keunikan waralaba
- brand is established
- Pay attention to uniqueness of brand
contoh: waralaba
--> brand (sendal jepit tapi merk-nya terkenal)
--> process (semangka kotak)
--> dikuasai oleh segelintir orang/ supply sangat terbatas/ eksklusif

Starbucks:
sells lifestyle, coffee culture (the culture of drinking coffee)
owner: Howard Schultz
Coffee Culture: not just coffee, but the culture of coffee drinking

McDonald
- What does it sell: Family Gathering
'Give me a kid who wants to eat at my place, then he/she will brint th whole family'

The Body Shop
What does it sell: self confidence
Established by: Anita Rodrick
Packaging --> simple
Story: why's body shop's color green? Because Anita had only green paints back then when she started her shop. Why reusable bottle? Because she couldn't afford additional perfume bottles, that was why she asked the customers to return the bottle. Why self confidence? Because there are actually people that doesn't like glamour. So the customers of body shop doesn't have to be some kind of a model to be able to buy or use their products.
They didn't come up with it. They actually stumbled upon the concept of earth-friendly products.

Marketing:
--> cocok dulu, baru suka
--> suka dulu, baru cocok
Waralaba: marketing that touches the emotion (emotional)

Marketing of frachises: pre-determined

Marketing tricks:
- icon (Ronald McDonald, Chaki)
- General marketing: the 4 Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Promotion, Place)
- Product diversification
- Service diversification

Innovation in Marketing
- Sustainability
----> right now Starbucks is vulnerable

Comparison:
Starbucks: no smoking, located in shopping centers (lifestyle)
Tully's: go ahead and smoke till you drop, located in office building (for stressed out office workers)

Jamba Juice: don't ask for a particular flavour, ask for what you want the juice to do for you (lower your cholesterol level, lower your blood pressure, etc.)

Konsep: marketing concept that is sustainable
Kue soes Beard Papa di Jepang
Concept:
- shop's position must stand out. There must not be other shops in the vicinity
- ovens are opened every 10 minutes so that the aroma of the soes could lure customers
- breakthrough concepts, sustainable

Krispy Kreme donuts
- at first offered free donuts, then people will feel bad about not buying
- made some kind of donut theatre, where poeple would be able to see how donuts were made

Franchise:
- brand recognition
- unique processes
- exclusivity

Cult branding --> Harley Davidson
--> MTV

Conclusion:
- sustainable
- uniqueness
- segmented
- special markeing strategy

The first session was okay. Johnny Andrean brought out more the entrepreneurship side of his business, but still with a little bit of hint of a marketing strategy. Second session turned out to be short, but more interesting

Trisakti, a place where I would've ended up in if I hadn't taken the UMPTN in 1997. Don't know that's good or bad. But one thing I know for sure, I wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't gone to UI for college. Anyhow, I'm thankful.

Marketing Seminar, March 10th 2004

Wow, seems that I'm in a journal writing frenzy... This morning when I was still half asleep I heard my younger brother came in to our room. He'd stayed over at his campus the night before, preparing for the seminar his marketing club was holding that day. I woke up around 8.30. Mom woke me up. My brother's seminar was at 9.30. I only had 1 hour to prepare, so I hurriedly went about my morning routines. I only had a glass of cereal drink for breakfast (as usual).

I went to my brother's campus together with my mom. She dropped me off there. She had to go to Cililitan that day to take care of some administration stuff concerning her pension. I got confused a bit about which building the seminar was being held. Called my brother up and asked him. Turned out that I'd been standing in front of the building. When I got to the eighth floor I looked around and realized that I was the oldest participant around (besides the speaker). Well, the committee for the event seemed prepared (as prepared as campus kids could be, which was not a bad thing, I'd seen worse).

My brother was at the ticketing table. He looked as if he hadn't have a good night sleep (He probably had not anyway). I asked whether we'd be getting some bread from BreadTalk. Over there, behind the door he said. Wow, I'd never tried one of those. This would be m first chance. Cool.

The room they used for the seminar looked okay enough. That day it was filled with lots of undergrad students. They were noisy, busy talking with each other

The seminar was okay (the flaming floss was great!). I used the time available to me before the seminar started to write this journal. Well, about the seminar, if I could sum it up, the first session by Johnny Andrean brought out more the entrepreneurship side of his business, but still with a little bit of a marketing strategy. Second session turned out to be short, but more interesting. Kafi Kurnia, the speaker, was a lively, no-nonsense kind of speaker. He was to the point, making the second session quite short in comparison with the first session. The content, however, was quite an eye-opener. He talked about many of the then-famous franchises, and how they came to be famous. He also delivered some key guidance concerning how to create a sustainable marketing program for a franchise.

After the seminar had finished, I had to wait for my brother to wrap things up with his friends. He and his friends had to go to the mall across the campus to get some ink to print out the seminar's certificates. So I accompanied them there. After dropping his friends at their house we got home around 5.30. I played NFSU (at last I beat that event!), played a bit of Drakengard, and browsed a bit.

After my Mom had finished practicing we watched Lost in Translation. Pretty interesting movie. After that I got online and write this blog (or journal, whichever term suit you best).
That was my Wednesday. In general.

Tuesday, March 9th 2004

Woke up around 9.30 in the morning. Felt good about being able to wake up late without worrying about having to go to campus early. So, with that in mind I put my head on my pillow again and tried to continue whatever dream I'd been having before I woke up.

But I couldn't. So I got up from my bed again and looked around my room with a morning stare (morning stare's a sickness which usually occur in the morning with symptoms like: body in a sitting position, head a little bit slumped to one side, eyes open wide but with a blank look on the face). After the stare went away, I realized that my Mom had gone to work.

Mom usually went to work round 8-8.30 in the morning. I was usually aware of her putting on her make-up before leaving while I was still sleeping. I looked at the table near the bed where my wallet usually was. She didn't leave me any money. That was okay though, I still had some anyway, enough from one day.

I dind't have to go to campus early today. No assignments, no lectures in the morning. Lecture started at 7 in the evening for today. So I turned on my PC, started browsing the net, checked my friendster account (got two new friends today. Yay!), checked my mail, checked IGN.com for any news of new video games and browsed other sites as well.

Tried calling my girlfriend but she didn't pick up. Guess she was busy. So I sent her a text message. After that I went playing video games. I still enjoyed playing Need for Speed Underground. It was a great game.

I was too engrossed in playing video games that I didn't notice the test message from my girlfriend. I noticed it 2 hours after the message came in (noticed it around 12, the message came in at 10). So, I called her up immediately, talked about how she was today, what she would be doing today, what I would be doing today. She said that she had something to say to me, but it couldn't be said over the phone. So we agreed to talk about it on Saturday. I was a bit nervous, cause when she said something like this I knew it was something serious. Well, she told me not to worry. I told her I'll try not to. Anyways, seemed that everything's okay between us.
I spent most of the afternoon playing PS2. Mom came home round 2 in the afternoon. She talked about her best friend who was being a little bit too rough on her servants. Mom said that servants don't stay long working at her place. Well, we agreed that it was no wonder, considering how bad her friend treated them.

Went to campus at around 5.45 pm. My brother, who'd got home before I left, reminded me about the seminar he and his friends were holding on Wednesday, the next day. He was staying over at his campus tonight in preparation for the next day's event.

Got to my campus at around 6.15. Had dinner (this was a second serving, I had eaten a bit before I left). Chatted a bit with my friends before we got into class. A friend of mine, whose cousins was in a critical condition because of a certain rare disease was in a better mood than yesterday. This is a good thing.

Class was boring, as usual. The lecturer was never good at giving lectures. Though I must admit that he was smart. I wasn't paying attention at all to the lecture. I spent most of the time in class writing this journal. Not a good example for students anywhere, but I just couldn't help it.
After class, before going home, we talked a bit about studying on Friday for next Monday's test. Today was our last class. We also chatted a bit about going to Dufan next Tuesday. I was really looking forward to this. Trips to Dufan were always fun.

Got home by taxi, as usual. Called my girlfriend after taking a bath. Talked for almost an hour. It was always fun talking to her. I was getting more and more comfortable with her. I really hope that our relationship will last forever. Here's crossing my fingers...

Sent an sms to a close friend of mine, asking whether he was asleep already. He hadn't replied. Probably he was asleep already.

Well, that's my Tuesday. Another simple day. But nevertheless a day in my life.

Monday, Again

What can I say? Monday's like that. She never gave up on me. Monday, she always gives me a bad day. Ha ha ha, I'm talking nonsense here...probably because I'm really tired right now. Last night I got a mild fever. Probably because I've done lotsa stuff last week. Goin' out with friends, slept late at night, spending many hours on Sunday with my girlfriend. I enjoyed all those things. But I guess my body did not and it sorta broke down last Sunday.

But duty called. Got a presentation to prepare, got an assignment to finish. So I got to campus at 12 in the afternoon. Apparently my body was still tired. Couldn't stare at the computer too long, my eyes went blurry. So I just did a bit part on the presentation and let my other friends did the rest. Most of the afternoon I spent snoozing in one of the study room. I didn't care that I slept sitting on a chair, resting my head on the wall. All I know was that my body felt as if a dracula had drained all the blood in it. The siesta helped a bit. But I still felt tired up until now.

A friend of mine had been having a problem. I noticed this when I was eating my dinner. She was talking over the phone when I noticed a hint of tears on her eyes. When she finished the conversation on the phone she started talking to two of my friends. I overheard something about someone in a critical condition in the conversation. She went to get some food, then when she returned to the table she was on the verge of tears. I put my arms round her shoulder, gave a bit of a hug, and then she burst into tears. All I could do was to put her head on my shoulder, gave a hug and let her cry it out. After she had calmed down a bit I asked her what's wrong.
Her cousin was having a rare disease (I forgot the name of the disease). She's 18 years old, had two younger siblings. She said that her cousin was beautiful, smart, and young. My friend along with her mother was taking care of her, that was why she'd been skipping some of the lectures, or sometimes came late to class. The disease had left her cousin unable to speak, to breathe (the lungs had stopped working, she was breathing with the help of a ventilator). And even if the cousin survived she would be crippled. And the chance of surviving seemed small.

When I compared my condition to my friend's cousin, I think I should really be thankful. Guess you're okay as long as you're still alive and well. I got no serious disease, no death sentence in the near future. I'm not rich or anything, but I got a good (though not perfect) family. I'm getting my Master's degree. I got friends. And I'm not dying (at least not right now). I should be thankful. Guess when you're about to die, all those class assignments, presentations, Master's degree, those things won't matter no more.

18 years old, smart, pretty, and dying... it's so sad...

I told my friend if there's anything at all I could do to help her cousin I would gladly do it. Well, a friend of mine who also knew about her problem told me that her cousin's parents might be thinking of selling a house. And I have a friend who's a property agent. So I told her if the parents decided on selling the house I could introduce them to my friend. Hey, anything that I could do to help...
Guess there were people who were worse off than me. I should be thankful.
Tomorrow's class will be the last class for this trimester. Yay....

Be happy that you're ALIVE!!!

A Little Reunion

Me and my college friends tried arranging a small reunion today. We pulled it off, just the 5 of us. But it's better than nothing. And it was fun. We went to Plaza Indonesia EX, had dinner, talked about lots of things, especially bout our progress in life.

After 9.30 2 of my friends went back. The rest (the three of us) went on to McD at Sarinah. We talked bout office life, bout the general state of our country (especially since General Election was coming up) and about society and religion. Pretty heavy stuff, but still, it was fun talking bout 'em. Of course we joked from time to time. We had a great time talking bout stuff.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange

Well, my friends from my FIA group asked me along to go to JSX this morning. We wanted to look up some financial information concerning Bank Niaga for our assignment. The visit reminded me of the time when I was still working in my previous office. The building was situated near the Jakarta Stock Exchange building. Sometimes bakc then when I needed to withdraw some money I would go there, since there were no BCA ATM in my office building. There were times when I went there to have lunch.

We went to the library, looked for some financial information papers, and while waiting for the photocopy went down to Daily Bread and had some food. The food's quite good.

Just found out that one of my previous co-worker from Citibank died because of dengue fever. There's an outbreak of dengue fever here in Indonesia right now. Not a good thing. Lost an acquaintance from my IE class of 97 because of that disease 3 years ago in 2001.

Well, we got what we came for. Went back to the campus, had lunch first (KFC still has the best chicken!) and after Friday prayers started working on our assignment. Well, right now I'm still at the campus. Tonight I'm suppose to go to Plaza Indonesia EX to meet a couple of old friends from my previous university. It's been awhile since we last met with each other. Should be fun. I can't wait.

Missing my girlfriend. Can't wait to see her on Sunday.

Another Day's Over

Yep, Wednesday passed without any significance. The 7 o'clock lecture was as usual. Boring. A good friend of mine asked me to stay over at his place and I accepted his offer. It's been a long time since I last stayed over at his place.

So, here I am, at his place, using his internet connection to update my blog. It's nice to get out of the house for a change. I haven't been to his place for quite some time and I miss talking to his parents and family.

Well, I told a couple of close friends of mine that I am officially no longer single. Which is a good thing (and a bad thing, hey, a coin has two sides).

A peculiar thing was that a friend of mine also just got into a relationship. The girl with whom he's having a relationship was my first girlfriend (well, second, depending on how you define a relationship). I'm very happy that I could hook them up together. I know both of them well, and I like them and care bout them. Hopefuly their relationship will last forever.

Another interesting thing was the timing. I hooked up with my girlfriend last Sunday. He hooked up with the girl last Saturday. Only 1 day difference. Boy, I would really wanna believe in signs. And hopefuly this is a good one.

Dude, Where's My Life?

Been sitting in my campus' computer lab since 12 o'clock, just browsing and chatting, practically doing nothing. Turned out that the materials for my group's assignment were enough that all we had to do was to copy/paste the relevant ones into a single report. I let them do it while I browsed and chatted.

Been feelin' down lately. Don't feel like doin' anything (except for finishing Need for Speed: Underground). People at home suck, my home sucks, campus sucks, everything sucks. Guess he's right, I've been going through same old, same old things.

Prolly I just need to do some new things. Spice things up a bit (should I just date another girl with a different religion? that should surely spice things up a bit...). Or prolly I just need to finish my thesis quickly. Been delaying thinking on a topic to write about. Probably I should start.
Well, I don't know...been thinking what to do with my life...wait, where is it anyway? Seems like my life just ran away from me. There's just no flavor in my days anymore. Just bland. Complete blandness. Oh, well, I just hope that this thing will pass away. A friend told me that it's temporary. I sure hope so.

Maybe I'm just tired. VERY tired.

YAY!!! THE KING RETURNS WITH A VICTORY!!!

I just wanna say that I was (and still am) really, really happy with the fact that Lord of the Ring: Return of the King won all 11 nominations!!! Cheers to Return of the King, and cheers to all the fans of the trilogy!!! Peter Jackson rules!!! YAY!!!

Lovers and Liars...

...was a very good musical cabaret. I went to the show with some of my friends, and it was quite a blast. The show was about dances, live musical performances, and on-stage drama. The theme was about lovers and their lies (pretty obvious from the name, huh?).

For myself, I always like live performances. It's just that much better than recorded shows. It's the sense of being there in front of the action that just can't be described in a TV box.
Well, the dances and the dancers were great, though I think they could've been better. Well, I don't know much about dancing but EKI dancers (the dancers who were performing for the show) are quite decent.

The drama and the story was quite decent. What I like most were the improvisations the performers did during the show. Somewhere near the end of the 4-hour show, one of the performer (Bertha, who played as the puppet master's wife) stumbled when she was walking down the stairs. The other day it was one of the sinden (Rachel Maryam) who took a fall. And they made jokes out of the incident as if it was no big deal and they made it look natural and seemed to be a part of the show. They did a great performance. Sujiwo Tedjo really shone on that show. He played a great puppet master, and the character fit his personality. Others, like Rachel Maryam, Cornelia Agatha, Sita from RSD and Takako Leen were more than just decent. Sita performed a couple of good songs. She has great voice. Bertha also performed a couple of good songs. She also has great voice. But Sujiwo Tedjo, he really stole the show.

The musics were great. The instrumental that accompanied the whole show was something that has to be experienced to be appreciated and enjoyed. The saxophone players (which was a group called Hypersax) performed marvelously during the show. If that wasn't talent then I don't know what is.

Overall, the show was great. It left quite an impression.

I Feel the Need, the Need for Speed

Yeah, I must admit that I'm a geek. I play video game anytime I could. I have a PS2 at home and I consider that thing one of the best invention that man could ever come up with.
I've been playing Need for Speed Underground. This game rocks, dudes! You could race in many modes of play (drag, drift, sprint, circuit, time trial) and you could put a lot of mods on your cars. And the racing, dude, the racing! Personally, I like the drag mode.
Play the underground mode to unlock mods. This mode can be quite repetitive after awhile though. But the rewards (the mods) are worth it.
Simply put, if you feel the need for speed (in a game, not in real life that is) then go play this game. It's available on PS2, XBox and PC.
Been losing sleep over this thing...