DaNte's Post - 4th for 3rd Term

DaNte's Post

8-2-2008

I apologize for the delayed post! Last week my neighborhood was flooded and there was blackout for 3 days. Thank God I have an aunt who lives in the Kedoya Elok Apartment, so I was allowed to sleepover at her apartment there for a night. Anyways, let's begin.

Erratic Picture of the Day

that's actually a dog... It's kind of cool, but poor dog...

Strange Facts

Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they cant find any food

Word of the Day

Reprieve (v) - cancel or postpone

Topic of the Day

Reminiscence...

This reminiscence goes back around 3 to 4 years ago, where I was oblivious to a hell called the 'International Bachaleurate'. It was when smiles were upon our faces and laughter fill the hallways of the Junior School building. We were enjoying our everyday lives, yearning for the company of friends in school, hanging out in the canteen together, savoring our moments together. It was an enjoyable moment. I really wish I could go back and live in that era again. But time goes on, never to return again. The only thing I could do to satisfy my wants to go back in time is only to remind me of what I did in the past, and think of it when I am alone.

I remember when I was in 7th grade, me and my classmates used to do some very,very idiotic stuff. I barely remember what we studied, really. The only thing I remember was I think it was some shape stuff in mathematics, making some book for english, for sciences... hmm... who taught science... oh we learn about invertebrates... and uhh... that's it? Anyhow... I also remember the Food Technology teacher, Mrs. Bernadette. She used to tell us ghosts stories. Some are creepy, some are funny, some are R-rated. When me, James, and Yansen (who left SPH already) went to the Outward Bound field trip, we didn't sleep and we kept screaming "Nipple!" in the middle of the night. Some guy's bag was also drifted away by the high tide. We all ate some ham which is dominated by ants. We made some raft and when we made it to the shores, we walked on mud and someone lost his sandals.

Oh yeah, I also met Donny for the first time. Man, I was agitated the first time I look at him. He was a loquacious geeky-looking white guy. WAS. In english class, we were supposed to make a chain story, but then someone wrote explicit things and the teacher was irate. In BI class, the teacher was a murderer. She was a sadist maniac who loves to torture her students. She made us HANDwrite 50++ paragraphs with a length of the above paragraph. But anyhow, it was a memorable experience, and it was really fun being with friends at that time.

Grade 8 was pretty hectic as well, I tell you. But out of all the field trips I had (this opinion differs to people who went to the Bali trip in grade 10... Ughh... Screw William for this... haha joking) grade 8's Thailand field trip was the best. I was close with Swedian, Ryan, Sylvia, Giovanni, blah3 people who's in 8.4. It was very fun. During the field trip the girls (Sylvia, Angelica, Giovani and Jacqueline) went to the boys dorm, which is RESTRICTED. It was an infringement to the field trip rules. Oh yeah, I was very close with this super messed up, funny, chaotic girl named Jacqueline Kurniawan. The tall girl in grade 11. She's a tomboy but sometimes feminine. Anyhow, yeah we did some pretty stupid stuff in grade 8. In the field trip, Marshall and I made some very idiotic drama for the talent show. But everyone liked it.

For you who has a curious mind, let me tell you about the drama. I vaguely remember the story though. It was about a boy who had a dad, and he was a criminal of some sort. And uhh... I got a part to be this religious teacher or something... and I was supposed to sing this amusingly corny song called "Romans 16:9 Says..". I think that was the title. And I have to humiliate myself in front of the 8th and 7th graders with this ugly dance I made. I made the criminal and his son repent. I think.

Other groups' drama are crappy and not funny at all, but people laughed when we performed. Swedian was also a dork when we were in grade 8. He made some review questions before tests. Creep. I remember he dated this girl, that made him emo everyday. Really, he was a big geek/creep (I hope he won't read this post).

I could go on and on reminiscing, but I have to stop now. I'll share with you some of my past experiences next time. I enjoy telling stories of the past, because it also reminds me of what I did and the feelings I have at those moments. It is good to think about the past and enjoy yourself in those moments. Good memories should last perennially, and share it with your friends!

Joke of the Day

Advantages Of Breast Milk

The not necessarily well-prepared student sat in his life science classroom staring at a question on the final exam paper. The question directed, "Give four advantages of breast milk." What to write? He sighed, and began to scribble whatever came into his head, hoping for the best.

1. No need to boil.

2. Cats can't steal it.

3. Available whenever necessary.

So far so good -- maybe. But the exam demanded a four-part answer. Again, what to write? Once more, he sighed. He frowned. He scowled, then sighed again. But suddenly, he brightened. He grabbed his pen, and triumphantly, he scribbled his definitive answer.

4. Available in attractive containers.

Optimism Behind The Downpour [The 17th blog]

*********************************************************************************** Bahasa of the Day

Perabot Rumah Tangga - household ***********************************************************************************

Rain comes and goes sporadically in Java, especially in Jakarta and its surrounding. It has been days since our school released us early due to the heavy rain that yielded a deluge within our school areal. The early release was so sudden since I was just finished watching PeHa Idol. That particular rain was unpredictable for people thought it would stayed as a soothing drizzle. As the result, most of my friends suffer lethal traffic. Angelina's car was trapped for four hours in it without moving any significant inch. My friend Ivan arrived at nine o'clock even though his bus went earlier than the others. Frederick and his brother have to stay at Imperial Aryaduta hotel and can only go home at night. While they sacrifice their time to went home, some people like Jesse and Adrian decided to sleepover at my house. The heavy traffic made picking-ups impossible.

When I watched TV right after I arrived at home (I lived in Lippo Karawaci), almost all TV stations were broadcasting the flood and traffic that occurred in Jakarta live. It really moved my heart when I see the flood that occurred in slum areas, it really did. The flood is almost 1.6 meters and it seeped through their poor houses; destroying their households, making them homeless and sick. I felt pity for them. I mean, what did they do wrong that they have to suffered a complete loss? They broke liters of sweat everyday just to earn a little money, so little that it can only afford their food for one day, and yet they have to loss everything: tangible and intangible object. And when everything is lost, they don't know what they will give to feed their family.

Note that their health condition is treated by cheap or no medication, and the flood just made it worst. Why those despicable dictators and corruptors - worst people who put their country to pitch darkness - did not crashed by this natural dilemma instead? I know that life is unfair, but this is too much.

Yet behind this misery, there is a lesson for the country. Through the innumerable damage, loss, and other problems that are caused by the rain, we hope that the government will open their eyes to this archipelago that is not treated well in terms of environment. It seems to me that the government did not put much effort in establishing cleanliness within our country. Littering trash to sewer is one of the major problems, as well as the one responsible for the fatal flood. Maybe another axion would be the less educated denizens are those who litter, yet their action is because the government did not stress the environmental awareness to them, and to us. Discussing this littering issue would be exceptionally long and I think it should be clear what I am trying to say. Indonesia has too many littering issue to be written as a blog. As Indonesians we, without a doubt, should realize our environment's pitiful status.

Maybe they think that this is unimportant but when it comes to natural disaster, the environment is the determinant. Days after this heavy rain stopped, landslide starts to occur in most villages or slum areas (yes, again, they are the victim) and took people's life. Most of them are children. In my opinion, this avoidance is the reason why Indonesia's growth is slower than any other countries. They do not know that nature holds a significant effect.

Anyhow, let's just see this rain as the time to introspect ourselves upon our action and care towards our environment. We should feel pity for the unfortunate people who are always harmed. We should also show respect to them - without their hard work we might not be able to have rice or fresh fruits! But most of all, we should lend our hands to help Indonesia into a cleaner and greener archipelago. Just like it used to be.

Scrabble-philic [The 16th blog]

********************************************************************************** Bahasa of the Day

Masinis - Train driver
Insinyur - (Civil) Engineer
Pemahat - Sculptor **********************************************************************************

Life sure changes as time passes by. So does thoughts about things. I once was a boy who despise scrabble whenever my cousin took it down from his wardrobe. Without any practical proof, I tagged that game as a boring game where you only put words on a table - I was only six back then though. I saved this thought and lived with it until the day where we had our awesome retreat in the grandeur place ever!

During the free time before the curfew on our first night my friends and I played this card game called king of pigs, where whoever loses for three times must fulfill an inevitable dare from other players. It was hilarious: Mr. Owen lost and the girls told him to kiss Mr. Eric, and he did it! on the cheek! Mr. Eric suddenly stunned, and his face blushed - I am pretty sure he had sudden trauma. It was funny though. After playing it, I heard this tumult on a small round table. I went there and saw Miss Christine, Gary, Swedian, and Steph T playing speed scrabble - it was an intense game. I helped Swedian with his tiles and I found it was quite fun. So I joined them and we have five-men speed scrabble, and guess what? I won in my first game with just short and simple words. I guess that's what I called beginner's luck. We kept playing and even though I lose, turns out that A2 HL have the most win - 6 to 1 I think. (yay us!).

Ever since that night, my opinion about scrabble changes 180 degrees. Fortunately, there is a scrabble pandemic which attacks most of the grade eleven. We played anywhere and anytime: study periods, Mrs Judy's class, and even the hallway! Recently, we even played in the dance room that is connected with the fitness room. During workout intervals, the boys will go and play a quick speed scrabble. I slowly understand about the rules and the applicable two-letter words (can't believe that AA is a word), and I think I began to win more frequent now. Oh! this scrabble fever is actually a prelude of english-games revolution in grade eleven. Other games such as Taboo, and general knowledge game stuff began to be repopularize within our society. They got a laudable response from us.

I must admit that I love word games (Bookword, Text Twist, etc) since I was in grade nine, but I have never been addicted to it just I like I have been addicted to scrabble! I kept pulling people to play scrabble together and I even downloaded the software - very embarrassing and geeky-like. Just recently, Swedian and me also make a proposal for assembling a Scrabble Club. It got approved. It was just a silly joke we had during class, but it becomes an silly idea that works. This addiction makes me want to buy Scrabble but the Kids Station in Supermall only sell the Deluxe one, which is very expensive. I was planning to buy the Junior Scrabble, but I think the word tiles are very minimum. In the end, I will have to be patient to find the original one.

I would like too talk more about Scrabble, but I think people will puke at this entry if I do so. So, I shall end this blog by saying: I love Scrabble!!

DaNte's Post 3rd for 3rd term

DaNte's Post

26-1-2007

I wonder, where's the post from the other members? Hey! Don't be lazy guys!

Erratic Picture of the Day

Mr. John Evans?

Strange Facts!

In the movie "The Matrix Reloaded" a 17 minute battle scene cost over $40 million to produce.

Word of the Day

Surreal (adj) - bizzare

Topic of the Day

The Sad Reality of Indonesian TV

"Donny! Mengapa kau begitu? Aku sangat mencitaimu Donny! Kenapa kau tega sekali meninggalkan kasihmu yang rela mati demi kamu?! (translation: Donny! Why are you like this? I love you so much Donny! Why are you so willing to leave your beloved girlfriend who would die for you?!" shouted Kasih. "Diam kamu jalang! Dasar cewek gak guna! Keluar kamu dari rumah ini! Aku sudah mempunyai kekasih yang baru yang jauh lebih cantik darimu! (translation: Shut up you who**! You useless women! Get out from my house! I already have a prettier girlfriend!" Donny yelled. Everything slowed down... Then the camera focuses on the girl. The camera zooms in to the weeping girl who barely had tears on her face, and she weeped more and fell to the floor. Then the view switches to the guy who's face was frantically mad with his eyes staring wildly at the girl.

...

Yuck

What I just wrote above, was an epitome of a Indonesian television series. If I depicted it through words, it would seem thrice better. However, I am pretty sure all of you know what I am talking about. I am sure that everyone here saw an Indonesian 'sinetron' once in their life. They are a waste of time and energy, I tell you. ALL of them have almost exactly the same storyline. Here's the storyline:

1. There's a girl who's position was unfortunate compared to other people. She lives with a spitfire women with her rude daughter. Either she's an adopted child or she's the maid in the house. OR there's a poor girl who lived on the streets. Note that the name of the girls have to be something beautiful (Intan, Permata, Kasih, Cinta, Candy, Berlian, etc) or something weird (Eneng), and usually the series' names are after the girl's name.
   
2. There's a boy who somehow came to her house, and both girls, the maid/adopted child and the housewife's daughter, fell in love with the boy. Or the poor girl (who dresses adequately, wear decent make ups and sometimes pretty) who lived on the streets inadvertently bumped into a rich, handsome (yeech) guy who became interested in her.
3. The boy have a relationship with the girl, but the evil girl along with her evil mom tries to separate the two of them. Meanwhile, the poor girl met up with the rich boy and had a relationship too! (joy - -")
4. The girl somehow had an accident or whatsoever and the evil girl and her evil mom rejoices. On the other hand, another rich handsome guy meets with the poor girl and flirted with her and blah blah blah ....
5. The girl ends up in the hospital with her boyfriend flirting disgustingly and very cheesy with her, trying to comfort her. The poor girl's boy and the flirty rich boy fought due to jealousy, and the poor girl's boy ended up in a hospital too.
   
6. The girl got out of the hospital, but then she made a foolish illogical folly that caused the boyfriend to leave her, and she cries alone in the rain... awww... while praying to Allah. or the rich boys parents was yelling at the poor girl.
7. Then after long long long useless series with useless additional characters either the couple reunited, or one of them died, and have a relationship with another man. The end. Yay!

I am seriously too lazy to describe the whole story of a typical Indonesian television series. ALL of them have the same story and the actors/actresses act either histrionically or act like a robot. Plus, they have terrible setting, special effects and music. I've seen a series where there's a restaurant, inside a house, and there's this very very lame stage with some lights and somehow a girl was singing and THEY EVEN HAVE A TEXT OF THE SONG!!! Another example, for years the sinetrons ALWAYS have girls crying in it with some lame slow motion effect. For years, the girls cried without tears. They NEVER cried with tears, until around 2006 the directors discovered that humans release a flow of water from their eyes when they weep. Seriously.

I pity those people who actually likes to watch some lame series which last only 5 minute and then there's a 15 minute commercial before they continue the series. Citizens of Indonesia became victims of some mindless, noneducational and morally challenged TV series which featured a tear-less cry and purple colored human blood. Indonesian producers have to redefine their works if they want to raise the quality of Indonesian television to a more suitable entertainment. The current TV series are totally useless and a big waste of time. Surely it is highly not recommended to watch Indonesian series.

The thing about the Indonesian producer is, they always copy each other's work. Everytime a new series was made, another show company copy their work. In the end, all the TV series in Indonesia all have almost exactly the same storyline with the same special effects. We need innovation! We need something morally correct! We NEED DECENT SPECIAL EFFECTS! WE DON'T NEED GIRLS WEEPING ALL THE TIME WITH SOME LAME ZOOM SLOW EFFECT MOTION!

Joke of the Day

This Is Flight Control

As the crowded airliner is about to take off, the peace is shattered by a five-year-old boy who picks that moment to throw a wild temper tantrum. No matter what his frustrated, embarrassed mother does to try to calm him down, the boy continues to scream furiously and kick the seats around him.

From the rear of the plane, an elderly man in the uniform of an Air Force General walks slowly forward up the aisle. Stopping the flustered mother with an upraised hand, the courtly, soft-spoken General leans down and, motioning toward his chest, whispers something into the boy's ear. Instantly, the boy calms down, and sits quietly as his mother fastens his seat belt.

All the other passengers are relieved and grateful; they smile and nod at the General with gestures of thanks as he slowly makes his way back to his seat.

One of the cabin attendants approaches the General. "Excuse me, Sir," she asks quietly, "but could I ask you what magic words you used on that little boy?"

The old man smiles serenely and confides, "I showed him my pilot's wings, service stars, and battle ribbons, and explained that they entitle me to throw one passenger out the plane door, on any flight I choose."

DaNte's Post - 2nd post for 3rd term

DaNte's Post

20-1-2008

Hello everyone! I would like to inform you that there will be minor changes for my posts. The 'Auspicious Quote of the Day' will be changed into 'Strange Facts'. You should thank me! Your general knowledge will increase each time you read my post.

Erratic Picture of the Day


Strange Facts!

A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off - it dies from starvation

Word of the Day

binaural (adj) - of or relating both ears

Topic of the Day

A Deteriorating Future

As Indonesians, we should be proud of our land. Indonesia, is known to be the largest archipelago in the world. It is one of the most lands with abundant natural resources, including oil, gold, and many other precious minerals. Compared to other beaches, Bali's beaches are far more alluring and beautiful. Not to mention the prominent diving spot in Bunaken. It was written in Time Almanac 2008 that Indonesia had a economic growth of 5.22%, making it one of the most developing countries in the world. Moreover, we are currently in the 3rd ranking for the most populated country in the world.

However, though we have abundant natural resources, copious islands, stunningly magnificent beach and sea, and vast population, our country remains in suffering. Around 11.6 million people dwells in unemployment, and millions of people lie in poverty. Corruption exists within the authorities, and many transgressors are still nowhere to be found. Many children barely gets educated, and education for the less privileged is inferior. Even though the economic growth has increased, Indonesia still faces misery.

The price of oil increases drastically recently. This sudden change has a very adverse impact on Indonesia. The price of daily needs increase, including frying oil, rice, soy beans, and many more. Ever since the increase of the daily essentials, the less privileged are striving harder to survive and feed their family. Just imagine, the price of oils rose from around 6000 rupiah to 13,000 rupiah, which is more than a 100% increase.

In the recent news, a fried snack seller committed suicide due to the increase of soy beans' price. He cannot cover the expense of selling fried snacks due to the significant price increase, and should he raise the price of his snacks, he will have no more customers. The seller chose to take a shortcut, and murdered himself.

An irony of this country is we have plenty of natural resources, but we use imported daily needs. Rice, grain, soy beans, and many more are mostly imported from foreign countries, leaving our own resources unknown. Most of the time our rigorously earned and harvested resources are exported, and the money is kept by the department. Thus the farmers are left without being paid high enough. Obviously imported things are more expensive than local products, thus the price of the resources are very high. The farmers and poor people are trapped in an impoverished state because of the selfishness of the resource agency.

We should be grateful that we are able to live our everyday life joyfully and abundantly. We can have any food that we want in an indefinite amount, and we can pay for our school tuition and buy the things we want. There are millions of unfortunate people in our country, and we should not waste our fortune.

Joke of the Day

Once there was a millionaire, who collected live alligators. He kept them in the pool in back of his mansion. The millionaire also had a beautiful daughter who was single. One day he decides to throw a huge party, and during the party he announces, "My dear guests: I have a proposition to every man here. I will give one million dollars or my daughter to the man who can swim across this pool full of alligators and emerge unharmed."

As soon as he finished his last word, there was the sound of a large SPLASH. There was one guy in the pool swimming with all the strength he could muster. The crowd cheered him on as he kept stroking. Finally, he made it to the other side unharmed. The millionaire was impressed.

He said, "My boy that was incredible! Fantastic! I didn't think it could be done! Well I must keep my end of the bargain. Which do you want, my daughter or the one million dollars?"

The guy says, "Listen, I don't want your money! And I don't want your daughter! I want the person who pushed me in the water!"

DaNte's Post - 1st for 3rd term

DaNte's Post

13-01-2008

School... Urghh... *scoffs*... blah... *curses*... Nah, just kidding :P. Well, there's around 6 more terms left for IB! Woo hoo! Lucky you, I am not going to talk about the holiday because mine is well... pretty boring. My friends slept over and we did some dumb stuffs together, as usual and there's Christmas! Well I pretty much did nothing after my friends slept over, and I went to Bali a week after Christmas. I met Marino and Andreas there and we hung out in Bali. Enough babble about my holiday, it's blog time now!

Erratic Picture of the Day


....... =__="

Auspicious Quote of the Day


"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will."

Epictetus

Word of the Day

repugnant (adj) - extremely distasteful; unacceptable


Topic of the Day

Ahhh!!! Ghosts! Ahhh! Zombies!

"Oh my gosh! The movie was sooooo awesome!" a friend of mine said to me once. I thought of watching that movie, but only 3-5 months later I got to watch that movie. Well, I finally watched the movie. When the movie ended, somehow I got this feeling of awkwardness and grotesque inside me. "Uhhh... duuuuh...." my mind wandered aimlessly. "Damn horror Hollywood movie, now I'm feeling weirded out," I thought. It took me awhile to get my mind back online. After seeing a genocide of innocent civilians I was sort of blank and grossed out. Especially after seeing a rated R scene where a husband murdered his wife brutally and piercing her eyes with his thumbs in the process. Blegh. Well, it was a pretty good movie, I should say, for a horror genre. Ah screw this, the movie title's "28 Weeks Later". I just watched it Thursday. Yes, it's sad I know.

If you look closely the progress of movies, the horror genre is one of the most produced movies of all times. Plus, the horror genre itself is almost as old as the age of movies itself. But really, as the era goes on, horror movies aren't exactly horror movies anymore. Most have become more graphic and sanguinary with the development of Hollywood props. Some movies aren't so scary at all. They just show scenes of ghosts or monsters or whatsoever mutilating and chewing off human bodies and leave them in search of fresh new bodies. Seriously. If you're dead, then you came back alive, why the heck do you need flesh to survive? How the hell can zombies friggin tell if someone's alive or not? After all, zombies are brainless! Ghosts are dumb looking as well. And why most ghosts are female? If Hayden Panettiere or Megan Fox or Jessica Alba (which is currently pregnant T_T) or hot female actresses ever became a ghost, I hope the horror genre would be banned for eternity!

That is not the most annoying fact about horror movies. Most horror movies are like this:

1. Protagonist play around in an old, ancient and haunted house or someone was playing around with a friggin infectious virus or he/she was on a trip and they wind up somewhere freaky and dark
2. Protagonist meets the ghost in the dumb, ugly house or the person who's playing with the virus inadvertently dropped the vial that contained the virus or his/her friend was murdered in the dark mysteriously
3. Protagonist runs away from the ghost or the virus caused infection and finally an outbreak or the protagonist was chased by the psychotic murderer
4. Protagonist knows about the ghost's past or why the heck the ghost have a "GRUDGE" or the protagonist tries to survive a swarm of zombies or the protagonist found out who the murderer is (most of the time the murderer must've something to do with the protagonist, a heartbroken, depressed, emo, angered friend or a guy who was ran over by the protagonist's friend)
   
5. Protagonist gets killed by the ghost or protagonist escaped the band of zombies and fled somewhere 'safe' (at least for the episode) or the protagonist whacked the killer to save his/her friend or something and thought the murderer was dead
6. Ghost lives on and haunts other people or the outbreak reached other areas and caused an infection on a global scale or the murderer is still alive and keeps slaughtering the people
7. The producers decided to make a sequel of the friggin illogical movie, continuing the zombies who dominated the world or the murderer who somehow still lives even though they had been dead for so many times

Yes, that is the chronological order of horror movie scenes. Very intriguing isn't it? Maybe you would like me to tell the scenes of the sequel? Well, you can skim through the list above and you just known the story of the sequel! Yay!

To be honest, horror movies are so useless and noneducational. They are the abomination, or should I say, an 'infection' or 'plague' in the Hollywood movies. They only show you how to murder a person pugnaciously and barbarously, or tell you ways to get yourself haunted by some ugly long-haired ghost with a white sleeping robe (daster in Indonesian). The producers just love seeing audience living in fear and paranoid of the dark, while they gain so much money and satisfied seeing their movie conquer on the Blockbuster. What's worse, it is what mostly dominate the Hollywood.

I am writing this not to discourage or hamper you to watch horror movies. Sure, it's fun to watch it sometimes, but don't let it INFECT you or HAUNT your lives and inspire fear in your heart. They're just movies. ZOMBIES AND GHOSTS DON'T EXIST FOR HOMER'S SAKE! AT LEAST I DON'T BELIEVE SO!

Joke of the Day

Dog-gone It

A dog walks into a butcher shop with a purse attached around his neck. He walks up to the meat case and calmly sits there until it's his turn to be waited on. A man, who was already in the butcher shop, finished his purchase and noticed the dog.

The butcher leaned over the couner and asked the dog what it wanted today. The dog put his paw on the glass case in front of the ground beef, and the butcher said, "How many pounds?"

The dog barked twice, so the butcher made a package of two pounds of ground beef. He then said, "Anything else?"

The dog pointed to the pork chops, and the butcher said, "How many?"

The dog barked four times, and the butcher made up a package of four pork chops.

The dog then walked around behind the counter, so the butcher could get at the purse. The butcher took out the appropriate amount of money and tied the two packages of meat around the dog's neck. The man who had been watching all this time, decided to follow the dog.

It walked for several blocks and then trotted up to a house where it began to scratch the door to be let in. As the owner appeared at the door, the man said to him, "That's a really smart dog you have there."

The owner replied, "He's not all that smart. This is the second time this week he forgot his key."

Microscopic View of Red Rice [15th blog]

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Bahasa of the Day

Milky Way - Bima Sakti
New Zealand - Selandia Baru ************************************************************************

When I was a child I have been introduced to different kind of rice and have consumed them innumerably. Yellow rice, Hainan rice, and Uduk rice are examples of these variants. Yet, I have never eaten red rice until several weeks ago, even when I know that such rice exists. It is then realized, through lazy research, that inside these little grains are nutritious compounds which not only covering our daily diet needs, but they also promoting our health to a higher level.

Yellow rice appears yellow because the rice grain has been mixed with turmeric; explaining such unique aroma produced by it. The red appearance in red rice, however, is by nature's gift. Though it appears as a pale color, red rice contains not only carbohydrate which supply our daily energy. It also contains fat, fiber, magnesium, phosphorus, protein, vitamin A B C, Zinc, as well as vitamin B complex which is responsible to prevent illnesses (insomnia, constipation, intestine cancer) as it contributes to our body defense. It also lowers down cholesterol and sugar level because, from what I could recalled, it acts as antioxidants: absorbing malicious bacteria and kick them out from our body. Scientifically, red rice can lowers down bad cholesterol up to 30%, and raise the good cholesterol 19%. This antioxidants role can also prevent coronary heart disease as well as cancer too.

We should not be terrified when I mentioned red rice contains fat. Not all fat is ugly, and the existence of fat is actually important to our body since it equipped us with insulation (cold-proof), buoyancy (less energy exerted during swimming), and backup energy. The 12% fat within red rice is unsaturated fat, where it won't give you such flabby appearances since it existed not as solid. The existence of flabbiness body is actually because our slow metabolism (the food you eat are converted into fat and energy, instead of energy alone). In other words, fatness occurs because we rarely do physical exercise. This is also why some people eat so much and yet they are not fat; they are gifted with high metabolism even when they do less exercise.

Again as I said before, red rice contains protein. I think this is good because as teenagers, we do need protein because this is our life's phase where we are very active and do relentless activities as well. We also need it to develop muscle either for fitness or sport purposes, and to remain as hyperactive delinquents. Thus, aside from eating eggs, why don't we add red rice as our daily diet? We get extra protein consumption without ruining our eating habit, and it tastes good.

Anthocyanin is another thing in red rice which I like the most. Originally, Anthocyanin is a pigment that is responsible to give the dark purple color in flowers or plants, which is make sense why red rice have purplish color. The spectra of this pigments differs in accordance to their pH: from reddish brown until purplish. This color gradient can be seen if you purchased red rice from different cities in Java like Sumedang, Bogor, Kadipaten, etc.

Why do I like this anthocyanin? It is because this pigment is responsible as antioxidants, anti hypertension, and most of all it enhance our sight - a very crucial and adored function for a glasses wearer like me. *You can also find anthocyanin in red wine too I think.* Maybe you will think that this pigment is not affective enough since the red color is only on the surface of the rice? Well, think again! Anthocyanin is actually covering the whole rice crops.

However, the availability of red rice in general is very scarce. Its availability in markets are so limited that the price is quite expensive than normal rice (around Rp.7000/kg). This low productivity might be caused by its crop that is classified as an upland rice. Such type of rice requires good weather, location, and even nutrients. From what I know, upland rice usually requires no water and rely on something else in order to survive, but I don't know for sure.

Red rice is an underdog rice whose healthy potentials are not recognized by the dominance due to the existence of modern food such as junk foods. The probable chance of other beneficial mysteries behind these little red grains are still unknown as well. Such anonymousness occurred because other food science aspects are more prioritized by researchers. Now after we realized the list and function of nutrients within these petite rice, I could not think a better reason why I should not consume red rice. In the end, it is all up to us to decide which food serves the most proportional nutrients for our healthy living.

Bandung Kaleidoscope [The 14th Blog]

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Bahasa of The Day

Griya -[subject] - House ****************************************************************
Merry Christmas 2007 and Happy New Year 2008 !!

It has been 6 months since we started this blog and in this new year may we ameliorate our writing skill in order to enable us to write more heartbreaking and higher quality blogs.
(Not to mention our blogging diligence that must be disciplined)
:) *cheers!!* :)

Yesterday's Christmas break was not the best holiday I have ever had. Probably because our family did not do our annual December "tradition" where we usually flew off to another country or another continent for approximately two weeks. This habitual family time unfortunately cannot be held like usual due to some visa issue which disabling us from entering the country. Thus there I was, homebound and behaving like a lazy sloth who took his morning bath at three o'clock in the afternoon. Let's not talk further about it shall we. However, this holiday gives me some satisfaction because I was able to visit a city in Indonesia that I have never visited. It's quite a shame to live as an Indonesian who has visited countries in other continents, but never visit at least Indonesia's beautiful or famous cities aside from Jakarta, Bali and Surabaya.

Just a brief holiday overview, I spent my first week playing badminton with my friends, having a luncheon with Ibu Vionita and her economics students, and watching movies such as I am Legend and Warlords with them. Right before the first week ended, my homebound period began. I woke up late and all I did was reading stuffs, researching EE, and chatting with my fellow friends who were also acting like a pig. We sure shared the same pain! During the third week, just after Christmas, my parents came and we went to Bandung. This is where the, just as what you will expected from my title, insightful kaleidoscope of Bandung started!

Geographically, Bandung is a city of flower that is located in South East from Jakarta and approximately 150 kilometers (two hours journey via car). Seeing it from a map, this city is constructed with many roads and have even more street names. However, we do not have to worry about getting lost because the streets are connected to other street without any dizzying traffic rules. Its location in high terrain and near the mountain has given Bandung a cool climate (around 22 degree Celcius) along with soothing breezes and cleaner air. Bandung is the perfect city that you would visited to whenever you are tired with Jakarta's intense sun and polluted atmosphere.

Although it is named and well known as a city of flower, you will not see flowers really often in the city. Yet the florists there sold assortment of fresh flowers. After all, most of the flowers that we see in Jakarta are originated from Bandung. You can also see the flower garden in the Lembang area (30 minutes from the town), and while you are there you can also visit the famous Tangkuban Perahu mountain to enjoy a wondrous scenery and relaxing wind, as well as the hot spring 2 kilometers from the mountain.

You will not see tall and gallant buildings or even houses with complex exterior. The only tall buildings you can see is only the malls, and even most of the malls and stores are considered as wide rather than tall. Instead, you will see simple yet elegant design as well as restaurants with traditional Sundanese architectures with traditional melodies which gives you a "cultural ambiance" just by sitting there.

Bandung cuisines are heaven! You and your friend can have a culinary tour just within this city! The Sundanese food is very delicious and even in a certain restaurant they have this hybrid of Padang and buffet system where you can choose the food (per piece) that you desires, along with a stand where you can order traditional mini-cuisines such as Rujak and Es Cendol, and also a Lalapan (vegetables) stand where you have a veggie buffet and for free! My restaurant preference in Bandung would be Dapurku in Lembong street. I forgot what was it called, but there was this delicious chicken that I ate with my parents in other restaurant and you should try it (it starts with a K). However, if you are a chili lover you might get disappointed because the chili (sambel ulek) in Bandung are generally salty. This mismatch of taste might affect your appetite and response towards the culinary itself. (Some restaurant can give you very spicy chili if you ask them to do so).

Aside from the cultural coziness, there are also restaurants suitable for hanging out with friends or relatives that is located in Dago Atas area. One of the restaurant is called The Valley. They served cliche contemporary cuisines such as steaks, truffle soup, Japanese food, sop buntut, cocktails, wine, etc. In my opinion, the taste of the food is satisfying but not very high class. But the price of the food are quite expensive (the main course costs around 50.000 and above). But do not feel like you are being ripped by them. My Bandung friend told me that in this Dago Atas area you tend to pay for the dazzling scenery of natural landscapes and optimum climate too. And this scenery truly deserves a two thumbs up! You should try to visit this place once in a while!

Last but not least is the shopping hot-spots. From what I have seen during my visit in this previous holiday, factory outlets are most visited shopping place in Bandung. Most outlets are located in Dago Street. Here, it almost like Orchard Road where shopping centers are neighboring each other except that the outlets sometimes gapped with one or two random houses in between. About the apparels that they sell, they are not cheap nor expensive, and the quality is not world class but very satisfying. To be honest they seems like these rejects from the world class brands such as Adidas, Nike, Puma, Zara, Lacoste, etc due to a very tiny error with the product (small scratch, small knitting mistake, etc), but they are good enough for me! The price of these apparels are around Rp. 20.000 and above.

Regarding personal preferences, girls who usually bought branded apparels or clothings might be less attracted to these outlets since they might see disappointment in terms of materials quality. As for boys, I think it is better to buy clothes from here rather than those branded and super expensive store since we might use it for sports and have our clothes worn-out in a short period of time anyways! Furthermore, somehow these outlets provide better quality apparels for boys rather than for girls - that is, through my perspective.

What is hilarious is the fact that there are more Jakarta cars rather than Bandung cars during the holiday or weekends. Even my Bandung friend said that Bandung citizens wouldn't go out during weekend due to the traffic dillema that the Jakarta denizen has caused.

Bandung, through my eyes, is a wonderful city that is perfect to gain serenity and relaxation. It is suitable as a run-away-from-Jakarta program, where we momentarily throw away the polluted visualization that is worsened with the tall buildings and dusty environment! When you are trapped for holiday in Jakarta, you'd better take a road trip to Bandung. You might as well see this city of flower's through a kaleidoscope which will bedazzled you. It's just a two hours journey anyways!!

Note: It is preferably not to go to Bandung during weekends, since you might suffer traffic jam in the Toll road and end up 3 - 4 hours in car. And if you went back to Jakarta from Bandung after gallant festival (i.e New Year) or during weekend, you might as well go home earlier if you do not want to suffer the same traffic jam.

Season's Greetings

Happy Holiday guys, eight more days before Christmas and I hope that all of us will experience a memorable event during this holiday.

Regarding 2008 that is very close, I am changing our blog's template into something that is brighter because I am quite bored with the boring dark background!

To my blog-mates, I hope that I could find a better template to replace this default template. But until then, let's use this template!

P.S. (to my blog-mates) You do found out that the Sign In shortcut is not on the upperscreen anymore. To sign in and post blogs, please go to the main page of blogger.com (http://www.blogger.com) Thank you and sorry of the inconvenience.

Life Without the Ivies?

Today’s the day.

My heart thumped like crazy, making blood rush through my veins. I waited for my mother to sort out the pile of letters which contains various bills, random advertisements, personal letters, and of course, the letter. The letter that’ll determine the rest of my future, my life.

She handed me the white envelope. With trembling hands I ripped the seal and slowly unveiled the folded letter. A few seconds of tense silence passed by; nobody talked, moved, even blinked.

“So, did you get in?” my mother hushed.

“No,” I replied.

As juniors in a fast paced high school program, it would not be long until we have to experience the same incident described in the story above. Around this time next year, all of us would be fluffing away in our college application essays, urging teachers to write recommendation letters (smelling any whiffs of ‘sucking up’, here?), frantically completing UCAS and/or registering for that SAT exam some of us keeps on delaying, or even looking up different universities online for the extreme procrastinators out there. After the college admission appeals are done and over with, what is left to do? The answer is none other than to wait for the reply, of course.

Every person will have different feelings towards these letters. As for me, I would pull strands of my hair out, scream out of fear/ fury/ nervousness/ depression/ excitement before I will have the courage to rip the envelope apart! I will probably be thinking, I have to get into this university – I didn’t spend all that time and efforts on IB and extracurricular activities for nothing! Indeed, it will be such a great shame and disappointment to me and my family if I didn’t go into supposedly good universities, namely those in the Ivy League. My father’s desire is for me to enter Cambridge University. I told him that it is impossible for me to even get considered there – bearing in mind that I failed mathematics last term. Nevertheless, he still wants me to try and get into Cambridge. I’m sure that I’ll get a rejection letter from Cambridge’s dean of admission, as well as other universities parallel to its ranking.

So what to do then, if we get a rejection letter from a university we want to attend so badly? While disappointment and even tears may be inevitable, we should not mourn for so long. The fact is, it is not the end of the world. There are other universities that will provide education just as excellent as that of the universities in the Ivy League and the like. Remember Steven Spielberg? The famous film schools at UCLA and USC rejected him, so he went to California State-Long Beach and made several student films there. I bet UCLA and USC now feels stupid for rejecting Steven Spielberg into their colleges. Think about your own situation. If you are an admirable hard worker who keeps on doing your best in everything, Harvard, Yale, or Princeton will envy the other schools that are going to get you!

I know that the things I’ve said above are definitely easier said than done. I’d still be very depressed and miserable if a college I really wanted to get into rejected me. But hopefully this blog will serve as a reminder that life WILL go on even through its letdowns and we should not beat ourselves up forever for it.

-Agie