Alrighty... I'm not in a good mood of doing creative writing lately, so I'm thinking of making it up with uploading a wallpaper I made today.
I'm not a big fan of entertainment world and I have no idea who Juliette Binoche is. But here it is. Available to download if you fancy it to be your desktop wallpaper.

Resolution: 1024 x 768
You can't be too amazed with a Mr. Know-it-All. One thing they should have been learning is: to stop their stupid mouth in saying something so simple, matter-of-factly, elementary knowledge thing, just to impress their speaking partner.

Which fails miserably.

Here's a (translated) chat with a guy who claims himself as a photographer.

---

BlaBla, invites you to view his or her webcam.
Deny.. [clicked]

BlaBla: do u see my chubby face yg little2 blacky ?
Carla: i didn't accept it
Carla: it's not allowed.
Carla: i'm at the office
[didn't Yahoo! send you a denial message from me, Mr. Smartie?]

BlaBla: i'm just trying a new webcam
BlaBla: they said it was "super", but it's slow...
Carla: your connection is
BlaBla: maybe... the colours suck. they definitely are not sharp and crispy...
BlaBla: so ugly
BlaBla: rubbish...
BlaBla: there's no even single detail
Carla: so what the hell do you want? a pro 8MP digital camera?
Carla: it's a webcam, for pity's sake
BlaBla: no no.. canon 20D is enough for me.

---

Mwah.
Watching: The Transporter 2
Reading: Zen in Ten
Project done: Carla Photo

---

Hi! What do you think about the enourmous raise of the petrol price lately?
  • Choking
  • Stressing
  • Annoying
I can relate. It hasn't been so long since the government raised the gas price for the sake of the education and health fund allocation, and now we have to face another raise, which was caused by the global worldly price raise.

It sucks alright. But what can we say? This kind of thing is unavoidable. So instead of being one of those "empty" protestants, who would just throw stones and burn tyres, which resulted to nothing, I'd like to offer another more peaceful alternative.

Alright, first of all, the facts. What have we got here?
Petrol price raise is always a rather fatal issue. When it increases, the prices of other things are automatically following. Rice, meat, vegetables, housings, transportation, clothes, school, basically everything. While on the other hand, the salary of the employees all over Indonesia do not get any raise; fancy a salary raise, more PHK (disemployment) is the most likely occurence here. Or even if it does, it will take some time and mass strike until it's granted. It's sad but it happens.
Fact # 2 is that it drives more crimes in the country. More people get devastated and hungry. Jungle's rule is taking over and attacking other people to survice is more acceptable, if not understandable. It's just so hard for everyone.

Now I'm going to limit the subject. It's practically almost impossible to ask our people to calm down and be cool. I'll let our president and his cabinet think about that.
But to solve a little transportation problem, as one of the oh-so-many effects of the petrol price raise, let's do some rough mathematics over here.
  • By car (before the raise): Rp 120,000 per week = Rp 480,000 per month
    By car (after the raise): Rp 200,000 per week = Rp 800,000 per month
  • By motorcycle (before the raise): Rp 15,000 per week = Rp 60,000 per month
    By motorcycle (after the raise): Rp 30,000 per week = Rp 120,000 per month
  • By public transportation (before the raise): Rp 66,000 per week = Rp 264,000 per month
    By public transportation (after the raise): Rp 96,000 per week = Rp 384,000 per month
Phew... Those numbers are scary.

Anyway, if you concern much about your health and the shape of your body, let's add up to your list a fitness monthly subscription as much as Rp 275,000 (before the raise).

Before you read the next passage, please bear in mind that this suggestion is only for those who wish to balance their dying money flow. If you are in the possession of enough or much money, do NOT claim to me that it's ridiculous for me to say this for you still have a comfortable car. (Whoever in this good earth wouldn't want comfort?)

Ok, let's continue our discussion.

What's the solution of this transportation problem?
A bicycle.

Yes, a simple bicycle.
The early means of transportation using the almost endless energy of our legs.

Pluses:
  • A decent new bicycle will cost you about Rp 370,000, with almost no budget for its maintanance -- cheap.
  • A fitter body is what you'll get when you take your bicycle to get from one place to another periodically.
  • Fresher air and a friendly nasal environment when most people do this.
Minuses (as objected by some female co-workers):
  • bigger legs
  • sweaty dirty look after cycling
  • tired
  • unsafe
It's your choice. But I have to say that I feel much better after cycling to work for a few weeks now. I feel healthier, face brighter and better in financial.
The only thing I hope is that more people will use the bicycles to achieve better air. We need more oxygen in Indonesia; and no more carbon-dioxide.

Thus, this post...
In love I…

… am a stuck up girl.
… am not flexible.
… live in my own self-created box full of sweet dreams and hopes.
… am conservative.
… am a nuisance.
… am very tolerant.
… am colour-blind.
… am not demanding although no promises are made.
… do not even ask you to love me back.

In a sort-of love I…

… am liberal and open.
… am both understanding and selfish.
… keep a slight emotional distance from you.
… am still myself.

After love I…

… am deaf.
… am blind.
… am numb.
… am stupid.
… can’t be the friend you expect me to be.

Sorry a million.
Do I still have a blog?

Man, it's been a while since the last time I wrote here, hasn't it?
Well, I've got too much to tell I don't know where to begin. So I'd probably skip them all for the next time.

I've been busy lately (No, don't roll your eyes now). Nice busy, though. So to explain it, I'll need to make my points in points. I hate this way but I seriously can't describe everything that has happened these past few weeks.

  • First of all, I realised that I still had a blog after I got a comment notification from Blogger that Jason, a friend of a friend, commented in my last post. It was a nice comment and somewhat encouraging my writing skill. As always, I'm easy to get high with compliments (haha). Now go and give him a visit. You might like his expressive blog.
  • I went to Jakarta, as planned, as a finalist of the singing competition in Het Week van de Nederlands. I actually expected it to be nice and calm and fun. Though the last expectation came true, I had to go through a real tight schedule of singing practices with the keyboard player. Not to mention that the song they wanted me to sing was a hard one, that took up almost all of my voice energy. It was still cool, though. I met cool, warm, talented people and broadened my friends connection. I lost in the competition. Blamed myself at first for being too tired and nervous (seriously, it was one of the very few times in my life that I got nervous) when I had to be on the stage and sang in front of hundreds of people. Pluuuussss, I forgot my lines again. Hahaha... But, it was still nice. I had nothing to lose, anyway. I came with nothing and went back home with some things. *grin*
    Oh, and I met Yuli, too. She's a friend of Arnoud that emailed me a while ago after reading my article on Arnoud's website. Nice girl.
  • After Jakarta I went to Bangka island for a four-day holiday. I bought tickets for my sister and niece, as sis requested, so that they could go back home with me. This is actually what triggered the sour face of my sister's father-in-law. Two first minutes after I met him for the initial time and shaked his hand (I had still not even let go his hand yet), he told me that I could go home with my sister, but not with Michelle.
    Why, Mister. I'm very honoured to be accepted here. Could you please remember that I have nothing to do with all the discussions between you, my sister and her husband? The fact that I'm bringing their tickets shouldn't make me the guilty person, should it?
    Luckily, the rest of the family was nice, so I could keep my mouth shut and emotion down whenever he sarcastically lit the fire of the war.
    About Bangka island itself, it's not really a tourist island. More like a fishermen one. There are indeed some historical places of interest, but it's a world-wide understanding that I'm never interested in history. The beaches are actually quite nice if there were more developments in the area. So to summarize it, the landscape is not that cool, but the food and men ARE. Geezh... I couldn't find a bus conductor or a street snack seller in Surabaya that is as handsome as in there!
  • Back home, the house that was slightly cleaner when Michelle was absent, became like a wrecked ship once she stepped her small feet again there. Mother was undoubtedly happy to have her back and spoiled her twice or thrice she did before the baby went to Bangka.
  • Oh, did I tell you that I bought a new camera to replace my lost one? Well, I did buy it. Canon PowerShot A-95. 5 MP. Flipable LCD. Cool thing. I've got my spirit back, thanks to it. It kinda sinks back everytime I think about the payment, though. Haha...
  • To top it all, I purchased some domain names and got a webhost for them for less than Rp 250,000. Thanks to Denni for letting me know. I'm sooooo excited in building it up. Designing it is only a part of the fun. :D So... you can expect a link of them (or one of them) as soon as I'm happy with the overall outcome of it.
Cheerio..