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.....