Happiness equation

Happiness = add what-you-have, subtract what-you-want.

this little equation was put forth by an old friend from high school, Tirta.
by this formula, there are several routes to be happy. If you can't add what you have then take away as much as you can on what you want. if you can't subtract what you want, then you'd better add what you have.

CREAM

Contrast
Rhyme
Echo
Alliteration
Metaphor

These are the basic formula Winston Churchill used in all his famous speeches. it's a... one heck of a way... to hmmm.. write.
I tried hmmm... well maybe not hard enough, to follow his example. but from the looks of it, i still need a lot of practice.

edgy

this is the word that has been tossed around quite a lot like an over cooked pancake by my client lately.
I looked it up on the dictionary last night just for fun and it turns out it actually means irritability, nervousness and being tense. Now I may not be a marketing director or something like that, but from the sound of it... it's not something that I want to throw at my customer or make them perceive me as such.

Time heals just about anything

Indeed it does.

That is why I love to let things just slide and time to just fly whenever I feel pain. Usually it wouldn't take much, a couple of hours to several day depending on the source of pain.

For those pains that seems too painful to ever heal, with time you will be numb. So even if the pain, and its source is still there at least you wouldn't be able to feel it.

Importance is as important as you make it

My wife said something tonight about the importance of writing these learning that hurt me quite deeply. It was actually just passing comment, blurted during one of her many sulking moments, which has become quite regular as her pregnancy progresses. Still, the word somehow cut a little too much out off my pride.
Now I’m not the kind of person who is easily offended but tonight I was, by an issue of importance. For someone who doesn’t think himself as important, the issue of importance is important. Well, maybe the fact that the comment came from my wife who I expect to take me as important helped the matter escalate somewhat.
Now think about all those important people, like those who called themselves the representatives of the people, all those ministers who claimed to serve the people, all those celebrity.
No wonder they got zinged quite easily. Their importance must have brought them to think that everything about them is important and cannot be criticized much less questioned about its importance.

Knowing about not knowing is the worst kind of knowledge

I’m not the most intelligent or the most knowledgeable person in the office, much less the entire nation, world or the universe. So obviously, there are so many things that I don’t know about. And the fact that there are many things that I don’t know about never really bothered me much.
But watching the movie “Changeling” on the HBO tonight makes me wonder about those things that I know I don’t know.
The movie tells the story of a mother who was looking for her son. Until the very end, her knowledge that she didn’t know what happened to her son kept her going and hopping and believing that her son is still alive.
And now it gets me thinking about all those things I know I don’t know like… where in the hell did I left my red Zippo lighter?
It’s not like you forget something. Cause when you forget something; you’d rake through your brain and find a grey or blackened area. Something is there, but you just can’t make heads or tail of it.
But when you know you don’t know, you’d rake through your brain and find a hole, a void that is just empty. Cause there is nothing there is nothing there in the first place.

Tanbo Art

This one comes straight out of a Wikipedia page and it's called Tanbo Art.

Apparently, the farmers in Japan has too much time too kill and have gotten a bit creative with their crops. The result is a whole field of rice being used as a canvas for humongous painting. They have been doing it since 2003 and the result was quite captivating.

Putting it in to perspective, those Nazca lines in Peru might have been the creation of some extremely bored Peruvian King and his gang of merry slaves.

Don't believe the hype

Earlier this afternoon me, Kevin (my Art Director), Adit (from the account), along with Deska and Noni from design went to a 7-11. We went there in search of some refreshment, snacks, and some fresh breath of air to rejuvenate our lungs and hopefully kill a few cancer cell.

What we found was a parking lot full cars and convenient store so full of people that for all measure and purpose has become an inconvenient store.

Instead of getting the exact same product from another, quieter spot just across the street, high-schooler and college kid flock to this one store and hang out for hours, skipping classes and forgetting home-works. Simply because it is THE 7-11, the same store you see on TV and movies, selling slurpies like the one on that film last year. And the fact that in there are only two in the whole city and the to find the third one you'd need a passport and a plane ticket just adds a bit more to its allure. Nobody really cared that the peddler right in front of the 7-11 (here in Indonesia, we have peddler every couple of meter) sells just about the same thing. They just want to hang out at the 7-11. It's the hype, man! We rock, yeah!

The only reason I went there in there me self was simply because Adit had a craving for some slurpies and I went there because he borrowed my car and I really don't have anything better to do at the office. For that reason my present on the premise is somewhat excused and I don't think I'll go back there again. Well... maybe not until they lower the price of their hotdogs and give away free drinks...

By the way... the above illustration was provided by Kevin Oei, showing us at the front of a very long line at the cash register.

Birthday is a good day to find lost things

Day 1 – 3310

Me being me and after going through 3 decades of existence… I’ve lost so many things. The things I’ve lost ranges from lunch-boxes, glasses, and pocket money to friends, relatives and loved ones.
But today I’ve found once again many things that I’ve lost and that thing that resurfaced once again are mostly friends. Old friends that has been buried under a humongous pile of facebook friend request, whose number has been long lost along with my stolen cell phone. Friends that have been lost since high school. Friends that have been lost when you moved, or when they moved. Friend that were lost when I switch jobs. There are just so many of them that I was amazed at the number of friends that turns up.
And with it I also found the connection that I’ve lost as well.
Too bad I couldn’t find my old lunchboxes, my mom would have been thrilled to have them back. But still… it’s been a good day in finding lost friends.

Prologue

Today is the day I turn 30. And with the big 3-0 sitting squarely on my shoulder, I was reminded of an old adage that the first thing you’d loose as you grow older is not (contrary to what my lovely wife believes) your hair. Nor is it your eyesight or good looks (both is something I’ve always found myself lacking). Instead, as the saying goes…, you’d sooner loose you’re curiosity first.
Now, without a healthy sense of curiosity there’s no way you’d learn anything and without learning anything, you’d pretty much will just fade away and die. And that… is something I don’t want to do.
That is why I’m starting this little project called “365 days of learning” where I make a little journal of the 1 thing I learn in 1 day for the next 365 days starting today.
Hopefully it won’t be a simple blog about random things that caught my eyes. It has to be things that mean something and worthwhile. And keeping up for 365 straight days is not a simple thing. Now let’s just pray that I have enough curiosity left inside for me to learn something new everyday.