Greetings From Hang Nadim Airport

A quick blogpost. I'm at the Hang Nadim airport right now, waiting to board my plane to Jakarta whilst blogging away via the free wireless internet access.


The world sure is smaller ever since they invented wi-fi and broadband internet.


Whoops, that's my plane right there. Better pack up. See you soon... with chocolates! :D

Greetings From Singapore (Not Really...)

Contrary to what the family planned yesterday, turns out we couldn't manage to wake up at first light. You know how thick hotel curtains are. Thick enough for Count Chocula to party all day. Well, thanks to those curtains, we all woke up at 8:30. Went to the harbor at 9:30, boarded Wavemaster 7 (Whatever happened to Wavemaster 1-6? Now, now, let's all think positive here... .) at 10ish. The just about waveless Singapore Strait puts me to sleep along the way. We arrived at Singapore's Harbour Bay at 11. The complete route was like this: Harbour Bay » Orchard Road via MRT » Two hours of non stop drooling over miles and miles of books at Borders » Bugis via MRT » Sim Lim Square (Singapore's Mangga Dua equivalent) » Back to Harbour Bay. After waiting for an hour and a half, we boarded Wavemaster 8 (Hyuk, naaah, it's still Wavemaster 7). Singapore Strait at night was grumpy as hell. I tried to sleep for awhile but those waves kept me awake. I feel like a baby being rocked by some drunken mother in Oktoberfest. We finally reached Batam at eight. Lemme tell you this, going to Singapore for less than a day does not leave one satisfied. Especially when you're constantly accompanied by scattered thunderstorms.

Greetings From Batam

I am currently in Batam, whiling away all my free time before I have to wake up every morning to commute in concert with everyone else who refuse to be jobless. Got a decent room at a peculiarly named hotel (Planet Holiday, go figure!) with an internet connection. A free broadband internet connection. It's faster than my internet connection back home (which is like comparing a Daihatsu to a Ferrari). I really don't need the olympic size pool, the natural spa, or the fitness center ('cos I'm fit as it is... NOT!), just give me an internet connection and you'll summon the jolly 'ol geek within. I'll be going to Singapore via ferry first thing tomorrow morning. Dunno what I can do there though, what with the thunderstorms on the forecast and lack of... liquidity. But if you play nice, I promise to bring you home chocolates. ;)

WE'RE SORRY

I was watching Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free or Die Hard, state side) with Ms. B yesterday when the screen went blank halfway through the movie. Apparently, people do a lot of amusing stuff when these things happen. So it kinda went like this:

John Mclane kicking some ass
↓
Blank screen
↓
Audience applauded
↓
One guy yelled, "Hey, the movie's out!"
Yes, we know, retard.
↓
Some kids are running around the studio (Uh-huh, underage kids in an R rated movie. America isn't the land of the free. Indonesia is.)
↓
Some other guy poses in front of the screen as his friend took a picture.
↓
After 5 minutes, the screen went back on and gradually shows this:


This reminds me of Microsoft's notorious blue screen of death. Albeit a bit inelegant, at least the studio's kind enough to say they're sorry. Fortunately after a couple of minutes of the red screen of death, John McClane kicks back into action and the body count moves faster than you can say yipikayay.

After several disappointing movie sequels that heavily depended on CGIs, it's damn fun to watch a good old kick ass action movie. Move over Spiderman, John McClane's cleaning the town.

Economics Does Not Make a Better Man Out of Me

It took 3 years for me to realize that economics is not my forte. Graphic designing is my forte, along with computers, photography, and hopefully, marketing (an idea still in the making). You might be wondering, "why did you enroll in that friggin faculty, you dumbass?" Well, boys and girls, years ago when I was in high school, my economics grade was way better than average and although I'm starting to get good at computers, I was majoring in social sciences, sad for me. My graphic design skills were virtually non existent (papa graphic and mama design just started dating in my last highschool year. Their son was born sometime during my second year of college. Took em long enough...). Anyway, I did the most logical thing that I can think of back then, I signed up to the best economics school in the country (Back then, my university was the best in it's class. Now... it's just the same-o, lame-o, crap-o). Hey, don't give me that look! If you're in my position, you'd probably do the same thing.

Where was I? Oh yeah, my early college days. Those average grades kept falling and falling from the first year. Luckily on the second year of college, fate introduced me to the very wonderful world of,... you've guessed it, graphic design! You should've seen my first design. Truthfully it's just three cliparts mashed-up for no particular reason. It was the worst graphic design in history, but it was also the start of something big (*still crossing my fingers...*). Computer and photography skills also went up several notches. Again, the realization came just a tad too late. I went through my third year and cross over the closing line for changing faculties just like that. So, here I am, a graphic designer / IT specialist wannabe / photographer extraordinaire trapped in the world of economics for my sixth year. This week I'll be presenting my final research to three very faculty members and going through that comprehension test to finally get out of this God-forsaken faculty. My advise for all you good people out there: find your dreams before you hit the ground, then run like hell!

Six years of wasteful opportunity costs. F**k em. Now let's get this over with.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

Here's something you won't see everyday (or month... or year...). Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on the same stage, battling for world domination! Well, not exactly... .

Me, That Old Guy, and That Girl

In my country, people often view native girls hanging out with expatriates (we call them bule here, pronounced boo-lay, perhaps not that different with 'haole') as hookers. Of course, this is not always the case, but the basic rules to tell apart the hookers from the non hookers are as follows:
1. Usually the expat is far older than the hooker. Like... 15-20 years older... .
2. Hookers wears skimpy dresses (courtesy of the expatriates).
3. Most importantly, only a handful of hookers are fluent in English, as they don't need to take an English Proficiency Test to apply for their job. They may understand basic English, but they sure aren't ace conversationalists.

Those rules will apparently be put to the test later in this blog.

By the by, I'm writing this in Starbucks. Sitting on a sofa in front of me is a 'bule' and his hooky (sounded sweet in my head, thought I'd give it a try here). She's sitting next to my sofa. Here's how it happened. I was waiting for my ex, we were supposed to have dinner tonight. But she's available after 6, so I went to Starbucks and settled down on a three sofa table accompanied by a glass of frappe. I took out my trusty Macbook, put on my iPod, and started to revise my final paper. All's well for an hour. Took a gander at my watch, got half an hour left.

Out of nowhere, this 40 something bule came to me and asked if the sofa in front of me is taken. Half listening to Daughtry, I gave him a nod. To my bewilderment, Instead of pulling the sofa to another table, he sat there and motioned her young (20ish) lady friend wearing a short-short-short miniskirt to sit on the sofa next to me... . The place was empty for God's sake! Does he have to sit here at my table? My mind was stuck between "crap, do these guys know me?" and "awkward... awkward... awkward...". I tried to ignore them at first, hoping that they'd somehow have the decency to move those sofas a bit. But noooo... they're comfortable sitting there and chatting while I'm here, writing my blog to keep my sanity... and while I'm at it, I thought, I might as well make good use out of this situation.

Now, I refuse to engage in any conversation with them because then it would be harder for me to leave. But I still have my iPod on. So, first order of business, turn the volume down so I can eavesdrop on this lovely couple (all in the name of studying human behaviour, of course... and entertainment :D). Beg your pardon, Anna Molly, let me turn you down a little.

Bule: "... dress. But you look good in that."
Hooky: "Yes, I like. Thank you."
Bule: "You're welcome."

1 minute pause

Bule: "You should eat more, you look so thin."
Hooky: "I not thin, I eat much."
Bule: "Oh, really? But you look so thin. Do you exercise?"
Hooky: "Yes,... I run."
Bule: "Oh, you jog! That's nice. That's healthy."
Hooky: "Yes, nice. You run?"
Bule: "Me? Well, not as often as I should. But, yes, sometimes."
Hooky: nods dully
Bule: "Do you mind if we go back to our room after the movie?"
Hooky: "...Yes, is okay."
Bule: "Oh, we should be going, the movie's about to start!"

they both got up, and took off... just when things are starting to get juicy!

Well, there goes my afternoon with two complete strangers. It's been... quite educational... not to mention entertaining. Life lessons in a coffee house.