Equal Trade

By blood...thirst...sweat...tears...cries...shouts...bruises...mangled arm...and time

in exchange for...

Knowledge...honor...experience...wisdom...tenacity...courage...acceleration and ambition

Rewind

It’s funny, when you read back what you’ve written in the past 4 years, every since you’ve started to work. And when you do it, you just can’t let go of the tears of happiness and all things mixed together. Its just thanks God that I’m still here, well and alive.

But then, by rewinding it, I remember, everything has a cycle. Even for my work. The things I’ve gone thru, written thru all these times, are testament to what I’m goin thru now. No longer I can bear this...

To rewind....means to start things a new. Just got the joust recently. So I’ll just have to start of with that. Eniwei, it is sufficient, as i cannot ask more right now. Let’s just go thru things with will power as beginners.

Its all bout grabbing back the power and choice back into my own hands. Use what’s available, modify and enhance it to my own use. Stop whining and waiting. The world won’t wait for me. I’ve seen others already fly while I often think of myself still at square one.

It’s not bout the results, it’s always more on the process. Regardless of the color awaiting me at the end of tunnel, I have to make sure the process is done in a just and right manner. No more short cuts, no more whimping.

The future’s in stake. The dream is already on a cliffhanger. If it ain’t me...then who’s gonna take care of myself?

Best Gundam Series (menurut guweh!)

1. MS Gundam: 08th MS Team

No gundam series out there can depict the sheer realism and brutality of war except this one. No newtypes...just ordinary people fighting with what they have. Lucky they didn’t make much overpowered mecha here, mostly relying on the story line. Sayang....endingnya cukup mengharukan. Eniwei...must watch lahh !!

2. Gundam 00

No more Earth vs. Colony. Here....it’s just bout ending waarrrrr. Eee...they did have the Innovator thingy introduced mid series. But  hey, at least they made things a fresh after the SEED series trainwreck. And the best part, this series eventually introduced one thing no other series has into....facing aliens in the final bout B-).

3. Victory Gundam

Pretty much the same with the first, just blood and brutality. In fact, its more gruesome in this series. Just this time they had newtypes wandering around, which lowers its rank to me. Honestly, to make a good series, such overpowered things shouldn’t be introduced lah. Ruins everything.

SEED vs. 00

Tetiba aja pengen nulis ini. Padahal harusnya dah gw lakuin bertahun2 lalu dikala gw masih hot2nya ama gundam :D. Tapi mo gimana lagi, belakangan dengerin ulang lagu2 OST dari SEED dan 00 membuat gw nostalgia akan masa2 muda gw (ketahuan gw dah tuwir =)) ). Masa2 dimana everything was pretty much care freeeee.

Tapi mengapa membandingkan kedua seri ini? Kenapa ga ama yang lain aja? Well...first of all, masa2 “melek anime” gw diisi dengan 2 seri gundam ini. Bisa dikatakan, gw membuka “anime age” gw dengan SEED, dan gw mengakhirinya dengan 00. So, some how got those two having some impression on me.

Both are great series. Well...not so if compared to other older series. However, they’re one of th contemporary series that deserve a recognizing. Here, I’ll compare how each fares between each other on some aspects.

1. Plot

Gw akuin, dan bagi mereka2 yang sudah nonton UC timeline, SEED bisa dikatakan “Cukup” banyak menjiplak cerita dari timeline itu. Saking banyaknya, berasa agak ilfil mo nonton lanjutannya. Soalnya dah ketebak duluan, nasib para tokoh dan jalan ceritanya. Untuk SEED, luckily setengah musim akhir, dia sudah mulai ada jalan cerita sendiri. Sayang, padahal kalo dibuat fully original, bisa lumayan ok kali ya seri-nya.

SEED Destiny...hmm...quite original at the start. But seriously, dosa TERBESAR seri ini adalah mengembalikan tokoh2 dari SEED menjadi jagoan kembali di SEED Destiny. Padahal tokoh utama SEED Destiny sendiri banyak potensi pengembangan karakter. Sayang....malah dijadiin antagonis pada akhirnya.

00...lumayan original. Kalo biasanya mulu tentang pertentangan bumi dan koloni luar angkasa. Kali ini tentang “mengakhiri peperangan”. Woowwww.....utopis cuy...Tapi ya itu dia....jadi asik dan menonton sesuatu yang segar.

Endnote, SEED bisa cukup fare dengan 00. Hanya saja jalan cerita SEED Destiny membuat segala sesuatu menjadi kacoh baloh.

Winner: 00

2. Mecha Design

Whoohhh....ini lumayan syusye. Honestly, mecha2 di SEED termasuk cukup oke. Apalagi  tuk 5 gundam-nya OMNI. Cukup ori laaahhh. Sayang, habis itu mecha designer-nya jadi malas dan ngembangin mecha2 dengan daur ulang design dari seri2 gundam lainnya, mostly dari UC timeline.

Eits...tapi kalo boleh gw masukin side story Astray disini, bisalah seri SEED agak ketolong. Kalo di Astray, design-nya malah banyak yg ori. Jadinya lebih oke liat mecha2 yang keren tapi designnya masih kinyis2 anyar :D.

00... kesan pas liat design-nya...sleek and minimalis. Yang oke cuma di jagoan2nya. Tapi klo penjahatnya...err....ga deh (kecuali mecha2-nya si Graham mungkin). Beda ama seri SEED yang antara jagoan n penjahat, design mecha-nya cukup imbang. Tapi at least seri 00 ga mengulang dosa-nya SEED, daur ulang design seri2 lama. Karena ini....pemenangnya jelas :).

Winner: 00

3. Chara Design

SEED (kecuali side story-nya), honestly has a good chara design. Unik kalo menurut gw. Sayang, harus terdegradasi gara2 animation quality yang naik turun di setiap episodenya. Jatohnya ga bisa memaksimalkan potensi yang ada.

Kalo 00, terus terang kliatan feminim. Ya iyalah...yang bikin konon katanya juga sering gambar seri cewek. But at least...mutu animation-nya stabil. But design wise, kayanya tetep menang si biji deh :p

Winner: SEED.

4. Chara Development

Bagian ini terus terang ga akan bisa lepas dari poin pertama. Gw akan lebih suka development-nya 00. Lebih jelas aja. Kalo SEED, sayang nya terlalu bertele2 dan agak geje.

Winner: 00

5. OST

Huhuhu....kayanya yang ini dah obvious. The thing bout SEED, sejelek2nya cerita serinya, bisa aja OST-nya mbois ampe titik darah penghabisan. Terutama berkat suaranya om TM Revolution ama dik Tamaki Nami. Sumpeh....enak terus didengerin ampe sekarang. Ear catching lah.

Kalo 00...bukannya ga enak. Hanya saja ga dapet vibe-nya si SEED. Paling2 yang bisa cuku nendang Cuma 1st opening OST-nya, berkat om2 ganteng laruku (HIDUP LARUKU !!). Lainnya....so so aja.

Winner: SEED

So...the aggregate  winner is fairly apparent. 00 wins by 3 against SEED that only has 2. But again, that’s just me with my opinion. Dan tetap aja, gw appreciate every gundam series. Because each one of them has their own uniqueness, on what ever aspect that is. 

Physically Sidelined

Ketika kamu merasa on the high....segalanya goin good....smooth and fun...JEBRET

Then came that horrendous moment.....

Gw ga’ akan nyeritain dsini. Mengingatnya saja sudah membuat gw cukup trauma. Apalagi kalo bukan karena gw hampir dekat dengan kematian gw. Emang, skalanya belum ada apa2 dengan apa yang dialami Chandra. Tapi fakta bahwa itu terjadi sudah jelas membuka peluang gw menuju alam lain.

Luckily...no broken bones....Just some bruises and mangled muscles. Even till now the effect still lingers. Still gotta go and have my mangled muscled massaged back while slowly physically gaining back the enduranatce. Bruises are almost done. Just still got one tiny bit at my right heel. 

No lifting heavy things for the moment. Need to carefully walk when on the stairs. Need to watch out for my foot balance. Need to restrain mysefl from overpronating when walking....just too much things to watch out on this moment till fully healed.

Really...the price of such healthiness is what I’ve just felt...so expensive, that we cannot ever put a price to it. Every little bit of it, we must be gratefull of it. By what? By being careful and taking care of it through letting in good and healthy food and exercising it. Guess I missed out on the very first.

I guess this is one of my life events, that’ll have a profound effect to me. Ever since I was often left gaizing, unvoluntarily remembering that very moment I was clinging on with my life on the edge. And thanks Allah SWT, I’m still given a second chance.....

Sederhana itu . . . . HIDUP !

Forget the blacberry’s and apples...leave them as fruits

Lets talk mouth to mouth with full facial expressions

Throw away the breezin coolness of Mall’s and shopping center’s

A little drop of sweat from the body will do no harm to us

Ground the 2 and 4 wheels on the garage

take a sip of walk down the neighbourhood

Why pay to have fun or know new things

Make out the best of nature and the surroundings near you

Life is to be enjoyed . . . be it for the poor or have’s

Exciteness is already on the palm of our hands and the sight of our eyes

However, often we gaze far upon something we can’t afford or unknowing

Leaving a streak of awkwardness on doings and mentality

A year since then . . .

I remembered writing it....just maybe forgot to post it. I think it was around 2011 somethin....here's my thoughts on those times....

Eeeeewwwww...tak terasa, hidup berjalan demikian cepat, dan tiba2, you’ve just found yourself setahun hidup di Jakarta, or to say, di Indonesia sejak kembali dari Perth. A chapter of journey that starts up new visions and experience.

Clear is in my mind, that nite that I had to part from Perth back to my country. Really felt sad knowing that a chapter’s life had to end after marvelous times there. But life had to continue on and it was clear for me, that staying there wasn’t the best of the options available.

Touch down on the on going worsening pollution of Jakarta, my thoughts were head focused on applying for jobs. What more had I have to do besides this. Could have started from Perth, but I thought of taking my time there. Here, it took me efforts to apply here and there, including going to job fairs and taking care of my degree credentials, in which sorry to say, didn’t result in anything up till now.

Nevertheless the tight atmosphere of getting a work, I tried my best to enjoy life. Reading books and watching movies from my laptop are just some of the many things I tried to do to occupy myself during to keep my mind from idle. I even had a visit from Somad, one visit in which I thought would be the last for some times to come with my fellow dorm mates. This was bound to come as we were all living our lives somewhere. The best now is to constantly keep in touch through available means.

My efforts on applications only ended up with two being followed up, one of them is where I’m now currently working. As for the other, well, my thought back then on denying the offer was somehow due to my insecure of my own knowledge. Being admitted to such high class corporation would obviously be a perfect match to what I’ve been studying so far. But it seems my lack of of diligence in this field was what held me back. Therefore, it now is part of my history.

On the other side, my admission into one of the biggest asian bank has somehow brought me most of the new and challenging things in life so far. Not only friends, but also perspectives and a whole new attitude regarding work and related matters. All immersed in a beautiful plan from the heavens that always keeps me gracious to Allah SWT from allowing me to experience such feat.

And now, a year has passed. Regardless of all the ups and downs during those times, it never keeps me to feel gracious. It is at times like this and always must we do, to look below on those who cannot reach our current level, say our thanks to Allah SWT for the chance and honor to be given such bounty in life.

God knows what’ll happen from here on, a year later, five years later, and beyond. My only hope is to be able to go all those times in wisdom and be a better person for myself and others. One more thing . . . with memories ;-)

Waroeng Repiu: Rempah Asia

My first time reviewing a waroeng, or food stall in english. I chose this one because of its unique meals, which offers Malay cuisine in the heart of Kaliurang, one of Yogyakarta’s college districts.

The place doesn't shy of with selling malay meal, this is why I think many Malay students flock over here. But hey...the food is really good. For starters, I’ld go for the Roti Canai Curry, one of signatures dishes in South East Asia, served here Malay style. There’s other varieties of Roti Canai, but the one with curry toppings is my favorite. The crispy bread styled pancake (as I would put it) is perfect dipped in the curry sauce.

For main menu, hmmmm.....Either I go with Nasi Lemak with chicken, or Martabak. For the first, its rice cooked with coconut leaves, served in chicken curry (yeah...I suppose so). For this meal, it kinda takes a while to wait. Its just because they have to cook it fresh before serving it to you. Good for them. I once ordered this meal. But because the chef wasn't sure if they had the cooking done yet, they asked me to test it. Turned out it really needed more cooking. So they completely changed it and cooked a new one better than the previous. Nice service there ;-).

For the drink, nothing beats the Jumbo Teh Tarik. Again...another signature drink from the Malay region. Having spicy foods for the meal, this drink surely helps you quench out the spiciness that has filled our tounge due to the milk contents in it. Then again, the drink is basically tea mixed with milk. However, the mixing is done by pouring it from jar to jar, but by moving the jar farther, so making it feel as we’re looking at some sort of tea waterfall.

I’ld recommend this place. Nice foods that’ll make you full, with decent price. While it may sound bit on the top for the college students near by, its still way cheaper for Jakartans (like me) who happens to be in Jogja for a getaway. At least, you can grab a meal, at least 40-50K for two. How’s that for a bargain :D.

PS: Photos will come later. I’ve been here so many times, yet never bothered to take a photo of the meals I’ve wrote above ^_^;

Pressure on ME !!

Just some random babling back then. Really...I have no clue when did I write this...maybe during my times in Perth....maybe already back in Jekardah....anyway....here's the babble

Next round . . . another step of hard hitting self reversing and up side downs to start of what’s gonna be a new step in life. Painful as it goes, there’s a saying that you’ll be able to conquesr the world once you’ve known who you are . . . well…lets just hope this is the start of me conquering the world :P

Ok…ok….enough intermezzo . . . well…pressure ehh… again . . . please do not ask how I knew I was suffering from this . . . damn . . . I curse myself for forgetting why I had these in the beginning . . . the process of recalling and reminiscing is just too long . . . not to mention painful in some occasions. But . . it’s gotta be done little by little . . .

Fiuuhh . . . I just kinda think that I often freak out whenever things go out of my reach or what I intended. It often happened way back in my days when I once came back to Indo after years of living abroad. The sheer life of typical Indonesians that was full of pressure, unorder and quick pace really fuzzed out my brain. End result . . . it then caused me to forget the necessary things that I had to remember when time called upon it. As I grew, I trained myself not only to deal with it, but also to put some countermeasure towards it. Though till this very moment, I’m still struggling to overcome this horrible habit, some measures have succeeding in at least lessening the negative impact. It just needs continuous practice and self adapting in order to have any good effects.

What have I done? Hmmm . . . . as far as I remember, I tried to be somewhat ignorant. I know it sounds kinda bad or something, but this really I fact has aided me in un-worrying about the unnecessary aspects of my life. But then, in any further writings later on, this too has brought upon me several side effects that also contribute to my major bad habit. Next . . . in conjunction to this step, writing down a plan has also helped me in putting all into proper order. Hence, I wouldn’t have to worry too much on any future uncertainties. Last . . . is to forecast any potential and possible outcomes of what I might end up doing or experiencing. Hey . . . I realize that my steps above might seem somewhat too uptight and strict. By doing so, I do admit that all those above still needs some polishing, but in the mean while . . . all is good mate .

Aside any personal side effects above mentioned, I guess the only challenge for me is to learn not to freak out on any future unwanted conditions that I might face. Usually, it all happened due to my lack of life experiences that I ought to have. Hence, I should by now learn all the important things on life. Such kinda things can’t be learnt thru colleges and schools, but often must be experienced first hand.

By enriching ourselves, we can then learn to overcome the sensation of being under pressure and live a more carefree life. I just ought to remember, pressures, whatever and how it would be, will always exist in life. But how we deal and cope with it, determines the quality on how we live our life. It’s about juggling the ups and downs in life that we are able to enjoy things as they are . . . 

Man 2 Man

On that table. . . face to face with your dad

Trembling though his words reciting the du’a on our moment

Yet...man to man....I just knew . . .

It was a moment of truth for him

On releasing his beloved daughter

To a man . . . he barely knows

To a man . . . just few occasions met

To a man . . . a trust he will bestow

To a man . . . he would call “son”

Sir . . . I may not know you deep, yet do trust me . . .

Sir . . . You may not seen us often, yet its ok . . .

Sir . . . Though it may be sudden, yet please allow to say “dad”

Trembling my feet were on the second you took my hand on the oath

I realized it was nothing compared to the sheer trembling your hands were

Putting his utmost trust to a complete stranger . . . his daughter’s fate

Sir . . . I can’t promise wealth for your daughter, I can only put my best effort that every money and rizq she takes would be of a halal source & method

Sir . . . I can’t promise her an easy life ahead, I can only encourage & lead her to be strong & face life full of gratitude whatever it is

Sir . . . I can’t promise you daughter that she won’t ever cry, I can only put my blood & sweat that her only tears would be those of joy

The next few seconds . . . moments for every man

Determination of a man

I took the oath, not just for happiness, good & bounties

But for every sin, bad & vice she brought

Sir . . . please allow me . . . .

Andai Pemilihan Menteri Didasarkan Game ....

Menteri Pertahanan....jago maen Counter Strike :D

Menteri Kepemudaan dan Olahraga....jago maen Nintendo Wii Sports

Menteri Pekerjaan Umum....jago maen SIM CITY

Menteri Sosial....jago main The SIMS :D

Menteri Perhubungan...Railway dan Airport Tycoon...not to mention Need for Speed

Menteri Komunikasi dan Informasi....raja facebook...twitter...friendster...dan segala social website :D


Extra:

Ketua Umum PSSI...mutlak jago Footbal Manager dan Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution Soccer

Panglima TNI....selain jago CS...harus jago maen gim real time strategy ama first person shooter

One Month (JATIM Edition)

If you had a month 

1. ning JATIM Park 1-2....sampe’ mblenger!!
2. Ning Coban Rondo
3. Ning Selorejo
4. Ning Pantai Ngliyep n Pulau Sempu....sa’umur2 rung tau blas mrono
5. Ning Kebun Teh Wonosari
6. Munggah Gunung Bromo
7. Dolan ning Ranu Kumbolo
8. Munggah Gunung Semeru (moga2 kuat ya Allah :D )
9. Ning KBS....lewat tau....mlebu rung blas
10. Mampir SBY sub branch.....pengen ngerti rupone yo’po seh
11. Mancing ning tambak’e kluarga jemirahan....trus bakar hasil tangkepan....maknyussss :)
12. Piknik nang kebun raya purwosari
13. Ndelok hewan2 ning TSI Pandaan.

One Month (Jakarta Edition)

If you had a month off from work....what would you do....?

1. Hmm...Njajal semua koridor busway yang belum pernah dicoba
2. Njajal semua jalur KRL Jabodetabek...dan jalan2 dalam radius 1 km dari stasiun akhir
3. Jalan kaki kliling lingkungan perumahan (both delman dan kalibata) dengan radius 3 km
4. Tanya2in pengurusan e-KTP
5. Nge-print buku tabungan
6. Coba main ke toko-nya ANTAM di pulogadung
7. Jalan2 naik mobil ke daerah Cinere...Serpong...Alam Sutera
8. Olahraga tiap hari....masing2 selama sejam
9. Nonton pilem tiap hari....sehari 1 ajah :D
10. Nyoba CFD tiap ahad...sampe sikil gempor :p
11. Dolan ning museum2....akeh dadakno ning DKI iki
12. Ndekor apaato kalibata
13. Dolan ning dulur2 di Bogor dan sekitarnya
14. Nyoba cafe2 di Jakarta yang lom pernah didatangi