Sunday to Sunday

post #334

Lighter post this time. Just a bunch of things in my mind that I wanted to pour down here.
Last week Sunday (not yesterday) was kinda full schedule Sunday. Met a buyer in the morning, finally sold my last Ipod Nano...yippieee...then went to La Grandeur to eat dim sum with cee, mps, lws n the guys. Arrived there quite on time though I was a bit worried since I left Plangi at almost 12 PM. Met Cee n Uly in Dusit, we went up to May Star together. Not so long after that mps came and the guys came afterward. The food was good, and the price was reasonable. Took some pics and we parted at around 2 PM. I went to MoI to meet up with the guys.

Finally we hung out together again...after more than a month I think. When I was parking Karen, Dvd sent a message saying that he n WW already at Blitz Cafe. I went there, ordered a glass of orange juice then bought the ticket. At first we wanted to watch Push, but it wasn't played anymore there so we bought tickets for Marley and Me instead. Agt came not so long after that. We chatted and asking about how have we been lately.

Then we watched Marley and Me. I didn't expect much when I bought the ticket, but Marley and Me really impressed me. The simple plot but full with very good moral messages. It deserved an entry on its own later on. After watching the movie, we went to Garuda to eat dinner, then went back to MoI. I looked around at Centro for a while then went back home.

Monday was so so. Nothing in particular that I could remember of about that day. So did Tuesday. I guess the thing that quite annoying was my inet connection at home was intermittent, just like Katy Pery's song Hot and Cold...on off on off on off. Came Wednesday, Yoga class....ahhhhh....My body was getting more used to the positions and it felt great. Not so many people attended the Yoga class.

Thursday was national holiday here. It's Seclusion day. It reminded me that a year ago I was in Bali few days before seclusion day. Woke up at almost lunch time, picked mom up from auntie's house then went to pick up R. We went to Senayan City and watched Confession of a Shopaholic. Then we chatted for a while at Oh La La cafe. Drove her back then went home. Then I realized in the morning...I lost my USB flash disk...argghhhh....darnn...I couldn't remember when and where I lost it. I thought I saw it when I put the laptop to my work backpack. I was quite upset since I never lost a USB flash disk before. Well...I guess there's always a first time for everything....

Friday came....I was planning to take a leave, but I canceled since there's this unit that need to be finished. The day went quite fast since there's an issue regarding saving a file into a network folder. Mps invited me to go karaoke at T-Rex, GI in the evening. I said ok. I never went to T-Rex. Went there at around 7 PM. Got some time to look at Nike warehouse sale. Nothing interested me. Watched the show of rhythmic sprinklers (ermmm not sure about this) while waiting for them in front of T-Rex. It was beautiful. I suppose that's the smaller version of Song of the Sea in Sentosa Island, Singapore. Then mps came with jfs. We booked the large room for two hours. The songs were Ok, sound system Ok, GUI....not so ok...well.. happy puppy and NAV were still the best.

Then....Saturday arrived. Woke up early and went to her place, called her when I was in front of the gate. She was surprised to know I already arrived. Bought her breakfast then we went to her practice place. Watched Gossip Girl and we talked...then we went back, picked up two of her friends and went to Mangdu.

My mission was to buy Batik and some DVDs. Managed to accomplish it, plus I got two Superman shirts. Yippppieeeee.... The first one was a coincidence. The last one. It has the same emblem of bleeding 'S like my YM avatar. The second one was black....and to my surprise, when I was looking at the black Superman shirt, a girl called me...she was Shl...I was like....whattttttt???? She was with her friend. And to add my surprise she was just being sworn together with the girls I went with. All of this time, of all the places we could meet...we met at Mangdu....talking about right place at the right time, huh? Reminded me also that the other nite, yn just called me, asking about boyscout thing....

After the shopping frenzy, my friend spent about 750K...*WOWWW we went to EP to watch Dragonball Evolution. We managed to get tickets for 6.30 PM show, perfect timing. In short, the film sucked, big time. If it's intended for children, too many kissing scenes (not just kiss...but kissing passionately) and skimpy dresses. The characters weren't powerful enough to make the story alive, only Bulma that did quite okay. The others were lame. I think this could be the worst comic-to-movie adaptation for the past few years. I just hope Kristin Kreuk's Legend of Chun Li wouldn't suck as much as this.

Went back home then slept like a baby pig. Woke up in the morning, wanted to attend morning mass..but I was still sleepy + lazy, so I attended the afternoon mass. Spent the day by browsing (my inet connection was good again), watching DVD and sleeping...lolzzzz... A busy Sunday was closed by a lazy Sunday :D

Well...that's all for now...Next...the last of four ideas that I had wanted to post...

Heal The World

post #333

Accenture is going green.
Attended the launch of this campaign few weeks ago. Been meaning to write an entry afterward because the clip that was shown at the end of the presentation was very moving.

Before I continue, are you familiar with this song?

...Heal the world, make it a better place
For you and for me, and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me...


I won't discuss about the singer's controversies....I'd like to focus on the song. I really like this song. Read the lyric, it's very beautiful I think.

Ok...the campaign was intended to build awareness esp for Accenture employees in the country on the harsh fact about this earth we're living on, that we conveniently ignore by looking the other way. The campaign was started with forewords from one of the senior executives. He told some interesting (scary) facts, one that I remembered the most was about this sea current, which was dubbed the great oceanic conveyor belt. In short, there might be a possibility that northern hemisphere temperature drop 5 - 10 degree Celcius. This would be similar to global average temperature at the end of last ice age, approximately 20K years ago. The impact, very difficult to be predicted (but I'm kinda sure that it won't be near good at all). If you think you might not live long enough to experience it, think again since it's believed that this could happen within 20 years. What caused it? The notorious global warming.

There's a full article, which was cited from NASA site. Feel free to read it for yourself --> click here
One thing that surprised me when I read the article was that it was written back in 2004.

Then he ended his forewords with an illustration of a frog. He advised us not to be like a frog. If you put a frog into a pan filled with boiling water, the frog would jump away instantly. But if you put it into a pan filled with water (not boiled yet), then slowly boil it...the frog wouldn't jump, and it eventually boiled along with the water.

Are we gonna be like the frog?? Slowly die because we're adapting...adapting to this broken world which was getting worse each passing day?

Put aside the fact that frog is a cold blooded animal. It's the ignorance that was emphasized.

Next part was about what is global warming, greenhouse effect, wastes, trees that must be sacrificed in making paper, etc. Why do we care about trees? The answer is:
- Greenhouse effect is one of the cause of global warming
- One of the most abundant greenhouse gases is C02 (carbon dioxide)
- Tree is (oh so magnificent) God's handcrafted machine that can process C02 to be 02, a process widely known as photosynthesis

To day, *qouting my SE*, man, despite so many technological advancements, still unable to create a machine which mimics tree's photosynthesis ability.


Let's take a moment to listen to this song, the Earth song

What about sunrise, what about rain
What about all the things, that you said we were to gain
What about killing fields, is there a time
What about all the things, that you said was yours and mine
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shared before
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth this weeping shores?


What have we done to the world
Look what we've done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son
What about flowering fields
Is there a time
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine
Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth this weeping shores

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far

Hey, what about yesterday (What about us)
What about the seas (What about us)
The heavens are falling down (What about us)
I can't even breathe (What about us)
What about everthing (What about us)
I have given you (What about us)
What about nature's worth
It's our planet's womb (What about us)
What about animals (What about it)
We've turned kingdoms to dust (What about us)
What about elephants (What about us)
Have we lost their trust (What about us)
What about crying whales (What about us)
We're ravaging the seas (What about us)
What about forest trails
Burnt despite our pleas (What about us)
What about the holy land (What about it)
Torn apart by creed (What about us)
What about the common man (What about us)
Can't we set him free (What about us)
What about children dying (What about us)
Can't you hear them cry (What about us)
Where did we go wrong
Someone tell me why (What about us)
What about baby boy (What about it)
What about the days (What about us)
What about all their joy (What about us)
What about the men (What about us)
What about the crying man (What about us)
What about Abraham (What was us)
What about death again
Do we give a damn?


After the global warming, the initiatives were introduced. We who attended the session were expected urged to make a pledge, to commit in to do something about it. In overall, the threat to this world is real and imminent. Scary, but true.

It's up to us, me and you to decide...what kind of world we want our children to inherit?
What are we gonna do about it? Be a frog or be part of the change.
Together, we can make a difference.
Start caring for our earth, right now.

For closure, I'd like to share a clip that I mentioned at the beginning of this post.
This clip shows that a teenage girl, aged 13 at the time, speaking in front of delegates at UN Earth Summit 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. She who was at a very young age already had the kind of awareness that most of us didn't have though our age is older...again proving that maturity doesn't always necessarily come with age.

This clip was taken 17 years ago...and it's still relevant now...more than ever actually.
Listen to what she said carefully and if you're still not moved....well...I dunno what to say..




Michael Jackson - Heal The World

spoken:
Think about the generations and to say we want to make it a better
world for our children and our children's children. So that they know
it's a better world for them; and think if they can make it a better
place.


There's a place in your heart
And I know that it is love
And this place could be much
Brighter than tomorrow.
And if you really try
You'll find there's no need to cry
In this place you'll feel
There's no hurt or sorrow.
There are ways to get there
If you care enough for the living
Make a little space, make a better place.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.


If you want to know why
There's a love that cannot lie
Love is strong
It only cares for joyful giving.
If we try we shall see
In this bliss we cannot feel
Fear or dread
We stop existing and start living
Then it feels that always
Love's enough for us growing
Make a better world, make a better world.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race.
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

Bridge:
And the dream we would conceived in
Will reveal a joyful face
And the world we once believed in
Will shine again in grace
Then why do we keep strangling life
Wound this earth, crucify it's soul
Though it's plain to see, this world is heavenly
Be God's glow.


We could fly so high
Let our spirits never die
In my heart I feel
You are all my brothers
Create a world with no fear
Together we'll cry happy tears
See the nations turn
Their swords into plowshares
We could really get there
If you cared enough for the living
Make a little space to make a better place.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.


There are people dying if you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me.
There are people dying if you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me.

You and for me / Make a better place
You and for me / Make a better place
You and for me / Make a better place
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children

Everything You Want

post #332

Three days training had successfully made me miss the momentum to write yet three more entries regarding the ideas I had since last week. So here’s the second, with a little bit pace.

Attended morning mass at St. James church on Sunday morning. The pastor gave an interesting sermon related to that day bible reading. It’s about our lives. It’s about what we want in this life. We all have our own crosses to bear, but like the pastor said, many of us have the tendency to make a bargain. We often try to make our cross lighter, either by cut it a bit to make it shorter, hence lighter. Or we may try do negotiate with God, asking for a lighter material, Styrofoam perhaps? Or we may try to carve it, thus make it thinner *and in the end lighter* for us to bear. We might be happier in bearing the modified cross during our lives, but the pastor reminded…at the end of our lives, before we cross to the other side (heaven), there’s a deep gap which we have to cross. How do we cross over it? Using the cross we bear in our lives.

Then, what happened when we try to cross it using the (modified) cross? Cross which was made from styrofoam surely couldn’t hold our weight. Cross which had been cut surely wasn’t long enough to reach the other side. Cross which had been carved to be thinner, again couldn’t hold our weight. That’s why we need to carry our own cross, which has been suited perfectly for us. There’s a story I read some time ago, but I couldn’t remember the details. The morale of the story was that we sometimes often get jealous with other person’s cross, which we assume was lighter than ours. But once we tried to bear it, we found out that its way much heavier than we previously assumed.

The reason was because we just see a person’s life from the outside. We never really know what he/she’s been going through. *hence the saying, the grass on the other side always looks greener* We didn’t know the weight of the cross we have to carry, so does other people. Perhaps we carry a lighter cross than other people…perhaps. But, lighter or heavier is actually kinda subjective, right? We need to consider the person’s ability / strength. To me, perhaps 20 kgs is light, but for others it might be heavy. One thing we need to put in mind, as a believer, He will not give a cross which weigh more than we can bear. And anytime…anytime we feel tired and burdened, we can always come to Him, He who will give rest (Matthew 11 :28)

Ok another thing about what we want. The pastor gave an interesting analogy. We often went to a mall and there we often offered a piece of bread or cake or snack. These were free. And if we’re interested to get more, then we have to pay a price. Similar like eternal life. In the mall of life, we’re offered lots of things. There were plenty of things we could choose. Sometimes these vast choices made us confused, uncertain of what we really want. Maybe the tester of an eternal life which was offered in this mall of life wasn’t too appealing, while the others seemed more interesting and fun. Not to mention the price we had to pay if we want an eternal life. Again, back to the cross. We have to carry our cross if we want the full eternal life. Seemed not very fun, huh? Well, that’s why I think we need to think it thoroughly, sensibly and try to make the right choices. Just like any other mall we went to, eventually, we will go home. And in the mall of life, where would we go home to?

Well, enough with the ‘heavy’ thinking…the rest of this entry is lighter, I guess. After the mass last Sunday, I went to TA, had a gathering there. I only stopped by for a while since I already had another appointment, watching Slumdog Millionaire. Watched it at Blitzmegaplex PP using the free voucher. Though we had not really comfortable seats (the second row from the screen), we managed to enjoy the movie. *I never knew PP could be so crowded in Sunday* The movie itself was breathtaking. No wonder it won a lot of Oscars. Quoting my friend’s statement, even a movie was outsourced to India (among other things…lollzzz). The movie plot was simply a revelation how a slumdog like Jamal Malik could win in a reality show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (Indian version). Was it:
a. He knows the answer
b. He cheated
c. He’s a genius
d. It’s his destiny
What would it be?

In short, it turned out that most of the answers were part of Jamal’s life journey. In the movie we could see the (sad) truth that happened in a country which had large population. Poverty, overcrowded neighborhood, child exploitation, social issues, etc. On the other hand the movie also succeeded in keeping the audiences stayed in their seats with some well inserted humor, the value of family bond, the power of will and love, which mixed strongly and beautifully with the bad images I stated before. I had to say it’s a powerful movie.

At the end of the movie, the answer was revealed. It was d. It’s destined. Jamal was destined to win the show. Hmmm…destiny....I won’t start throwing questions here, just gonna leave you with a song from Vertical Horizon – Everything You Want. Great song, good lyric…and if I may offer a view from a broader perspective, we were like angels who wouldn’t return to God, though we knew (deep in our heart, whether we realize it or not) that HE is everything we want….

Vertical Horizon - Everything You want

Somewhere there's speaking
It's already coming in
Oh and it's rising at the back of your mind
You never could get it
Unless you were fed it
Now you're here and you don't know why

But under skinned knees and the skid marks
Past the places where you used to learn
You howl and listen
Listen and wait for the
Echoes of angels who won't return


Chorus
He's everything you want
He's everything you need
He's everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
He says all the right things
At exactly the right time
But he means nothing to you
And you don't know why

You're waiting for someone
To put you together
You're waiting for someone to push you away
There's always another wound to discover
There's always something more you wish he'd say

Chorus

But you'll just sit tight
And watch it unwind
It's only what you're asking for
And you'll be just fine
With all of your time
It's only what you're waiting for

Out of the island
Into the highway
Past the places where you might have turned
You never did notice
But you still hide away
The anger of angels who won't return

Chorus

I am everything you want
I am everything you need
I am everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
I say all the right things
At exactly the right time
But I mean nothing to you and I don't know why
And I don't know
Why
Why
I don't know

Se7en

post #331

There are currently 4 ideas swimming around inside my head. Ermmm...let me start with number one. Inspired by Seven Pounds which I watched on Saturday nite with a new crowd. I was introduced to the crowd by Widya...she thought I could get along with them so she invited me to watch seven pounds with them. I accepted the invitation since my schedule was free for that nite, my homies had been little bit busy with their lives, and I had run out of DVDs and TV serials to watch...beside it's nice to extend my horizon by meeting up new people.

So we watched the movie at Emporium Pluit. I never went there but it looked big. There was Carrefour, though there's also Carrefour at Megamall Pluit Village, which *I think* located approximately 2 KM. These hypermarkets were really like mushrooms on rainy seasons...lolzzz...The meeting point was there. After we met up and bought the tickets, we went to Maggie's rest. to have dinner, plus liberate her from duty so she could run away and watch the movie with us. Ooppps...forgot to introduce..my bad...the gank was consisted of four guys and four girls. The seven of us (the word seven already came into play here..;p) went to Maggie's....ate dinner...delicious one, then went back to Emporium. I was the...let say, stranger on the group since it seemed that they all already knew each other, while I was the newbie...but I mingled...I think. One of the gank member, Ully (guess.....he...or she??? you'll find out soon :D) didn't watch the movie since he had to go home early...well 9 sth PM was considered early nowadays, right?

Now we go to the main course...the movie. As I had predicted earlier, the plot progression was slow, lots of dialogs, which I'm sure will be very boring for some....But I enjoyed the movie. Beware...after this point...there will be a lot of spoiler...if you haven't watched the movie yet and do not want to know the story....don't continue.

In seven days, God created the world. And in seven seconds, I shattered mine.

That was one of the line in the movie. In the first thirty minutes I was still guessing the plot, what was it all about. There was one scene where Ben Thomas (Will Smith...ermm...supposed to be Tim Thomas I think) called a blind customer service named Ezra, practically humiliating and harassing him for his disablement. The scene was quite powerful in my opinion. Woody Harrelson played Ezra very well. The expression of a blind man was captured appropriately there.

Then as the story went along, I was beginning to get the whole big picture of the movie. It's about making a penitence for a wrongdoing that one has done. In this case, Ben Thomas. He's trying to make up for the mistake he's made, which cause seven people's death, including his wife. All of that was because of a message on his blackberry he's trying to read while driving a car. How many times does a lack of concentration, even for a split second can result in horrendous accident. I think some states in the US have done a right move to ban cellphone usage while driving. Anyway, back to the movie, Ben Thomas was very remorseful and he pledged himself to make amend.

That was the movie all about. 'Ben Thomas' journey in selecting and helping other's by sacrificing himself. After remembering quite hard and looking for some cheat ;p, I finally got all seven people. Below is the list of the people 'Ben' helped:
1 lung to his brother Ben
1 heart to Emily
1 pair of eyes to Ezra
1 bone marrow transplant to the kid in the hospital
1 right part of his liver to Holly
1 house to Connie and her kids
1 kidney to George

And of course to be able to give his heart to Emily, he had to commit suicide. That was the opening scene for the movie....

Now, what made me inspired to write a blog entry?
Ok, the theme for this year's lent for Jakarta Archdiocese is "Mari Bertanggung jawab..!" (in English : "Let's be responsible")
When I watched seven pounds I remembered the pastor sermon's few weeks ago...(I forgot the exact date, probably at Ash Wednesday). Lent is the beginning of penitence time. It's time to turn back (once again) to God, to repent, to regret our sins n wrongdoings and not repeat them (this is the hard part) again. But it's not just that. Ok we regret our sins....we do not repeat them again...still...there were effects of our wrongdoings. Our wrongdoings would surely cause a bad condition and being sorry about it is not enough. This is what we often forget. We think by regretting n not repeating our wrongdoings is enough. But we also need to be responsible for the things which happened as a consequence of our wrongdoings. We need to do something to fix it.

In Seven Pound, 'Ben' tried to be responsible for his mistake. Driven by a great remorse, he's really selecting the people he considered worthy. I'm not saying that end our own lives, though with the reason to help other, is right...And I'm sure that we cannot always make the right judgement of who deserved to be helped and who didn't....but I rather see Ben's actions as a form of responsibility. He felt he needed to do something to rectify his mistake...a silly mistake which took a toll the lives of seven people. He had a mission...he had a goal in the remaining of his days and that was what kept him going.

We sometimes often think that we still have long way to go in this earth. For how long? How much time do we have left? 10 years? 20 years? 50 years? When 'Ben' was about to kill himself...a thought crossed my mind. What if we know when we will die? Will it be exciting...or will be terrifying? What will we do with the rest of days we have? What will we do with the remaining months of our lives? Remaining years? What will we fill our lives with?Ermmm... I leave this question for us to ponder

Meanwhile...in the spirit of what if...here's a song by Ungu...

Ungu - Andai Ku Tahu

Andai kutahu
Kapan tiba ajalku
Ku akan memohon
Tuhan tolong panjangkan umurku

Andai Ku tahu
Kapan tiba masaku
Ku akan memohon
Tuhan jangan kau ambil nyawaku

Reff:
Aku takut akan semua dosa2 ku
Aku takut dosa yg terus membayangiku

Andai kutahu
MalaikatMu kan menjemputku
Izinkan aku mengucap kata tobat PadaMu

Ampuni aku dari segala dosa-dosaku
Ampuni aku, menangis ku bertobat PadaMu
Aku manusia yang takut neraka
Namun aku juga tak pantas di surga

Andai kutahu
Kapan tiba ajalku
Izinkan aku mengucap kata tobat PadaMu