hermansaksono

Comparing my sister’s valentine to mine is like comparing Apple and Oranges.

My Sis: Has a date, hangs out with her boyfriend
Me: Single and dateless, hangs out with academically desparate friends

My Sis: At 7.00 PM, take a bath and dress up for the big night
Me: At 7.00 PM, take a bath and dress up to teach Animation

My Sis: At 8.00 PM, receives a bud of roses from her bf
Me: At 8.00, receives a bunch of questions from my students on ‘how to move spline guides using the snap tool instead of using the transform gizmo‘

My Sis: At 9.00 PM, went to Insomnia Lounge with her bf
Me: At 9.00 PM, went to a wannabe cafe with unfomfortable chairs with my desperate friends

My Sis: At 11.00 PM, went to Hugo’s
Me: At 11.00 PM, went Home (because I have 7.00 AM class the next day)

My Sis: The next day she Wakes up at 7.00, skips school to hangs out with her former school’s friends
Me: The next day I Wake up at 7.00, realizes that My Engineering Mathematics class would have started, took a quick bath, goes to Uni, and receives a boring lecture.

My Sis: 10.00 AM, prabably stil hangs out with her friends
Me: 10.00 AM, obviously not hanging out with my friends because I have to go to work.

I feel pathetic.

I received my cell phone bills the other day, and what a suprised boy I am.

They charged me Rp. 67.000 for this month…. Thats like 1/3 less than my usual spending for communications. Thanks god for post-paid GSM.

So yes, I am the happiest boy on this planet.

Internet, 14 Februari 2005

Sehubungan dengan berbagai komentar KRMT Roy Suryo Notodiprojo akhir-akhir ini di berbagai media, kami, komunitas blog Indonesia berkesimpulan bahwa beliau kekurangan informasi atau bahkan menerima informasi yang tidak benar tentang blog. Kami sendiri memandang bahwa blog adalah hasil dari evolusi bertahun-tahun di Internet, yang semakin menunjukkan bahwa Internet adalah wadah nyata untuk saling menghubungkan orang-orang di dunia nyata.

Kami juga yakin bahwa KRMT Roy Suryo sebagai seorang manusia tentulah sangat membutuhkan kasih sayang dari orang lain. Oleh karena itu, kami, komunitas blog Indonesia pada bulan penuh cinta ini sepakat untuk mendedikasikan hari Valentine tahun 2005 khusus untuk KRMT Roy Suryo Notodiprojo.

Salam hangat selalu serta penuh perhatian dan kasih sayang dari kami untuk KRMT Roy Suryo Notodiprojo di Hari Kasih Sayang ini.

Tertanda

Komunitas Blog Indonesia

ps. Bagi rekan-rekan sesama blogger yang ingin ikut berpartisipasi, silakan lihat undangan acara ini.

The other day I felt awful for being an Indonesian citizen. Why?

I’m not against smoking, I don’t have problem people risking their health for sheer pleasure, however I DO against public smoking*. Passive smoker is just as bad as active smoker. If you are a non-smoker you know how awful it is sitting next to a smoker. I’ve been in that situation, and I just cannot understand why these smokers are not sensitive enough to understand that not everybody wants their smoke. They keep on puffing their smokes right up my face, without any guilt or shame.

So what makes me feel awful for being an Indonesian citizen?

Our national economy is driven by Tobacco Companies (rokok). If you look at your newspaper, on Finance/Investment section, notice that Indonesian blue chips stocks are dominated by Tobbaco Companies. Compare this to Singapore where its blue chips stocks are dominated by IT industry. Under this dependency to Tobbaco Companies, any regulation against public smoking will have a hard time in the House of Representative (DPR).

However, today I am suprised that last Friday, Jakarta’s state legislature passed a bill that bans smoking from public area (UU Pengendalian Pencemaran Udara). You will be fined up to Rp 1,000,000 for smoking on public area. This is a very strong decision and can be bad for economics since 98% of the Jakarta income from tolls is coming from cigarettes toll. Yes, by smoking those poisons you actually helps Indonesia’s macroeconomics.

You may ask: ‘What does the law good for, if our law enforcement is still impotent?’

I dont think our law enforcemnt is impotent, it’s our Police Departement thats not working hard enoguh. Maybe there are not enough polices, maybe police’s salary is still too low. I dont know. But law enforcement in Indonesia is not impotent. All it needs is a proper reward and punishment, like what happened recently in Jogja where you will be fined Rp 15,000 if you dont wear Standard Helmet. Rp 15,000 is a small amount of money, but now, everybody wears standard helmet.

Reward and punishment can be so amusing.

I hate Giordano’s chain store. I really do. Why? Because their sales clerks are very obnoxious. I mean, really obnoxious. They are making Planet Surf’s clerks looking like a stiff mannequin.

First, they will always refer you as ‘kak’ (means brother or sister in Indonesian). Maybe I should remind them that nobody has been using that word centuries ago! Not only I feel alienated every time they call me ‘kak’, but it also makes me feel weird and uncool.

Secondly, they will force you to try on their garments like a mad Amway salesperson. If you eventually decided to try it and decided not to like it, they will offer you other models. And it will go on and on and on and on.

So I you are a Giordano newbie, I share a few tips on: How to avoid and escape from Giordano’s clerks

1. The ground rule: Don’t go to Giordano if you are not going to buy anything.
2. Avoid any eye-contact with any Giordano clerk. Some of them are cute, but in the inside they are eeeevil. Once you are making eye-contact with them, they will start forcing you to go inside their stores, forcing you to try on their product and eventually forcing you to buy it. So everytime you saw a Giordano store, look away and pretend it doesn’t exist.
3. Just say no to Giordano clerks. These critters are going to use any possible argument to make you buy their products. Imagine one of those Amway nut but far more attractive and fashionable. It’s a lot easier to say ‘No’ to those clerks.
4. If they asked you why you said ‘no’, answer them with: ‘Because you are ugly!,’ or ‘Because you’re not a virgin!,’ or ‘Because I slept with your mom!’
5. For the last resort: RUN!

My old Converse keeps looking more and more dreadful. So I seriosly need a new pair of shoes. After travelling to Semarang to find a good pair of shoes and returned empty handed, I made a bold decision: I will buy another Converse in Jogja (ok maybe that’s not too bold).

Maybe the year of Rooster is bad luck for me, because every single store no longer stock the size 9 (my size) of my favorite model. Okay, I’ll buy another model which I less like. Guess what? The size 9 of the less liked model is also out of stock. Mmmm okay, I’ll buy the model that I least like, because I seriously in need for a new shoes. Guess what, they also don’t have the size 9!!!

Geeeezzz, whats with all of this shoes scarcity! First they no longer sell casual Nike shoes? Now they no longer sell size 9 Converse shoes? Whats next? I have to go to Giordano stores and forced to try on something before I can buy a pair of shoes?

What is this world turning to?