short news from Kompas: (click here for the complete news)

..../Tanah kami tanah kaya/Laut kami laut kaya/Kami tidur di atas emas/Berenang di atas minyak/Tapi bukan kami punya/

(Nyanyian ”Suara dari Kemiskinan” ciptaan Franky Sahilatua).

what a pity,, (yet it's true,,,)

....

*supposed to be posted on the 25th of May.. :p

I was, as usual, tried to switch of the 'noise' -and continue my morning sleep- after hearing my alarm, 4 o'clock in the morning

tried to found my mobile with my eyes closed,

found the rectangular-shaped gadgets and lazily opened my eyes to locate the 'off' button

read the blinking screen of 'new message from 3355' and (still lazily) click the 'read' button: 'just a routine sms,, with less number,,' I mumbled and preparing to sleep again

unfortunately I was too conscious to be able to sleep again,, (I know that lay off are every where,, but it just ridiculous to see that many numbers missing without any prior notice,,)

I decided to take some actions:

1. open my eyes and carefully read the sms, in case I was dreaming (but of course, even with my half-sleep eyes I still caught the numbers correctly,, ;p )

2. connect to the internet and open my internet banking, in case the sms was misleading (but of course bad news are usually not misleading :p)

3. send some PM's to my friends (but of course they are sleeping -and I didn't give up to give some of them a morning call and sms :p )

4. come early to the office (and that only means 5 minutes before the bell ring :p) to confirm about the salary cut (and of course nobody else had the same missing numbers)


--until finally somebody appear and claimed that I, and some other friends, made some mistake with some administrative things in the office (and of course they didn't try to warn us since we have too many things to do anyway -means: we'll never ever read their letters or emails,, and magically, we'll look for them when they took our money,, :p)



*so, at some point, especially not in the wonderland, money really is the quickest way to get everything done,,




dika
*masih sebal,,

Cleaning my inbox and found the following email, before I got an instant smirk,,

Well,, I used to be like that,, once upon a time -the unrepeated era,, :p

Anyway, if you'd like to help, please feel free to read the following email (and do as she said) -dun worry, it's not a virus,, ;p

R, dika

----

*sent by Silvia Wolf, my Dutch acquittance*

Assalamu'alaikum semua,

Bayangkanlah kalau Anda adalah seorang vegetarian dan hidup di Belanda atau Indonesia. Tidak masalah kan? Ada banyak makanan veggie yang enak di semua toko2, ada resto2 vegetarian, dll.
Tapi bukannya begitu mudah di semua negeri. Misalnya kalau Anda hidup di Tunisia, Anda akan makan kacang2 saja. Nah, bukannya kacang tidak enak, tapi tidak enak lagi kalau Anda makan itu setiap hari.
Oleh karena itu, kami ingin memperkenalkan dan mendagang makanan vegetarian yang berbeda-beda di dunia Arab.

Namanya projek ini adalah 'Veggie in Arabia'. Dengan projek ini kami ikut pertandingan 'Voor de wereld van morgen'. (demi dunia masa depan)

Tujuannya bukan saja supaya orang Arab yang vegetarian bisa makan dengan warna-warni, tapi terutama untuk kemajuan dunia, untuk sedunia yang lebih adil.
Keadilan terhadap para hewan. Karena para hewan adalah korban benar industri daging ini.
Tapi juga untuk lingkungan. Yang sudah menonton filem ´Meat the Truth´akan mengerti maksud saya: industri daging adalah penyebab yang paling besar pemanasan bumi. (untuk info lebih lanjut: www.meatthetruth.nl).
Akhirnya juga untuk manusia sendiri. Karena industri daging menyebabkan kelaparan di dunia.

Selain memperkenalkan makanan vegetarian di dunia Arab (yang mulai di Tunisia tapi setelah itu bisa disebarkan ke negeri2 lain), kami juga akan bekerja sama dengan organisasi hak hewan Tunisia SOS Animaux (sosanimauxtunisie.org). Kami ingin menimbulkan kesadaran etika mengenai hak hewan. Kami akan menunjuk kepada syari'a Islam mengenai hak hewan, sesuatu yang sampai saat ini masih sering diabaikan dan tidak diketahui atau dibicarakan di masyarakat.

Tapi semua ini belum diwujudkan. Kami harus menang pertandingan 'Voor de wereld van morgen' dulu. Projek dengan jumlah suara pemilihan yang terbesar akan diberi 20 ribu euro untuk melakukan projeknya.

Karena itu kami meminta tolongan Anda. Gampang sekali untuk menolong kami. Untuk memilih projek ini, kunjungi saja website www.voordewereldvanmorgen.nl,
terus daftarkan diri untuk jadi anggota, begini:

1. klik 'word lid'

Terus mengisi:

1. gebruikersnaam (nama user)
2. wachtwoord (password)
3. password lagi, untuk menentukan
4. alamat email
5. alamat email lagi, untuk menentukan

Terus carilah projek 'Veggie in Arabia'. Ini akan ditemui di 'Ronde 2: aanpak'. Kalau sudah ditemui, klik 'stem'. Itu saja!

Anda bisa menolong lebih lagi dengan meneruskan email ini ke teman2 Anda.

Terima kasih banyak sebelumnya!!

Wassalam,

Eva Zsuzsanna Tuboly dan Silvia Wolf

Semakin miskin semakin tinggi laju pertumbuhan penduduk... -- iya ta? :p

Here is a quotation from the news:

Krisis ekonomi diyakini akan memengaruhi pertambahan jumlah penduduk. Penduduk yang menganggur cenderung membuat anak untuk dimanfaatkan guna mencari penghasilan di sektor informal.

*jadi 'membuat anak' (meminjam istilah Kompas :p) juga ada motif ekonominya ya? (interesting.. :p)

Seven weeks went so fast this time. . :)

I was a bit scared in the beginning..

The point is, if you don't want to remember an event that bad, you don't even want to see anything related with it.. ;) -and of course, being in he head office just make every stupid-annoying memory flooding back into my head.. :p

...

After a while I realized that it's not that bad.. (I mean the head office)
It turned out to be exciting exploration about the cool building :p

I love the toilets (well, they are the best compared to most of the others.. :p)
I enjoy the religious discussions on Tuesdays..
I'm excited with the library's books (not that I have time to read them.. :p)
I fancy the singing contest in the auditorium..
I enjoy running for the bus (and of course spending my salary for the cab, alone.. :p)

And so,, there are lots of things that I didn't do in my previous session in the head office (enough to make me forget about the stupid-annoying memories.. :p)

...

now, now, enough for the mourning session. I'm planning to post about sinterklaas day. just check my other blog soon :)

A bule (which happened to be upik's sweetheart) is trying to fix my laptop but end up killing it!! :D (I'm just reciting things that he said :p)

Fortunately it's fine now... :) -after two afternoons of locking myself in the office with a reason of writing the report (it's not lying, I can't write a report without my laptop anyway, so it needs to be fixed before I start writing :p)

Bukan kewajiban kita memberi mereka hidayah. Allah lah yg memberi petunjuk. Tugas kita hanya menjadi bukti indahnya Islam & memberi manfaat sebesar-besarnya
Hikmah Surat Al Baqarah 272 oleh Aa' Gym

Guiding others are out of our responsibilities. Allah is The One who gives guidance. It is our role to prove the beauty of Islam and to give the maximum benefits for others
Wisdom of Surah Al Baqarah 272 by Aa' Gym

EXTRAORDINARY EVENING

Sore itu dika sedang iseng membuka friendster (iseng = mengetikkan 'sebuah nama' di kolom 'search' dan berharap sebuah 'profile' akan muncul).

Biasanya keisengan tersebut tidak akan membuahkan hasil yang positif (you know, a blank page with 'your search return zero result' thing.. :p), tapi sore itu memang luar biasa. Sebuah 'profile' muncul dengan indahnya.

Dika pun spontan 'mengganggu' seorang temannya di MSN.

Dia ada di friendster!! :D
Iya kok
Aku gak tau!!! :D
...


THE DISCOVERY

Ada di facebook juga kok dik
Wew, serius?!
Aku gak punya facebook.. :p
(membuka facebook di window lain, berkutat dengan facebook selama beberapa menit, dan kembali ke window chatting)
Kok ternyata aku udah pernah daftar facebook ya? :D
Lupa passwordnya deh.. :p
(mengisi beberapa elektronik form untuk mengganti password, meng-accept beberapa friend requests yg -somehow- sudah mengendap di situ, dan -kembali- mengetikkan sebuah nama di kolom search)
Wew! dia beneran ada lo ta! :D
Tapi profilenya gak keliatan ya? :p
...

HE IS ON-LINE?

Nanti aku add dia jadi friend-ku deh, biar kamu bisa liat dia pake ID ku
Dia udah approve friend request-ku kok.. :D
He? Kok bisa?
Berarti dia onlen donk? Bisa kamu ajak chatting tu dik!
Nope, it's an automatic approval
It's him after all, what an IT guy.. :)
(mencoba mencari setting untuk automatic approval, tapi ga nemu apa2 :D -probably only a person with great IT skill and unlimited cheap internet access is able to do so :D)


THE AGNOSTIC PRINCE

Dika kembali melanjutkan keisengannya dengan menelusuri halaman 'profile' yang baru saja bisa dibukanya. Meski semua informasi di situ bersifat umum (especially if -somehow- you just discover the on-line CV of that person), dika tak kuasa tersenyum saat melihat kolom 'religious view' di facebook (it's a western site and it still bothers about religious view,, awesome! :D). Dika pun segera meng-klik kolom tersebut.

Loading beberapa saat sebelum akhirnya dika bisa membaca tulisan 'agnostic' di sebelah kanan kolom 'religious view'

a few seconds pause,
a smile,
and a (bitter) realization,, *do'a dika belum terkabul.. :p


dika
*harus berdo'a lebih rutin.. :]

Waktu menunjukkan beberapa menit menjelang pergantian hari. Gadis desa lugu imut telah berpamitan pada temannya yang menapanya lewat window chatting malam itu (ngajakin ketemuan di semarang, kota yg baru saja ditinggalkan si gadis desa beberapa jam sebelumnya :p)

Tiba2 sebuah window chatting muncul dengan ceria. An old blogger fellow. Dan dimulailah sebuah dialog panjang

Diawali dengan cerita soal google reader (dan plurk, dan facebook, dan.. :p)
Diikuti dengan jeda beberapa menit.
Dan diakhiri dengan sesi curhat oleh gadis desa lugu imut ( I think he was kind of trapped at that time, but I did ask if he was busy - he shouldn't blame me.. :p)

Sesi curhat berlangsung dengan cukup menarik (for once I could remember my graduation night peacefully; but I won't try to remember that night again, not in a shot term.. :p). Sebuah pertanyaan 'kurang penting' bahkan sempat muncul dengan indahnya:

Do you really have to emphasize that? *gadis desa lugu imut* :)) -the question
Iyaaaa!! Itu kan ikonnya dika :D -the answer (lebih gak penting lagi :p)

Dalam dialog selanjutnya, saat dika sedang bercerita tentang kekesalannya pada ketidakjujuran sorang oknum sebuah institusi, sebuah dialog 'gak penting' pun kembali muncul dengan riangnya:

*I was about to curse him
well, don't hesitate, go curse him now.. *jadi kodok*
:D (smiley ini dipakai agar kelihatan 'cool,' aslinya udah ketawa guling2 :p)
kasian anaknya: 'mama2, papa jadi kodoook' :D

Well, secara keseluruhan sesi curhat berhasil mencapai tujuannya dengan baik :) -setidaknya gadis desa lugu imut jaditahu bahwa 'keputusannya saat itu' cukup keren (considering the circumtances and the objective :D)

*I put five beads for the chat ;-)

...

Baiklah,
Doakan dika ya! (to achieve the dream within four years.. :] )


dika
pursuing the mid-term goal.. :]

P.S. the offer for the old (lovely) laptop is still valid. A comment in this blog (or in shoutbox) will do *preferably for jakarta resident :]

Beberapa hari lalu dika baru saja selesai membaca sebuah artikel dari Reader's Digest (punya temen yg ketinggalan :p) tentang tips2 'to be happy.' Saat ini dika sedang mencoba untuk menerapkan salah satu di antaranya (yes, it's a little bit unusual for a cute-innocent-village-girl to do such thing, but the tip was quite interesting, so I am happily doing it :D)

Tips yang sedang dicoba diterapkan oleh dika adalah tips untuk mebanyangkan hal2 (atau kejadian2) positif di sekitar kita sebagai butiran manik2 yg kita rangkai dalam seuntai benang - it should help us to express our gratitude for all the good things around us.

So far, I've had a 'necklace' for each day (except on the 5th of October when I had two :D)

Yesterday, I was only able to complete my 'necklace' in the very end of the day (23.51 :p). I guess it taught me that all the good things will eventually happen, even when I have to wait till the very end.. :)

After I left it on a hand of other for almost two months, I found it with few deep scratches on its cover..

I was upset in the beginning, for, even e careless person like me, was never able to result on such terrible damage to my laptop..

The feeling was loosen up a bit after I remember that the laptop is old anyway (and I've had a new one, of course), but I still feel sad, for not being able to protect it properly. (It's like giving a 'nice present' to my laptop after its long hard work for the past four years: projects, assignments, presentations, dissertations, and internships..)

Well, what happened, happened. I will never find an 'undo' button for that. It's more important to plan for the best use of the laptop now.. (maintaining two laptops is quite hard you know, updating the anti virus and all, and it will be a disrespect for the laptop to just make it lying around in one corner of my room :p)


It has pentium 4 processor with original XP (and of course few deep scratches in the chasing). You may contact me if you're interested ;-)


dika
P.S. I'm not (too) upset anymore, but my old policy still prevail - I'm dika after all.. :p