Had I given you my biz card

I NEVER thought we could regret small things we did not do in the past. A small thing such as letting someone have your biz card.

I regretted that I did not give my biz card to a Chinese guy I met in Makassar’s Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport some months ago.

No, it’s not like what you think! It did not involve anything called ‘crush’ or ‘cute’ or ‘prospective’ (OMG, what a word!) or etcetera. I regretted that I didn’t give him my biz card and made him (probably stay) glued in the terminal for-EVER!

“I never get out of the hotel. I am afraid that I will get lost or miss my plane in the next day if I go somewhere in the city” — The Chinese guy

I forgot his name, all I remember is that he is younger than me and was working for a shipping company (and was wearing a red cap). We finally talked because our flight was delayed for some hours, and the officers were, without a doubt, dreadful. They made us wandering around from gate to gate as they weren’t sure where the plane was going to  take off from (sounds crazy but true).

We finally talked because he did not speak very good English, and I speak very fluent Indonesian. So I help him with the officers.

From the conversation I found out that he only graduated from university last year, majoring in engineering. He periodically sent here by his company in Shanghai. He usually made a Shanghai-Jakarta-Makassar trip to check ships. Mostly once every one or two months.

The National Museum!

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Goodbye [Newsweek] Zakaria

“I’m addressing you

Are you going to let our emotional life be run by Newsweek Magazine?

I’m obsessed by Newsweek Magazine

I read it every week.”

OOPS, DID I just mess Ginsberg’s America up? I am sorry, Allen, that’s just how I feel about Newsweek, I have been reading it for years. When I went to a bookstore, I mostly checked Newsweek and Time. I don’t know, despite what some people said about Newsweek of being a bit sensational, I always got reasons to buy it.

It is obvious that I am a fan of Fareed Zakaria. Remembering that he’s one of the International editors sitting in Newsweek’s newsroom, editing stuff and writing columns, making me trust Newsweek. Of course, the credits did not go to Zakaria alone, just mostly.

Hence, it’s very sad to know that Zakaria is leaving Newsweek for Time. I’ve been a loyal reader to Newsweek because of him. It was him that making me screened each page of both Newsweek and Time every week. There were times when I ended up buying Time — when they really got totally different and better stuffs.

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Compare yourself to Assange!

A doorstop interview in the House of Representatives PHOTO: M. Andri Nurdiansyah

I FEEL so small reading Philip Shenon’s reportage on the moves took by the Obama administration to crack down on WikiLeaks, related to some 70,000 documents on Afghan war they released recently.

It’s not Shenon’s piece that impressed me [although, of course, I still give him my highest respect for securing an exclusive headline], it’s the ‘actor’ in the Shenon’s article.

He is Julian Assange, an Australian-born journalist/programmer, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks who is now believed to be in a big trouble because of the leaks he spread. Assange has been described as someone who doesn’t actually have a real home and that he travels and stays at friends or supporters’ houses around the globe.

Reading how he has been very bold [and yet careless, some critics said] in leaking the documents he received — and that American government is now trying to get him along with hopeful helps from their allies Germany, British, and Australia — left me ponder.

Compares to what Assange has done and is planning to do [releasing some 15,000 more documents], I am absolutely nothing. [this also goes to all war correspondents at across the universe!]

I don’t wake up in the morning for some jets or gunshots or suicide bombs. I don’t travel to dangerous places or conflict zones. I don’t have police or state intelligence agency officials interrogate me in the middle of a night due to some stories I write.

Julian Assange in or before 2006 PHOTO: Wikipedia

I wake up every morning to the sound of the sun, and I walk to the Parliament to meet some sources. I write some stuff, telling people what’s going on, bringing their voices in my writings, criticizing politicians’ wrongdoings etc. I always believe that I am here guarding democracy — now this idea making me laugh, coz compare to Assange?

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New York, New York!

/bersemangat!

THE CLOCK!

New York, New York!

An editor in my office once told me, “put New York in a frame and don’t forget to take a look at it everyday, and less than a year you’ll get there! It worked for me.”

Do you believe in the magic of dreams? I DO. I am glad that I EVENTUALLY do!

Some say that by dreaming it you’re actually halfway there! So, when I saw a clock with “NEW YORK” printed on it in De Kring Loper (a used goods store), in Naarden Bussum, Holland, this morning, I bought it right away.

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Finally blogging for real!

Hello readers! Oh finally, finally I have the guts to start blogging FOR REAL! To finally commit to blog is… a rather hard decision, remembering my job and all the deadlines I always have [yes, on a daily basis]. However, I believe that the era of new media is going even crazier today and in near future, I don’t wanna be left behind

So, what are you going to get from my blog? Mostly my personal stories and struggle to stop shopping. Also my views on journalism and reviews on books plus movies. I will also post videos and photographs. We will have fun!

I have promised myself that at least once a day I will post something on those stuff — probably mostly on “365 Days Without Shopping!” Oh, I so can’t wait! But since I am still in Holland at the moment, well, probably I will still tell you stuff I bought during previous weeks, LOL. I will seriously STOP when I get back to Jak.

So, see ya soon, buddies!

PS: I will probably write in English, but sometimes, in Indonesian language too, I guess