Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Indonesian Customer? Duh!!!!


I just read a very hilarious letter from reader in Kompas (27/10). First time I read it, I laughed out loud. It’s a complaint to the service in Wendy’s. This is the story.

A woman and her friend went to Wendy’s with five children. She wrote that she ordered five fried chickens with rice as well as broccoli and cheese (Hey, what was that? I though it’s just the sauce? Shouldn’t it be baked potato with broccoli and cheese??) She was shocked knowing that Wendy’s gave her no spoon.

She then complained to the front liner, asking for five spoons. Of course the front liner refused to give her those spoons. “We only gave spoon to those ordered soup, ma’am! Chicken and rice should be eaten by hand here!” (Sure, who ever heard of someone eating fried chicken and rice with spoon in the fast food restaurant?”

This lady insisted be given spoons. She even insisted that she will buy those spoons. But the front liner said that the spoons were not for sale. This (stupid) lady who wrote a letter grew furious. She still wanted spoons, because she didn’t want the children to eat by their hands. This was her complaint.

Ouch, let’s see here. WHO’S STUPID? And every customer in Indonesia wanted to be treated special; even it contradicts the common sense??? Does this lady even realize the common sense and how to eat in a fast food restaurant? If she wanted to eat with spoon, why go to fast-food restaurant? Shouldn’t she go to the regular restaurant? And she even wrote the complaint in a nationwide newspaper?? Wouldn’t it humiliate herself even worse?

D’oh! Indonesia, oh Indonesia…………….

Monday, October 27, 2008


Yatta, yatta, yatta! After a long wait last Saturday, I finally got the result of my thesis defense. GRADUATED!!!!!

Now, I can officially use Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang, S.Pd. as my name!!!! Yay!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Finally over............


Well, related to my previous post, I finally manage to get through the execution room. For some people, moments after the thesis defense examination are blissful heaven. They only need to wait for the mark. No burden left and free like a bird.

Waiting... Duh, why do they say that? Waiting is extremely boring. Especially when your bosom is palpitating with random beats everynite.

Me? Wew, I got a deadly combination of lecturers as my board of examiners. And guess what? One of them is Ph.D. already, but seemed not to understand my thesis fully!!! Aaaaaargh!!!!!!! The comments that this lecturer gave me after the exam were excessively stressful.

I'm gonna kill someone who said that the world seemed brighter after the thesis defense!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Dynasty Warriors 6 for PS2!


Actually, I have prepared some more serious writings than this. I only need to edit some parts of that writings, but this unimportant thing suddenly burst in my head. Yep! Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special Edition.

Actually, I had nothing to do when I finally decided to went to a game shop near my home. At that second, an image struck me. I saw Zhao Yun and Sima Yi in the new game rack. I thought, hmm, is that a new cover variant from Warriors Orochi 2? But no.. When I approached it, it was Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special Edition for PS2. Below that, I saw Dynasty Warriors 6 written in it. WHAT??? Is this another kind of trick? Just like those Digimon World 4 for PSX (But it turned out to be Digimon World 1 inside! Damn!). I knew deep within me that I should not fall for the same trick twice, but I decided to purchase it.

I went straight to the internet cafe near there and opened GameFAQ to check it. And guess what? It confirmed my happiness. Yes, KOEI did port the newest installment of Dynasty Warriors franchise to its long time home, the sweet PS2. Surely, this is a good news for poor gamer like me who can't afford 360 yet (though the price of 360 arcade dropped to $199, but with the instability of currency rate and my monthly paycheck, still cannot afford it!). With the big changes they made, who wouldn't want to taste this (almost brand) new game? Revamped characters, revamped weapons, revamped engine, and new ability (sadly, due to the inferiority of PS 2 to PS 3 and 360, the new ability to swim was eliminated)

Another big news, KOEI revert some characters back to their original weapon! Zhang He got his claws back rather than generic spear moveset, Taishi Chi back with his Twin Rod, Ling Tong left his generic spear moveset and acquired triple stick. Yue Ying still leave her beloved scythe, but also leave her bow (with identical moveset to Shang Xiang) and got Dart Blade (made me wonder, isn't that too modern for that era?) Furthermore, these characters now got their own musou story! Yay!!!

Thus, PS 2 still rule!! Its lifespan is still there....... Viva KOEI!!!

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Bulan di Atas Kuburan


Nisan itu berkilau tertimpa elusan lembut dari cahaya bulan purnama yang bersinar di atas langit kelam. Sementara itu, tanah kecoklatan di sekitarnya masih basah tersiram oleh gerimis yang baru saja mereda. Tidak ada suara, selain desau angin malam yang menggoyangkan dedaunan pohon kamboja besar di tengah kompleks pemakaman itu.
Sesosok pria tampak duduk di samping sebuah nisan. Sesekali, tangannya yang besar itu membenarkan kancingan jaketnya. Hembusan nafasnya perlahan, bagaikan menyatu dengan irama malam yang tengah dimainkan oleh orkestra yang tak terlihat. Ketika angin menghembus kencang, ia menghela nafas panjang. Tapi ketika desir hawa di pepohonan menggoyangkan kuntum kamboja perlahan, ia menarik nafasnya perlahan, bagaikan sebuah patung.
“Kenapa kau disini?” tanya sebuah suara memecah keheningan pekuburan itu.
“Tak bolehkah?” jawab pria itu tanpa menoleh ke arah asal suara itu. Pandangannya tetap lurus ke depan, kosong dan hampa.
“Tidak biasanya kutemui seseorang menghabiskan waktunya di pekuburan kuno ini,” sahut suara itu lembut, senada dengan irama malam yang hening.
“Lalu kau sendiri dianggap apa?” balik sang pria.
Suara itu tertawa perlahan. “Yah, aku tak pernah melihat hal seperti ini sebelumnya! Kata orang, pekuburan ini berhantu. Jadi, bahkan di waktu siang pun tidak ada yang berani mendekatinya. Tapi di tengah malam seperti ini, justru aku menemuimu. Tidakkah kau takut?”
Sebuah tawa sinis perlahan keluar dari mulut sang pria. “Hantu? Lalu apakah yang bisa mereka lakukan padaku? Paling-paling engkaulah hantu itu!”
“Aku bukan hantu, hanya seorang yang seringkali menghabiskan waktunya di sini. Melihat bintang yang sudah tidak terlihat lagi di tengah kota. Menikmati indahnya bulan purnama yang begitu bulat dan menenangkan. Justru di tempat seperti ini, barulah aku bisa merasakan keanggunan mereka tanpa diganggu oleh bintang-bintang buatan manusia,” jawabnya.
“Aku setuju. Seringkali manusia menginginkan lebih, sehingga justru melupakan yang asli. Mereka lupa, justru karena sinar pucat itu berada di kegelapan, keindahan itu muncul!”
“Kau sepertinya salah seorang dari mereka. Apa yang membawamu kesini?”
Pria itu menghela nafas panjang. Ia menjawab perlahan, “Tempat ini memanggilku di kala siang. Ia menggodaku dengan sebuah rentangan tangan lebar, seakan siap untuk menyambutku. Sudah tidak ada lagi yang kutakuti, jadi, mengapa tidak kucoba?”
Hening sesaat sebelum ada jawaban, “Lalu?”
“Ini tempat yang baik untuk menyendiri. Nisan-nisan tua yang sudah terlupakan dan tak terawat lagi. Ini seolah-olah telah menjadi tempat najis yang dijauhi oleh manusia, yang bahkan untuk meliriknya pun mereka tak mau. Ah, manusia!”
Diam. Tidak ada suara kembali, sehingga sang pria dapat mendengar gema suaranya sendiri. “Manusia...... Sia...... A.... a....”
“Habis manis sepah dibuang, eh? Orang-orang itu. Dibuang dan dibiarkan membusuk. Terlupakan!”
“Tapi ada damai, bukan?”
“Damai. Apakah arti kata itu?”
“Ketika kau bisa melihat keindahan dari cahaya pucat itu, ketika kau merasakan belaian dari sang angin, dan ketika cahaya bintang itu tidak lagi terlalu kecil untuk kau nikmati. Itulah damai bagiku!”
Ia menghela nafas lagi. Kepalanya mendongak dan badannya rebah di atas tanah basah itu. Persis di samping nisan, ia melihat sekuntum bunga liar. Matanya terpejam, dan ia menggumam. “Jadi, itulah alasanmu mengundangku kesini? Membawaku pulang ke pangkuan Ibu Sri!”
Tidak ada jawaban. Ia tidak lagi merasakan kehadiran seorang pun di sekitarnya. Tidak, mungkin yang lebih tepat, ia tidak pernah merasakan kehadiran seorang pun disana.
Malam terus berjalan, dan cahaya sang bulan masih menyapu nisan-nisan itu. Kali ini terbaca sebuah nama disana, Sri Pratiwi.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Ciam Si


Eid Holiday and my mother insisted us go out of town. Thus, on the first day of Eid, we went to Semarang instead of going around visiting relatives. Well, not that we were not visiting relatives though, since in Semarang we saw my great grandaunt, a nun.

On our way back home, we decided to visit Vihara Buddhagaya near Semarang. It’s very interesting though, with the high Pagoda, named Avalokitesvara Pagoda. We could even see Bodhi tree there, since the monks there got the seed of Bodhi directly from Sri Lanka. It is a very big tree, grand one.

In the pagoda, there was big Guan Yin statue, and in the wall around it, there were many statues of Guan Yin in many positions. But what stroke me more was four vases with bamboos in it. I knew it, recognized it as Ciam Si (or Ziam Xi? Or Zhiam Si? Gosh, I really hate this Pinyin things! Lemme just write it with Wade-Gilles!).

Ciam Si is one of the fortunetelling schools. I read about it many times, and now it was under my nose. Curious, I asked the worker there, whether I could use it or not. Yes, he nodded and started telling me the procedure. First, I got to utter my question after asking permission from Guan Yin. “Mak Cho, me, Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang, would like to ask --------piiiiip!-------------“ (Sorry, censored! XD) Then, I had to throw two wooden blocks. Yes, one faced up and one faced down, meaning I was allowed to ask the question and shake the bamboos. The worker there said that I should shake the vas until a single bamboo stick was down. Gee, there were 60 sticks there, and I was nervous how can I make only one single stick fell? I finally made TWO bamboo sticks fell. Invalid, said he. Got to repeat the shaking……

Crik! Crik! Crik! One single stick fell. Huh, finally. I thought it was over, and I could get my piece of paper. Turned out not. I got to throw the wooden blocks once again while asking whether this really was the answer or not. Again, I threw it. Once more, one up and one down. CONFIRMED!

I picked the paper, and guess what? I was very afraid of bad result before, since my mind was totally screwed at the moment. But what I got was something promising success and only little obstacles. I took a deep breath there. Aargh, thank God!