Why is it such a big deal? Because not only Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia, it is also a BIG melting pot of millions of Indonesian people who come from different places in the country, with various cultural backgrounds. I am not originally from Jakarta, but lived and made a living for about 2 years in the city. The capital faces so much problems that seemed eternal and impossible to solve. Floods, traffic/transportation, unemployment, pollution. The root of all that, in my opinion is population problem. Jakarta is way, way overpopulated. According to www.population-of.com, the population of Jakarta by the end of 2006 was 8,540,121. They should declare the city “closed” like they did in the 70s, but even if the government did that I don’t think it would be effective, as it’s getting easier and cheaper to get to the capital. Besides job opportunities are more in the capital. (more…)
Relocating, Our Baby’s First Kick and Martin Scorcese
“Human beings, no matter where we go, what decisions we make, we will always feel angry, sad, happy, bored. Those are humanly feelings that are forever attached to us, regardless of the decisions we make” - Arida Permata
Tommorow will be my last day in this company. After working for 17 months, I have decided to rejoin my previous employer. I am planning to relocate Ashgabat, Turkmenistan along with my wife. I guess it’s the adventure that drove us to take this opportunity. At first I had doubts of whether it would be best for us; being far from our families and friends, living in a country with totally different language and culture. But what my wife said that night, somehow was the antidote of all the doubts I had that night. (more…)
“See, this business is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherf**rs. Motherf**ers who think that their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better, it don’t.”
— [Marsellus Wallace - Pulp Fiction]
My company is going through some rough times, cost efficiency is the headline news, in bold and underlined. See, I work in the IT department, where IT is not a core competency of the company; and management has shown evident steps that the IT department, sooner or later will be fully outsourced. Some colleagues are transfered to other divisions, some even to remote branch offices; working as sales, marketing or other [more] strategically-aligned positions. Other colleagues have resigned to move to other companies, or go study for their masters degree. Some that are still maintained, are there just to ensure smooth transition phase; and to keep the business running.
I guess that’s the trend now, to outsource non-strategic functions. Can’t say I blame the management, because I am sure that maintaining the resources for IT can be very costly, not mentioning the short life cycle of the technology. If you decide to work for a company, I guess its best to work for the company that really uses your skills as part of their core competence or has critical function.
Top 2007 Resolution = become a Realistic Optimist!
Happy new year 2007, everyone! : )
Pille and Goleo : Official 2006 World Cup Mascot
Any prestigious event is bound to always have mascots. These mascots always intrigue me, because the creator of these mascots, usually come up with a story of who or what the mascot is, when it was born, hobbies, etc. For an event such as the World Cup, I’m sure these chosen mascots have gone through a series of “beauty contests” until it was crowned as The Official Mascot. I visited the Official 2006 FIFA World Cup website this morning, and here are some pics of Pille and Goleo:
GOLEO is a lion, whose dream is to make the World Cup in Germany so huge and memorable. He will be singing and dancing with fans all over the world and is even working hard on an album :D
Goleo’s constant companion, PILLE the talking football, is always at his side. Pille was born on 22 August 2003 at an adidas store. He was injected a magical gas that brought him to life. The two met at the UEFA European Championship match between England and Portugal, where Pille was the match ball, and was kicked over the crossbar by David Beckham, and flew into the hands of Goleo. They had been best friends ever since.
Isn’t it amusing how people could come up with stories like that? Anyway, you can read the full version of the story here. I think that it is necessary for organizers to create mascots, maybe not for the sole purpose of good luck, but just to make the event more memorable, and creates a cheerful and exciting atmosphere. Lately, mascots have always been figures that are kids-oriented, meaning that it is memorable to kids. They are most likely to be a cartoon animal, talking animal, cartoon boy or some futuristic creatures. Kids are the best customer. When a brand attracts kids, its bound to attract grown ups (well, at least their parents, or brothers and sisters). It’s a great marketing tool to sell products, merchandise and even the event itself. Not saying that kids are the World Cup’s main market segment, it’s just the fact that it creates a scalable market for the event.
The word “Mascot”, is derived from the word Mascotte (French) and Mascotto which meant spell or witch. There was then a French opera called “The Mascotte”, which was a success and translated into the English language as “The Mascot” , creating a word for a person, an animal or an object that brings good luck.
3.5 hours left to 2006. BNI ATM transaction alone, as of now, is occuring at around 500 transactions per minute, Indonesia-wide. Amazing.
Anyways, looking out the window, traffic is building up and the streets of Jakarta is starting to get busy. My family called a couple of minutes ago, wishing me a happy and successful year ahead.
In about 2 hours, I will start writing my annual diary (because I write in it every December 31st). I call it my resolution book, where I record stuff that happened the previous year, and new resolutions for the new year.
People have come and gone, good times and bad times have passed. Life goes on.
Happy new year everyone!
Men want their wives to respect them and their opinions. Women want to be loved and appreciated affectionately. Apparently the problem arises when men give only respect to their wives, and women give only love and affection to their husbands. We are giving what we want to receive and not what the other person needs or wants to have.
Hehehe….. so true! No?
This year’s Eid was a very meaningful one. I had waited so long for this day to come. The moment I stepped down from the train (a day before Eid), my mother told me that my cousin’s husband had an accident just a few hours before I arrived, and he had passed away. My cousin had been married to him for only 3 months, and is now 2-months pregnant :(
So the trip to Boyolali was instantly cancelled, instead, all the relatives and families came to Semarang for the funeral. My cousin’s husband was then buried on Eid morning, just after the prayer. Hope he rests peacefully :)
Second day of Eid, we did the traditional “sungkeman” ceremony (everyone in the big family said their sorries, and forgave each other). This sungkeman went so nice and brought everyone closer to each other.
And in no time, holidays were over, now I’m back at the office, working again. Seeing my work colleagues and from the looks of it, no one’s gonna be working for the next couple of hours, because its full of handshaking, blessing each other a happy Eid and forgiving each other. A very “homey” atmosphere indeed.
Hope u guys had a meaningful Eid, too ;)
