Since the topic of conversations in my life has been revolving around marriage for the last few weeks (don’t ask me why), I believe it worth a solid one hour of my time to write a thoughtful blog post regarding my view on love. I dedicate this writing to all my friends who have been involved with that kind of conversation with me.

Ps: if you think love is the thing that makes butterflies fly in your stomach, your feet flying off the ground, your head turned upside-down, you might not want to read the rest of the post.

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Inspired by my friend’s blog post, Adelia Putri. The original post can be seen directly here

"No matter how much someone loves you and how much you love someone, or even how much you're meant for each other, if you don't work out on your relationship, it won’t last long, or even if it does, it won’t stay good, it won’t go well."--- Adel’s fairy godmother, Oshin.

One of my closest friends said this to me almost exactly 2 years ago, “what matters in a relationship is that you both feel happy in it. Once you don’t feel that happiness anymore, it becomes a relationship not worth living in anymore.” That surely makes sense to most people, at least at its first hearing. But I beg to differ.

Let us first think about this, what makes most people like the Disney’s way of ending fairytale? The happily-ever-after way, in case you haven’t watched any Disney’s movies. It’s exactly because how too good to be true it is. Yet people never really want to accept the reality that something that is too good to be true is actually too good to be true, if you know what I mean.

That’s the same way with people who believe that love in its worldly-and-loosely translated sense is enough to make all relationship works. It’s just too good to be true.

I believe the world (esp. the movie industry) has been doing injustice with defining and picturing “love” ONLY as a form of emotion.

Love, in my view, has never been something that is being given to or destined for a particular couple, that the world famously describes as ‘soul mate’. I never believe with the concept of love as a form of emotion is enough to make or break a relationship.

Ravi Zacharias once said that love is not supposed to be just an emotional thing. It will never be pure until it comes with the will to be committed as well.

“Love without emotion is a drudgery, love without will is a mockery.” – Ravi Zacharias

Let me quote one paragraph from the Bible that has been famously quoted by one of the most romantic movie of all time “A Walk to Remember.”

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

That repetition of “always” word in the final sentence always reminds me that love is indeed far from what the world has always been trying to put in our mind as a picture of love.

So there you have it, my belief of love.

I believe in a love that needs to be done, not only said; needs to be lived, not only told; needs to be nurtured, not to be left; needs to be worked on, not to be searched for.

Soul mates do exist. But a soul mate is earned, not found. nothing comes for free. – Adelia Putri

Love only as an emotion will bring you a wonderful 1 or 2 years of relationship if you’re lucky, but love as a mixture of will and emotion will bring you a wonderful relationship. Not a relationship that’s happily ever after but a relationship that always stand up and refuses to be brought down by anything whenever wherever and for whatever reasons.

However, truth be told that I still believe God prepares someone for me like the old fairy tale, the only difference is that I need to work on finding, getting, and keeping that someone.

Right, this is the rebirth of my blogging. My first post in at least 5 years, with a new domain and a new title.

Anyone who knows my wife, @kerrching, knows that she’s a Apple nut. Also, with a June birthday, she has conveniently positioned herself perfectly for the Apple release cycle. An iPad was inevitable for her birthday, but I knew that if I just delivered a wrapped box, there wouldn’t be much of a surprise. Where’s the fun in that? So I rang my friends James and Paul, who happens to run the finest chocolate shop in London, and said “Could you freeze an iPad in chocolate carbonite, and have it survive?”. They weren’t sure, but were willing to give it a go.

Additionally, iPads aren’t available yet in South Africa, so it had to smuggled over from London, without Kay finding out what was going on.

The prepared product:

Unwrapping begins:

The “I like chocolate, but you gave me 2 kg of it for my birthday, are you a bit nuts? look”:

Why don’t you pull on that little ribbon embedded in the chocolate?

Realisation!

Revelation:

Acceptance:

Success!!!!!!!!

With many many thanks to all the wonderful people who helped this to happen:

Simon , who waited in line forever at the London Apple Store to source the machine itself.

James and Paul, for successfully performing the carbon-freezing process, and

Karen, who went through a couple of hours of hell trying to explain what was going on to the South African customs people.

Oh, and just in case you’re worried: no iPads were harmed in this production :)

Written by Sutayasa. Edited by Putra Muskita. Published at http://heydiaspora.com/acfta-it-certainly-sounds-better-without-the-c-doesnt-it/

After a few days trying to find someone to accompany me to the economic seminar, I finally gave up and ended up going by myself on a fine Saturday morning to a seminar titled “ACFTA (ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement) Indonesia’s Economic Challenges.” It was held in the Dhanapala Ballroom, the biggest room in the complex of Ministry of Finance, on 22^nd May 2010 and organized by Reformed Center for Religion and Society (RCRS). The speakers are prominent people in their area: Dr. Mari E. Pangestu, Indonesia’s Trade Minister; Prof. Dr. Ir. Alex S.W. Retraubun, M.Sc., Indonesia’s Vice Industrial Minister; and Sofjan Wanandi, Chairman of Indonesia Trader Association (APINDO).

Dr. Stephen Tong, the founder of RCRS, opened the seminar by mentioning that Indonesia’s most precious resource is the intelligence of its people, while its biggest challenge is actually the people’s stewardship skills. Not so much on how good they manage Indonesia’s natural resources, but more on how good they slip some government money into their own pockets. It is the moral issue that should be given extra focus in order to turn the country’s fate around.

1. Indonesia is the third largest democratic country in the world,
2. It is also the biggest economy in South East Asia
3. It has the highest economic growth (4.5%) in the world after China and India in 2009.

A less important fact that she mentioned, however, was that Indonesia is the second biggest Facebook user in the world after USA with a staggering 24 million people or 10% of Indonesia’s population. Not very relevant for her argument, but she managed to get some chuckles out of this one.

After setting the tone positively, she started organizing some arguments against ACFTA. Indonesia has a demographic advantage that it can enjoy over China for the next 15 years due to China’s one-child policy: 50% of Indonesia’s population are between 15 to 65 year old. Dr Pangestu displayed a chart showing Indonesia’s trade with China, positive on the overall until the 2008-2009 turning point. However, she did ay that the turning point was due to the steel imported from China for the Suramadu bridge project, the 10 megawatts project, and the cost of importing laptops and mobile phones produced in China.

Some other points that she brought up were that:

1. South of China’s regional minimum wage is about twice that of East Java
2. China is Indonesia’s second largest export destination after Japan and it’s higher than USA
3. More than 70% of goods that Indonesia imported from China are actually capital goods and the rest are dominated by foods, toys, and garment.

Those facts basically mean that China is getting more expensive for manufacturing, it is not Indonesia’s competitor, they are more of like Indonesia’s buyer and supplier.

She continued by arguing that ACFTA shall be the stimulus to increase our competitiveness, not to be a competitor that might negatively impact the local industry. However she reminded us that we can never compete head-on with China in goods that are being mass produced extremely cheaply. We should focus more on three key points: technology, quality, and productivity. “Target the mid-to-high market,” she said. And that marked the end of her 15 minutes.

Prof. Dr. Ir. Alex S.W. Retraubun, M.Sc., Indonesia’s Vice Industrial Minister, chose a different approach. Instead of sitting behind the table and reading the speech that was prepared for him by Ministry of Industrial staff, he walked to the podium and talked confidently without a script. He is surely one of the bluntest people I’ve ever seen working in a ministry – I’ve seen plenty of them before. He was a Professor at Pattimura University, Ambon and he was a scholar when he studied for his Graduate and Postgraduate degree in Newcastle University, UK.

Prof. Retraubun started his speech by saying that he was shocked when news about ACFTA started populating headlines of all newspapers in this country early this year: on average there were about 30 articles each day regarding ACFTA for the whole month of January. What was shocking for him, however, is not the frequency of ACFTA articles, but rather how the real sector and the government have done nothing but argue ever since the idea of this free trade agreement arose 14 years ago.

He continued with saying that he was not going to read anything from the speech prepared by his staff in Ministry of Industry. “Don’t worry, the concept in this speech is perfectly good. If you talk about concept, no one can beat Indonesia in this world, but yes, it’s only on concept,” he said. He also pitied his ministry albeit the fact that it’s one of the only five ministries that has Vice Minister because of its strategic nature, especially since the budget for Ministry of Industry is only 1.6 trillion Rupiah, lower as compared to, for example, Ministry of Ocean Affairs and Fisheries is 3 trillion Rupiah. Incidentally, he was the General Director of Ocean Affairs, Coasts, and Small Islands in Ministry of Ocean Affairs and Fisheries before he became the Vice Minister in Ministry of Industry.

Too bad I didn’t find a lot of relevant material in his speech outside of him saying that the sole purpose of having a Free Trade Agreement is to open the access to the market and by doing that we have to be fair, if we want them to allow us to sell our stuff we should let them sell their stuff too.

Not long after that is the time for Mr. Sofjan Wanandi, Chairman of Indonesia’s Trader Association (APINDO), to deliver his points. He preferred to say the other side of the coin that Indonesia is not ready and is not able to compete with China in a free trade market.

However he wasn’t fully pessimistic of Indonesia’s future; he laid out some problems with some possible solutions. He believed that economic growth based on consumerism culture is nothing that we should be proud of. It’s “not healthy,” he said. “Nothing better than increasing the gap between the rich and the poor that will come out of it. Nevertheless 4.5% (economic growth) is magnificent for a government that was practically sleeping,” he said.

He also mentioned that this country has taken its democracy out of control. “For the last 7 months there were no economic policy breakthrough because of people busy discussing cicak, buaya, and the Century Bank,” he added.

He believed the solutions are in:

1. Stop selling raw material abroad,
2. Process raw material locally like what Malaysia did,
3. Invest in labor-intensive industry, which started to leave China lately because of increasing cost there,
4. Invest in infrastructure,
5. Reform taxation,
6. Give tax amnesty like what South Africa and Italy did, stop looking back and try to find other people’s mistakes and start looking forward.

The seminars ended with questions and answers session, which seemed more like a moment for the traders to cry their heart out. All in all, I am glad that I finally came even though I was alone. Who knows all those insightful thoughts will affect my or your business decision in the future.

Not much to say about my return. Actually I have much to say, but let's save it for later.

I once dreamed that I would be a good writer one day, but I'm not, even updating my own blog is not something I am keen on doing for the last 1 year. At least I perfectly know what I'm capable of: dreaming.

"Some men dream the future. He built it" - Aviator tagline

Never mind about that. For this post, I'm not gonna say much first about myself or even my life. Soon. That's all I'm going to say.

So, I still miss one interesting part of the Mitch Albom's book. If you read the first excerpt, you know it's long but I promise you, it's worth it; no matter what faith do you have nor whether you have any faith or not.

Here it goes:

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S E P T E M B E R

Happiness

The Reb opened his eyes.

He was in the hospital.

It was not the first time. Although he often hid his ailments from me, I learned that in recent months, staying upright had become a problem. He had slipped on the pavement and cut open his forehead. He had slipped in the house and banged his neck and cheek. Now he had fallen getting up from his chair and slammed his rib cage against a desk. It was either syncope, a temporary loss of consciousness, or small strokes, transient attacks that left him dizzy and disoriented.

Either way, it was not good.

Now I expected the worst. A hospital. The portal to the end. I had called and asked if it was all right to visit, and Sarah kindly said I could come.

I braced myself at the front entrance. I am haunted by hospital visits and their familiar, depressing cues. The antiseptic smell. The low drone of TV sets. The drawn curtains. The occasional moaning from another bed. I had been to too many hospitals for too many people.

For the first time in a while, I thought about our agreement.

Will you do my eulogy?

I entered the Reb’s room.

“Ah,” he smiled, looking up from the bed, “a visitor from afar . . .”

I stopped thinking about it.

We hugged——or, I should say, I hugged his shoulders and he touched my head-—and we both agreed that this was a first, a hospital conversation. I—lis robe fell open slightly and I caught a glance at his bare chest, soft, loose flesh with a few silver hairs. I felt a rush of shame and looked away.

A nurse breezed in.

“How are you doing today?” she asked.

“I’m dooooing,” the Reb lilted. “I’m dooooing . . .”

She laughed. “He sings all the time, this one.”

Yes, he does, I said.

It amazed me how consistently the Reb could summon his good nature. To sing to the nurses. To kid around with the physicians. The previous day, while waiting in a wheelchair in the hallway, he was asked by a hospital worker for a blessing. So the Reb put his hands on the man’s head and gave him one.

He refused to wallow in self-pity. In fact, the worse things got for him, the more intent he seemed on making sure no one around him was saddened by it.

As we sat in the room, a commercial for an antidepressant drug flashed across the TV screen. It showed people looking forlorn, alone on a bench or staring out a window.

"I keep feeling something bad is going to happen . . . ," the TV voice said.

Then, after showing the pill and some graphics, those same people appeared again, looking happier.

The Reb and I watched in silence. After it ended, he asked, “Do you think those pills work?”

Not like that, I said.

“No,” he agreed. “Not like that.”
---------------
Happiness in a tablet. This is our world. Prozac. Paxil. Xanax. Billions are spent to advertise such drugs. And billions more are spent purchasing them. You don’t even need a specific trauma; just "general depression” or “anxiety,” as if sadness were as treatable as the common cold.

I knew depression was real, and in many cases required medical attention. I also knew we overused the word. Much of what we called “depression” was really dissatisfaction, a result of setting a bar impossibly high or expecting treasures that we weren’t willing to work for. I knew people whose unbearable source of misery was their weight, their baldness, their lack of advancement in a workplace, or their inability to find the perfect mate, even if they themselves didnot behave like one. To these people, unhappiness was a condition, an intolerable state of affairs. If pills could help, pills were taken.

But pills were not going to change the fundamental problem in the construction. Wanting what you can’t have. Looking for self-worth in the mirror. Layering work on top of work and still wondering why you weren’t satisfied—before working some more.

I knew. I had done all that. There was a stretch where I could not have worked more hours in the day without eliminating sleep altogether. I piled on accomplishments. I made money. I earned accolades. And the longer I went at it, the emptier I began to feel, like pumping air faster and faster into a torn tire.

The time I spent with Morrie, my old professor, had tapped my brakes on much of that. After watching him die, and seeing what mattered to him at the end, I cut back. I limited my schedule.

But I still kept my hands on my own wheel. I didn’t turn things over to fate or faith. I recoiled from people who put their daily affairs in divine hands, saying, “If God wants it, it will happen.” I kept silent when people said all that mattered was their personal relationship with Jesus. Such surrender seemed silly to me. I felt like I knew better. But privately, I couldn’t say I felt any happier than they did.

So I noted how, for all the milligrams of medication he required, the Reb never popped a pill for his peace of mind. He loved to smile. He avoided anger. He was never haunted by “Why am I here?” He knew why he was here, he said: to give to others, to celebrate God, and to enjoy and honor the world he was put in. His morning prayers began with “Thank you, Lord, for returning my soul to me."

When you start that way, the rest of the day is a bonus.
-------------
Can I ask you something?

“Yes," he said.

What makes a man happy?

“Well . . .” He rolled his eyes around the hospital room.

“This may not be the best setting for that question.”

Yeah, you’re right.

"On the other hand . . He took a deep breath. "On the other hand, here in this building, we must face the real issues, some people will get better. Some will not. So it may be a good place to define what that word means."

Happiness?

"That’s right. The things society tells us we must have to be happy - a new this or that, a bigger house, a better job. I know the falsity of it. I have counseled many people who have all these things, and I can tell you they are not happy because of them.

"The number of marriages that have disintegrated when they had all the stuff in the world. The lamilies who fought and argued all the time, when they had money and health. Having more does not keep you from wanting more. And if you always want more--to be richer, more beautiful, more well known-—you are missing the bigger picture, and I can tell you from experience, happiness will never come.”

You’re not going to tell me to stop and smell the roses, are you?

He chuckled. "Roses would smell better than this place."

Suddenly, out in the hall, I heard an infant scream, followed by a quick “shhh!” presumably from its mother. The Reb heard it, too.

“Now, that child,” he said, “reminds me of something our sages taught. When a baby comes into the world, its hands are clenched, right? Like this?”

He made a fist.

"Why? Because a baby, not knowing any better, wants to grab everything, to say, “The whole world is mine.’

"But when an old person dies, how does he do so? With his hands open. Why? Because he has learned the lesson."

What lesson? I asked.

He stretched open his empty fingers.

“We can take nothing with us."
---------------
For a moment we both stared at his hand. It was trembling.

"Ach, you see this?" he said.

Yeah.

"I can’t make it stop.”

He dropped the hand to his chest. I heard a cart being wheeled down the hall. I-Ie spoke so wisely, with such passion, that for a moment I’d forgotten where we were.

“Anyhow," he said, his voice trailing off.

I hated seeing him in that bed. I wanted him home, with the messy desk and the mismatched clothes. I forced a smile.

So, have we solved the secret of happiness?

“I believe so,” he said.

Are you going to tell me?

"Yes. Ready?”

Ready.

"Be satisfied."

That’s it?

"Be grateful?

That’s it?

“For what you have. For the love you receive. And for what God has given you.”

That’s it?

He looked me in the eye. Then he sighed deeply.

”That’s it.”

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Page 96-102

How much good have you done simply by the bad we have not?

I know I should have written this months ago, alas, you know how busyness can eat up your thought and life right? Yup, with this, I officially announce that this blog is inactive until I finish all my exams, retreat, community service project, and having everything I need to graduate with BSc. (ISM) degree.

In other words, that might be another 1.5 month from now.
I don't want to promise, because I know I've broken some.
Let's see.
I hope to see you back again on this blog once I settled everything and start writing again.

Catch myself later,
Suta

The below story is being taken from page 77-82 of a book called “Have a Little Faith – A True Story” written by Mitch Albom.

“Have a Little Faith is a book about life’s purpose; about losing belief and finding it again; about the divine spark inside us all.

It is one man’s journey, but it’s everyone’s story.”

I really like this part of the book, and that’s why I want to share it here.

In case you are not familiar with Mitch Albom, he is a sports journalist and the writer of these famous books: “Tuesday with Morrie,” “Five people you meet in heaven,” “For one more day.”
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The Greatest Question of All

In any conversation, I was taught, there are at least three parties: you, the other person, and the Lord.

I recalled that lesson on a summer day in the small office when both the Reb and I wore shorts. My bare leg stuck with perspiration to the green leather chair, and I raised it with a small thwock.

The Reb was looking for a letter. He lifted a pad, then an envelope, then a newspaper. I knew he’d never find it. I think the mess in his office was almost a way of life now, a game that kept the world interesting. As I waited, I glanced at the file on the lower shelf the one marked “God." We still hadn`t opened it.

“Ach," he said, giving up.

Can I ask you something?

"Ask away, young scholar," he crowed.

How do you know God exists?

He stopped. A smile crept across his face.

“An excellent question.”

He pressed his fingers into his chin.

And the answer? I said

“First, make the case against Him.”

Okay, I said, taking his challenge. How about this? We live in a world where your genes can be mapped, where your cells can be copied, where your face can be altered. Heck, with surgery, you can go from being a man to being a woman. We have science to tell us of the earth’s creation; rocket probes explore the universe. The sun is no longer a mystery. And the moon—which people used to worship? We brought some of it home in a pouch, right?

“Go on,” he said.

So why, in such a place, where the once-great mysteries have been solved, does anyone still believe in God or Jesus or Allah or a Supreme Being of any kind? Haven’t we outgrown it? Isn’t it like Pinocchio, the puppet? When he found he could move without his strings, did he still look the same way at Geppetto?
The Reb tapped his fingers together.

“That’s some speech."

You said make a case.

“Ah.”

He leaned in. "Now. My turn. Look, if you say that science will eventually prove there is no God, on that I must differ. No matter how small they take it back, to a tadpole, to an atom, there is always something they can’t explain, something that created it all at the end of the search.

"And no matter how far they try to go the other way—to extend life, play around with the genes, clone this, clone that, live to one hundred and fifty—at some point, life is over. And then what happens? When life comes to an end?"

I shrugged.

“You see?"

He leaned back. He smiled.

"When you come to the end, that’s where God begins."

--------------

Many great minds have set out to disprove God’s existence. Sometimes, they retreat to the opposite view. C. S. Lewis, who wrote so eloquently of faith, initially wrestled with the very concept of God and called himself “the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England." Louis Pasteur, the great scientist, tried to disprove a divine existence through facts and research; in the end, the grand design of man convinced him otherwise.

A spate of recent books had declared God a fool’s notion, hocus-pocus, a panacea for weak minds. I thought the Reb would find these offensive, but he never did. He understood that the journey to belief was not straight, easy, or even always logical. He respected an educated argument, even if he didn’t agree with it.

Personally, I always wondered about authors and celebrities who loudly declared there was no God. It was usually when they were healthy and popular and being listened to by crowds. What happens, l wondered, in the quiet moments before death? By then, they have lost the stage, the world has moved on. If suddenly, in their last gasping moments, through fear, a vision, a late enlightenment, they change their minds about God, who would know?

---------------

The Reb was a believer from the start, that was clear, but I also knew that he was not crazy about some things God allowed on this earth. He had lost a daughter, many years ago. That had shaken his world. And he regularly cried after visiting once—robust members of the congregation who now lay helpless in hospital beds.

“Why so much pain?” he would say, looking to the heavens. “Take them already. What is the point?”

I once asked the Reb that most common of faith questions; why do bad things happen to good people? It had been answered countless times in countless ways; in books, in sermons, on Web sites, in tear-filled hugs. The Lord wanted her with him . . . He died doing what he loved . . . She was a gift . . .This is a test . . .

I remember a family friend whose son was struck with a terrible medical affliction. After that, at any religious ceremony—•even a wedding•-I would see the man out in the hallway, refusing to enter the service. "I just can’t listen to it anymore,” he would say. His faith had been lost.

When I asked the Reb, Why do bad things happen to good people?, he gave none of the standard answers. He quietly said, “No one knows." I admired that. But when I asked if that ever shook his belief in God, he was firm.

“I cannot waver," he said.

Well, you could, if you didn’t believe in something all-powerful.

"An atheist,” he said.

Yes.

“And then I could explain why my prayers were not answered.”

Right.

He studied me carefully. He drew in his breath.

“I had a doctor once who was an atheist. Did I ever tell you about him?"

No.

“This doctor, he liked to jab me and my beliefs. He used to schedule my appointments deliberately on Saturdays, so I would have to call the receptionist and explain why, because of my religion, that wouldn’t work."

Nice guy, I said.

"Anyhow, one day, I read in the paper that his brother had died. So I made a condolence call.”

After the way he treated you?

"In this job," the Reb said, "you don’t retaliate."

I laughed.

"So I go to his house, and he sees me. I can tell he is upset.

I tell him I am sorry for his loss. And he says, with an angry face, 'I envy you.’

“’'Why do you envy me?’ I said.

“ ‘Because when you lose someone you love, you can curse God. You can yell. You can blame him. You can demand to know why. But I don’t believe in God. I’m a doctor! And I couldn’t help my brother!’

“He was near tears. ‘Who do I blame?’ he kept asking me. ‘There is no God. I can only blame myself.’ "

The Reb’s face tightened, as if in pain.

“That,” he said, softly, “is a terrible self-indictment."

Worse than an unanswered prayer?

“Oh yes It is far more comforting to think God listened and said no, than to think that nobody’s out there."


Page 77-82, Have a Little Faith – A True Story, Mitch Albom

I want my breakfast served at “eight”, with ham and eggs upon the plate;
A well-broiled steak I’ll eat at “one”; and dine again when day is done.

I want an ultramodern home, and in each room a telephone;
Soft carpets, too, upon the floors, and pretty drapes to grace the doors.

A cosy place of lovely things, like easy chairs and inner springs,
And then I’ll get a small TV - of course, “I’m careful what I see.”

I want my wardrobe, too, to be of neatest, finest quality.
With latest style of suit and vest, why shouldn’t Christians have the best?

But then the Master I can hear, in no uncertain voice, so clear,
“I bid you come and follow Me, the lonely Man of Galilee.”

“Birds of the air have made their nest, and foxes in their holes find rest;
But I can offer you no bed; no place have I to lay My head.”

In shame I hung my head and cried. How could I spurn the Crucified?
Could I forget the way He went, the sleepless nights in prayer He spent?

For forty days without a bit, alone He fasted day and night;
Despised, rejected - on he went, and did not stop till veil He rent.

A man of sorrows and of grief, no earthly friend to bring relief -
“Smitten of God,” the prophet said - Mocked, beaten, bruised, His blood ran red.

If He be God and died for me, no sacrifice too great can be
For me, a mortal man, to make; I’ll do it all for Jesus’ sake.

Yes, I will tread the path He trod. No other way will please my God;
So, henceforth, this my choice shall be, my choice for all eternity.

-------------
by Bill McChesney

This poem, entitled My Choice, was written by Bill McChesney around 1960 at the age of 25 in the World Evangelization Magazine.

Bill McChesney was a missionary in the Congo in Africa. He was brutally murdered at the age of 28 along with hundreds of other missionaries by the rebels in the Stanleyville area. He had been beaten on a truck and his back was bleeding. Then he was speared to death by the “Simbas.”

This poem has been a blessing for me and what could be more gratifying than sharing it to the people I always regard as my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Blessing shared is blessing doubled.
Burden shared is burden halved.

Hope you are blessed by it. :)

I'm sorry for being MIA for the last couple of months. Honestly there was a culture shock going on because I didn't thought it would be that hard to go back to the Singaporean culture which is quite fast paced.

Meanwhile, I came across this below article which is quite inspiring to me and he will be coming to Singapore for the APEC CEO Summit and will be one of the keynote speaker in the event. He will also talk at the Trinity Theological College Singapore about his book because he is also a minister. I'll be there and if I don't forget, I'll post something about it after I attend it on 12 November 2009.

See you around.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6571529.ece

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The banker with God on his side

Are Christian values at odds with the discredited world of banking? Not according to Stephen Green, the church minister who’s head of HSBC

by Ruth Gledhill
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Pope Benedict XVI is about to publish a radical new document on social and economic affairs, Caritas in veritate or Love in Truth, in which he is expected to challenge the financial and economic models that he believes are responsible for the financial crisis in the West. He will draw on the full history of the Church’s social teaching to emphasise again the abiding theme of the “common good”. By contrast, the Church of England, which does not even have the recession in a slot for debate at its General Synod in York next month, seems to have left it up to Stephen Green, the chairman of the HSBC bank, to set the moral lead for the nation.

His new book, Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World, is a detailed analysis of the ethical and moral issues arising from the present economic crisis. It is not remotely didactic and it is mercifully free from the self-righteous pomposity that you might expect from a banker who is also an ordained clergyman.

Green is an NSM, a non-stipendiary minister or a “Not Short of Money”, as they have been described. As a result, he is able to mediate between the god of money, our society’s natural deity, and the biblical pretender to that role, the Christian God, from an elevated position — the 42nd floor of the HSBC building in Canada Square at Canary Wharf, East London.

“The banking industry has not covered itself in glory, to say the least, in recent years,” he admits at his penthouse office. “But I think that’s quite a different thing to saying that all banking is corrupt or is there for personal enrichment. It’s not true. What’s more, you can’t have a smoothly functioning modern economy without efficient, effective, well-run banking.” That said, Green acknowledges several times that “there are plenty of lessons to be learnt” and to fix “the breakdown of trust” that is now pervasive across business will require a lot of hard graft.

The industrious message and the almost Victorian rectitude and probity of what he says is reinforced by our surroundings. The 60-year-old’s office oozes asceticism. Images of working-class life adorn its walls. Admittedly, they are original Lowry paintings, but one bears on its back the £35 price tag for which it was acquired by a parsimonious banker many years ago.

Green admits that the underlying issue of “for want of a better word, morality in the markets” needs to be addressed. Like John Bercow, the newly elected Speaker, praising the “upright, decent, honourable” majority in the Commons, or police commissioners rooting around for those few bad apples in the barrel, the HSBC chairman says that he believes “more than 90 per cent of people working in banks have been doing a perfectly honest solid job”. He concedes that “a relatively small number of people were involved in the areas of excess and greed”.

“There was a culture, there was a climate that developed where it’s as if you would say to yourself, ‘If there’s a contract, if it’s legal, if there’s a market, then I’ll do the deal, I don’t have to ask any questions, I don’t have to ask whether it’s right or suitable’. And I do think that we need to get back to that sense of what’s right and suitable and not merely, here’s something that’s a profitable transaction.”

How do we find these elusive rogue bankers, and hold them to account? The answer, apparently, is quite technical. “One way of putting this is that we employ 330,000 people roughly speaking around the world. No senior management group, no board, can guarantee the mode of behaviour in every country, every time zone, every time there’s a transaction with a customer — you can’t set rules that guarantee all the right behaviour all the time. You certainly can’t personally supervise the right behaviour all of the time. You have to make sure there’s a standard of integrity, a standard of culture, a standard of commitment that informs recruitment decisions, that informs training and development programmes, that informs the way people are appraised and rewarded too. This is lots and lots of detailed work and it’s consistent reinforcement. This is the Forth Bridge exercise with a vengeance.

“One of the things that the Christian faith perspective does tell you is that nothing is perfect and that we all know that for any institution any individual — that includes the Church, needless to say. This is about shades of grey.”

Green remains wary of excessive regulation and cites St Paul, who spoke of the limits of the law. “He may have meant this in a slightly different context, but the point is a very well-taken one. No amount of rule making can ensure that the spirit’s there. Some rules may well be necessary but they are never going to be sufficient.”

This is Green’s second book. The first, Serving God? Serving Mammon? was an explicitly Christian book written by a man trying to answer the question of whether a person can, with integrity, have faith and be working in the financial markets. “I don’t think there’s anything different about being in a bank or other kinds of business or in the public sector,” he says. “The fact is if you are where you are and you do have a sense that you have got whatever resources, talents, whatever, the question does stare you in the face: ‘How am I going to contribute to the common good?’ We all, I think, face that question.”

When faced with the question himself, Green’s answer wasn’t simply financial, although he gives away a large proportion of his £1.25 million salary (he and all HSBC directors waived their bonuses last year). He also talks of “servant leadership”, as it is known as in the Church. This, draws on the image of the “servant king” in which the best rulers regard themselves as at the service of their people. It is fundamental to the concept of service in work, an ethic that theologians from the Pope down believe is crucial to the common good.Green thinks “service leadership” might be a better way of putting it for his industry, which he admits has fallen woefully short. “We’ve all become painfully aware of it in the past couple of years.”

Although HSBC received no government cash and said publicly that it can envisage no circumstances in which it will need to accept such help, it wasn’t unscathed by the credit crunch. Its acquisition of the US sub-prime lenders Household International in 2003 was an expensive mistake, especially for the 6,000 people made redundant earlier this year. Green, though, defends his “colleagues in America who’ve borne the brunt of this”, and praises them for the way in which they addressed and tackled the issue once it was recognised. “We don’t feel that this was inappropriate business. I don’t feel that we’ve got any apologies to make for the way in which we faced up to that problem. Indeed, I’m actually rather proud of the institution.”

In spite of the parable of the rich man condemned to eternity in Hades while the beggar Lazarus goes to bliss in Paradise, Christ is more sympathetic to the predicament of the rich than is often thought. Green does not want to address what Christ would think of where we are now.

“It is rather presumptuous to answer the question. Any reasonable reading of the Gospels will tell you that Christ was not automatically hostile to people who are in wealthy occupations.” In the Bible, the rich young man went away “sorrowful” when Jesus told him to give all he had to the poor. Green argues in his book that for the affluent, the biblical practice of tithing, or giving 10 per cent, is “not nearly enough”. As a litmus test, he suggests giving that is both material and “feels like real sacrifice”. And he speaks of the example he has witnessed of people who have tried out the St Francis prayer, “to give as to receive”, and discovered it works. “You hear this phrase all the time: ‘I want to give something back to the community’. It’s an interesting phrase because it bespeaks a sense that somewhere in the person is a recognition that there’s an obligation that he or she owes. That the wealth has imposed an obligation on them, a responsibility on them. Then people can either face their responsibility constructively and with enthusiasm even. Or there are people who don’t. And I think I would argue that the way of spiritual enrichment is to face that challenge and not to duck it.” It may be the way of spiritual enrichment but the question remains whether other, less God-fearing, financiers will ever see the light.

He admits in a rare unguarded moment, “One of my daughters once said, ‘Dad, you are a man of the Nineties, which I thought doesn’t sound too bad, until I realised she meant the 1890s.” Green is personally “well formed” as Christians say, having done a retreat on Mount Athos, and being familiar with the work of Marx, Frankl and most important philosophers, theologians, economists and political writers of the recent and not-so-recent past. One passage that leaps out of his book is where he talks of money in terms of Faust and the demon Mephistopheles.

“No, I don’t believe money is evil, of course I don’t. I believe in the economist’s definition. But as St Paul said, the love of money is the root of all evil. I think that’s probably going some, but it’s clearly a significant temptation and distortion. The rich young man’s story tells you, not that money is, per se, evil, but that you can become spiritually obsessed by it. And there’s ample evidence of that.”

Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World by Stephen Green is published by Allen Lane at £25.

Di tengah gegap gempita perayaan kemerdekaan Republik Indonesia yang ke-64, saya teringat akan perkataan Presiden pertama dan pendiri negara kita tercinta, Ir. Soekarno, "Bangsa yang besar adalah bangsa yang menghargai jasa pahlawannya." Sayangnya, kita tahu jelas bahwa yang beliau maksud dengan kata "menghargai" mempunyai makna yang luas dan dalam.

Saya percaya bahwa Kemerdekaan adalah kemewahan yang dibeli dengan darah para pahlawan. Perjuangan dan pengorbanan mereka lah yang membuat kita semua dapat mencicipi hidup seperti ini. Setidaknya Anda dapat menikmati internet untuk dapat membaca tulisan ini. Apa jadinya bila kemerdekaan yang diproklamasikan pada tanggal 17 Agustus 1945 hanyalah sebuah halusinasi bangsa kita?

Sayangnya bangsa ini telah hidup dengan layaknya menghalusinasikan kemerdekaan hasil perjuangan tersebut.

Tiga alinea pertama Mukadimah Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 dengan jelas mengatakan:

Bahwa sesungguhnya Kemerdekaan itu ialah hak segala bangsa dan oleh sebab itu, maka penjajahan di atas dunia harus dihapuskan, karena tidak sesuai dengan peri-kemanusiaan dan peri-keadilan.

Dan perjuangan kemerdekaan Indonesia telah sampailah kepada saat yang berbahagia dengan selamat sentausa mengantarkan rakyat Indonesia ke depan pintu gerbang kemerdekaan Negara Indonesia yang merdeka, bersatu, berdaulat, adil dan makmur.

Atas berkat rahmat Tuhan Yang Maha Kuasa dan dengan didorongkan oleh keinginan luhur, supaya berkehidupan kebangsaan yang bebas, maka rakyat Indonesia menyatakan dengan ini kemerdekaannya.

Sudahkah perjuangan kemerdekaan Indonesia sampai ke depan pintu gerbang kemerdekaan bila kita menggunakan standar yang dicetuskan oleh konstitusi negara kita sendiri?


Teman-teman, kitalah generasi penerus bangsa ini dan kepada kitalah bangsa ini akan diwariskan.

Sampai kapan kemerdekaan terus menjadi sesuatu yang diperdagangkan oleh para koruptor, dan dipermainkan oleh pemerintahan yang tak bertanggung jawab?

Saya berani bilang, sampai kita sadar bahwa bukan hanya mereka yang salah, kita pun juga.
Kitalah yang bertanggung jawab atas semua itu.

Lalu apa bedanya kita dengan mereka?
Tidak ada, jika kita memilih diam.

What makes one alive is love.
Love for a life one living in and the people inside it.

What makes one remains alive is hope.
Hope for there is life worth living in, now or hereafter.

What makes one lives forever is faith.
Faith for the One giving man the life itself.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor 13:13)

For me, the goal is not to live forever in Earth, it's to create something that will;
it can only be done through love.

Dedicated to my brothers and sisters in Perwakilan Kelas SMAN 8 Jakarta (Student Representative Council of my high school). Sorry for writing in Bahasa Indonesia, but you won't understand anyway if you are not one of us, so you can skip this part, hehe.

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**Mengalun dengan nada soundtrack Mojacko**
Sabtu pagi ke sekolah
dengan wajah gembira
untuk ikut pentaru
Perwakilan Kelas
teng..tereng..
Pita, Name tag, Amanat
sudah dibawa..... HAP!!....

Begitulah bait-bait awal dari yel-yel yang diajarkan kepada angkatan kami (PK XI) oleh PK X. Tidak terasa oleh saya, sudah 6 tahun semenjak saya diminta maju ke depan untuk mengulang gaya-gaya yel-yel yang cuma diperagakan 2x oleh kakak2nya. Hingga saat ini, yel2 pentaru masih terngiang di telinga saya dengan background suara teriakan Kak Prabu yang legendaris beserta trik segitiga dan lingkarannya.

Masih sangat debatable dalam pikiran saya apakah memori itu indah atau....... sangat indah, tetapi di luar pikiran itu saya percaya kita semua bisa menorehkan memori yang sama atau bahkan lebih indah lagi kepada calon adik2 kita sekarang yang mungkin 1, 6, atau 16 tahun lebih muda dari kita.

Lembaran baru telah tercipta, lembaran lama telah terganti
namun smuanya masih tertulis dalam suatu bab indah yang kita semua punya dan kita semua panggil dengan nama Perwakilan Kelas.

Biarlah hadiah doktrin dari kakak kelas bahwa PK adalah keluarga terlupa, biarlah sebuah pin merah ber-roda gigi hilang, biarlah smuanya itu kita panggil sekarang dengan memori. Tetapi apa artinya memori jika tidak untuk diingat.

Tanpa maksud untuk mewakili ataupun melangkahi adik2 paling kecil kita yang sekarang sedang mempersiapkan acara pentaru ini, saya mengajak kakak-kakak dan adik-adik yang mau bersama-sama membangkitkan memori masa lalu kita dan menorehkan memori yang lebih indah lagi kepada calon adik-adik kita untuk menghadiri Pentaru PK XVI yg akan diadakan pada:

Date: Saturday, August 8, 2009
Time: 11:00am - 4:00pm
Location: SMAN 8 Jakarta

Sampai ketemu semuanya!!

ps: PK XI itu angkatan 2006, jadi kakak-kakak bisa memulai membangkitkan memori dengan mengingat-ingat angkatan PK kakak sekarang, hehe

People said that when the night is in its darkest hour, it's when the stars shine the brightest. INDONESIA, it's time to RISE and SHINE!!!

We've been through churches, First and Second Bali, First Marriott, BEJ (Jakarta Stock Exchange), Philippine and Australian Embassy Bombings successfully, this is just another chance for us to SHINE brighter.
KUTAHU KITA PASTI BISA

17.07.09 will be the day that will not be forgotten in Indonesia's history.
For the terrorists out there
This will only be regarded as the time for us to show to the world again that we can keep on rising through all the bad things that happening here.

One of the things that I love the most from Indonesian: WE ARE A THRIVING SOCIETY
There will never be 'enough' for us.
There will never be 'satisfaction' for us.
There will never be 'giving up' for us.

You can keep on torturing us with everything you have.
We will still be the same 'thriving' Indonesians.

For all the people everywhere around the world
Please look beyond the headlines.
Our country is a country that had survived more than 3 centuries colonizations under Dutch, a lot of years under British and Portuguese, and 3 years under Japanese and still be the leader in anti-colonizations and non-aligned movement in the world directly after that.

Ours is a country that had survived:
- Philippine Embassy Bombing on Aug 1, 2000;
- September 2000 car bomb at the Jakarta Stock Exchange;
- Bombs exploded outside 6 churches on Dec 24, 2000;
- 1st Bali bombing on Oct 12, 2002
- 1st Marriott hotel bombing on Aug 5, 2003
- Australian embassy bombing on Sept 9, 2004
- 2nd Bali bombing on Oct 1, 2005
and still have our best year in tourism last year when global financial crisis was looming everywhere around the world.

To CNN, ABC, MSNBC, BBC, AP, CNA, Reuters: no matter what bad things you wrote about our country, believe me, people will still be coming here and we (at least I) will still be proud of our country.

For all of us Indonesians
This is not a time for us to condemn anyone (except the people behind the bombing of course).

Believe me on this, condemning our government, panicking, cursing our country, swearing about anything, fearing unreasonably ARE EXACTLY the reactions that the terrorists want.

This is a time for us to unite.
To unite and hope that we can find people behind these bombings and bring them to the face of just law.

I know it's just an abstract thing that you all doubt that we can do it.
But we can start by at least reacting wisely and do not spread the panic.

I believe yesterday won't be the last case of bombing in Indonesia although I hope it is, but that's just a prove that we're progressing and some people hate that. Why would people care with useless country anyway? They know that we're doing well and they didn't like it.

Yesterday is just a phase in our history that's although dark but reminds us that we should keep on thriving. Only this time, we should do it more vigilantly and with the higher degree of unity among us.

Tomorrow in Indonesia depends on you and me.
And don't worry, we can start preparing for it TODAY.

With faith, hope, and love,
Sutayasa
A mere citizen of Jakarta, Indonesia

This is what happened when Microsoft started to enter the movie business, it's only understandable by the geeks.

We are going to see a new Microsoft Office soon after this movie trailer but the reality unchanged by this is that IT world is not filled with those beautiful people. Want to know more? Come to Stamford Road 80, hahahaha

My loyal readers. Forgive me that I haven't continued the story of my journey. I somewhat felt that I am in a not good condition to do anything really serious for the last couples of days. Is it turning-legal-age syndrome or just a condition of fatigue accumulated for years after my last holiday in December 2007 (really, it was my last holiday and to tell you the truth, I never think that my Euro trip was a holiday. It's more of a mission for me that I need to conquer. I know you might think I am stupid but that's the way I felt for it)?

I am still not too sure what's the real cause but I did make a decision to do a personality profile to understand myself better. (Is it a reasonable "but"? hahaha)

This is a real Personality Profile test according to Psychology method. It's not the average 2-minute test in Facebook. It's long and tiring, and I hope the result is accurate (Yup, I haven't read it when I write this post). So here you go. (if you want to take this test, you can take it at http://test.personality-project.org/survey/consentform.html, thanks to my Globalization and Human Resources Professor in HEC Paris who introduced me to it)
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Personality Profile

What follows is the results of your survey responses. The results here are grouped into five categories: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness. These categories represent the way that most people talk about personality and so they may reflect cultural or social biases.

The descriptions used here are borrowed from John Johnson, who hosts a page of descriptions .

Extraversion Report

Extraversion is marked by pronounced engagement with the external world. Extraverts enjoy being with people, are full of energy, and often experience positive emotions. They tend to be enthusiastic, action-oriented, individuals who are likely to say "Yes!" or "Let's go!" to opportunities for excitement. In groups they like to talk, assert themselves, and draw attention to themselves.

Introverts lack the exuberance, energy, and activity levels of extraverts. They tend to be quiet, low-key, deliberate, and disengaged from the social world. Their lack of social involvement should not be interpreted as shyness or depression; the introvert simply needs less stimulation than an extravert and prefers to be alone. The independence and reserve of the introvert is sometimes mistaken as unfriendliness or arrogance. In reality, an introvert who scores high on the agreeableness dimension will not seek others out but will be quite pleasant when approached.

Score at a Glance
Total Score	62
Avg Response	4

Your average score on extraversion was 4, which is considered average. It is in approximately the 62nd percentile for males over the age of 21.

Your score on Extraversion is average, indicating you are neither a subdued loner nor a jovial chatterbox. You enjoy time with others but also time alone.

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Agreeableness Report

Agreeableness reflects individual differences in concern with cooperation and social harmony. Agreeable individuals value getting along with others. They are therefore considerate, friendly, generous, helpful, and willing to compromise their interests with others'. Agreeable people also have an optimistic view of human nature. They believe people are basically honest, decent, and trustworthy.

Disagreeable individuals place self-interest above getting along with others. They are generally unconcerned with others' well-being, and therefore are unlikely to extend themselves for other people. Sometimes their skepticism about others' motives causes them to be suspicious, unfriendly, and uncooperative.

Agreeableness is obviously advantageous for attaining and maintaining popularity. Agreeable people are better liked than disagreeable people. On the other hand, agreeableness is not useful in situations that require tough or absolute objective decisions. Disagreeable people can make excellent scientists, critics, or soldiers.

Score at a Glance
Total Score	92
Avg Response	4.8

Your average score on agreeableness was 4.8, which is considered high. It is in approximately the 92nd percentile for males over the age of 21.

Your high level of Agreeableness indicates a strong interest in others' needs and well-being. You are pleasant, sympathetic, and cooperative.

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Conscientiousness Report

Conscientiousness concerns the way in which we control, regulate, and direct our impulses. Impulses are not inherently bad; occasionally time constraints require a snap decision, and acting on our first impulse can be an effective response. Also, in times of play rather than work, acting spontaneously and impulsively can be fun. Impulsive individuals can be seen by others as colorful, fun-to-be-with, and zany.

Nonetheless, acting on impulse can lead to trouble in a number of ways. Some impulses are antisocial. Uncontrolled antisocial acts not only harm other members of society, but also can result in retribution toward the perpetrator of such impulsive acts. Another problem with impulsive acts is that they often produce immediate rewards but undesirable, long-term consequences. Examples include excessive socializing that leads to being fired from one's job, hurling an insult that causes the breakup of an important relationship, or using pleasure-inducing drugs that eventually destroy one's health.

Impulsive behavior, even when not seriously destructive, diminishes a person's effectiveness in significant ways. Acting impulsively disallows contemplating alternative courses of action, some of which would have been wiser than the impulsive choice. Impulsivity also sidetracks people during projects that require organized sequences of steps or stages. Accomplishments of an impulsive person are therefore small, scattered, and inconsistent.

A hallmark of intelligence, what potentially separates human beings from earlier life forms, is the ability to think about future consequences before acting on an impulse. Intelligent activity involves contemplation of long-range goals, organizing and planning routes to these goals, and persisting toward one's goals in the face of short-lived impulses to the contrary. The idea that intelligence involves impulse control is nicely captured by the term prudence, an alternative label for the Conscientiousness domain. Prudent means both wise and cautious. Persons who score high on the Conscientiousness scale are, in fact, perceived by others as intelligent.

The benefits of high conscientiousness are obvious. Conscientious individuals avoid trouble and achieve high levels of success through purposeful planning and persistence. They are also positively regarded by others as intelligent and reliable. On the negative side, they can be compulsive perfectionists and workaholics. Furthermore, extremely conscientious individuals might be regarded as stuffy and boring. Unconscientious people may be criticized for their unreliability, lack of ambition, and failure to stay within the lines, but they will experience many short-lived pleasures and they will never be called stuffy.

Score at a Glance
Total Score	82
Avg Response	4.8

Your average score on conscientiousness was 4.8, which is considered high. It is in approximately the 82nd percentile for males over the age of 21.

Your score on Conscientiousness is high. This means you set clear goals and pursue them with determination. People regard you as reliable and hard-working.

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Emotional Stability Report

Emotional stability is the opposite of emotional reactivity, which is the tendency to experience negative feelings. Those who score low on emotional stability may experience primarily one specific negative feeling such as anxiety, anger, or depression, but are likely to experience several of these emotions. People low in emotional stability are emotionally reactive. They respond emotionally to events that would not affect most people, and their reactions tend to be more intense than normal. They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which means they are often in a bad mood. These problems in emotional regulation can diminish a ones ability to think clearly, make decisions, and cope effectively with stress.

At the other end of the scale, individuals who score high in emotional stability are less easily upset and are less emotionally reactive. They tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and free from persistent negative feelings. Freedom from negative feelings does not mean that high scorers experience a lot of positive feelings; frequency of positive emotions is a component of the Extraversion domain.

Score at a Glance
Total Score	84
Avg Response	4.7

Your average score on emotional stability was 4.7, which is considered high. It is in approximately the 84th percentile for males over the age of 21.

Your score on Emotional Stability is high indicating that you are exceptionally calm, composed and unflappable. You do not react with intense emotions, even to situations that most people would describe as stressful.

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Openness Report

Openness to Experience describes a dimension of cognitive style that distinguishes imaginative, creative people from down-to-earth, conventional people. Open people are intellectually curious, appreciative of art, and sensitive to beauty. They tend to be, compared to closed people, more aware of their feelings. They tend to think and act in individualistic and nonconforming ways. Intellectuals typically score high on Openness to Experience; consequently, this factor has also been called Culture or Intellect. Nonetheless, Intellect is probably best regarded as one aspect of openness to experience. Scores on Openness to Experience are only modestly related to years of education and scores on standard intelligent tests.

Another characteristic of the open cognitive style is a facility for thinking in symbols and abstractions far removed from concrete experience. Depending on the individual's specific intellectual abilities, this symbolic cognition may take the form of mathematical, logical, or geometric thinking, artistic and metaphorical use of language, music composition or performance, or one of the many visual or performing arts. People with low scores on openness to experience tend to have narrow, common interests. They prefer the plain, straightforward, and obvious over the complex, ambiguous, and subtle. They may regard the arts and sciences with suspicion, regarding these endeavors as abstruse or of no practical use. Closed people prefer familiarity over novelty; they are conservative and resistant to change.

Openness is often presented as healthier or more mature by psychologists, who are often themselves open to experience. However, open and closed styles of thinking are useful in different environments. The intellectual style of the open person may serve a professor well, but research has shown that closed thinking is related to superior job performance in police work, sales, and a number of service occupations.

Score at a Glance
Total Score	99
Avg Response	5.6

Your average score on openness was 5.6, which is considered high. It is in approximately the 99th percentile for males over the age of 21.

Your score on Openness to Experience is high, indicating you enjoy novelty, variety, and change. You are curious, imaginative, and creative.

I'm BACK!!
Safe, sound, and steady

It's been 1 week (+couples (or maybe tens) of hours) in Jakarta now, the city that has a special intrique with me. It's kind of Love/Hate relationship with it but no matter how much I hate it for its pollutions, traffic jam, criminal records, poverty exhibition (spending 1 day around Jakarta's protocol street is enough for anyone to really see about the poverty here I guess), etc. I still consider it as the city I love the most and the city that I consider as my first and only home.

Ok, before I go longer and longer about how much I love Jakarta, I will go back to the long awaited post about my travels in Europe. I am aware that I have not posted anything about my second trip in France but I think I will bring something that is fresh from the oven, my groundbreaking (at least my shoes' ground, cause it's literally breaking, hehe) 26-cities-in-26-days trip.

I'll do it like a diary, so we'll start with Day 1 in Amsterdam and The Hague (Den Haag) in this blog post!!

DAY 1 - Netherlands - Amsterdam and The Hague
We'll start the story 8 hours before the Day 1. It's really the perfect way to start a long journey!!

I planned to bring all my belongings in a HUGE (it's that huge that you can even put Hugh Grant in it) luggage. My housemate, Gabriel, kindly brought it from my room (the room on the farthest corner at the highest level of a building that is the furthest to the source of food (Restaurants des Etudiants a.k.a. Restaurant Universitaire)!! I perfectly understand that man can't live by bread alone as being said by the bible, but this is a bit too much especially for a man who loves anything as long as it's edible and has a taste that we all use to call Suta) to the bus station which is about 100 metres away from my apartment building door. FYI the luggage was about 35 kg.

I planned to catch a bus at around 6 PM and I already know the exact time when the bus would depart from HEC (my school name) bus station. Just a note, in developed country we have exact timing for bus departure and arrival, so Indonesian people who are reading this should understand that I don't have to be a magician to know when the bus is going. My friend hold the bus while I forgot something and ran back to my room to get it. The funny thing was the bus kept insisting on leaving but my huge luggage is already inside. I didn't know that, but I knew that I have to run as fast as Speedy Gonzalez (fyi, I know some Mexicans, none of them can run as fast as Speedy Gonzalez, I start to feel that the name of that character should be changed to Speedy Bolt. Once you've seen Usain Bolt running, you'll know what I'm talking about) with a bag that is about 16 KG!! I had no option, so I did that and thanks God I catched the bus (literally catch because the bus was about to leave).

To cut the story short, I did manage to leave the luggage at Rudi's house (my friend from my church in Paris) and went to the bus station on time.

I arrived around 1 hour earlier than the schedule and it was 6 AM in the morning in Amsterdam (anyway, I learned that night bus almost always arrive earlier than the schedule). I straight away go to the famous Dam Square, the heart of Amsterdam with my 15 KG bag on my back, haha (not a happy laugh). I saw the Nieuwe Kerk (15th century) which is used for royal coronations and royal weddings.
Other than that, you have Madame Tussaud (the famous wax museum),
Royal Palace (former City Hall, built in 1651, mainly used for diplomatic receptions and to welcome visiting heads of state, not as a royal residence),
and National Monument (erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II)
Then I continued to Rembrandtplein, which is obviously about Rembrandt, Netherlands' most famous name in painting. You must have seen Rembrandt's The Night Watch before either unconsciously or consciously.
Then I just walked around Amsterdam like a hunchback of Notre Dame (believe me, there is no hunchback at the Notre Dame of Paris, hehe) with that bag to see all these interesting things
A bike that is specially designed for carrying children
I don't exactly know what this is but it has big clocks on all its directions, so let's just call it a clock tower with a chicken on top of it, hehe
Stads schouw burgamsterdam (the "Yes we're open, Are you?" banner, and don't ask me to translate it for you please,hehe)
A floating chinese restaurant, looks like in Hong Kong, haha
This man has a very special boat. Click the picture to see the big version one.
Could somebody tell me what's the name of that musical instrument that he played with rolling the steer??
And guess what, this is what happened when you have too many museums.
You have Museum of Bags and Purses which I think could be the heaven museum for girls
You also have a SexMuseum which I think could be the heaven museum for boys

Not only that, Amsterdam even has Museumplein (Museum Square) where it has
Rijksmuseum (State Museum), the biggest and the richest, it's the one hosting Rembrandt's The Night Watch
Van Gogh Museum, which is self-explanotory
The Concertgebouw, which is consi dered one of the finest concert halls in the world, along with places such as Boston's Symphony Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna.
The Uber famous I amsterdam monument (I don't have any idea of what other word I should call it). I know what you are thinking. Nope, there is not any statue with a face like me standing in the centre of Museumplein. It's me, and it's the end of my Amsterdam trip.


Arghhhh, I know what you're thinking again. YES, I did went to the Red Light District, but NO!!! I didn't take any pictures and I didn't do anything there, just walk passing by the most exhibitionist group of people you can find in one district, hahaha. And trust me the district is small.


After that I straightly went to Amsterdam Centraal (train station, not mall, hehe)
and went to Den Haag where I would stay for the night. My senior in high school, Aryo (of course it's a real name, this is not a criminal story, haha), kindly 'offered' (or rather me asking for help, haha) me his living room for me to stay for 2 nights. I still remembered the 'Ayam Gulai' and 'Tempe cah Sapi' which he cooked for me and his other guests. IT WAS DELICIOUS!! Especially after a while of not seeing Indonesian food, haha.

Since Aryo also has PS3, I played Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 for the first time there, haha. Not bad for someone who hasn't played for almost half a year, I won 4 matches and lost only 1 to Aryo, hehe.

Europe is almost done for me guys!!

There are some changes to my plan before.

First part - 8 cities in 5 days
21-23 May - Netherlands - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Delft
23-25 May - Belgium - Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Brussels

Second part - 10 cities in 14 days
27-31 May - Italy - Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice
1-2 June - Austria - Salzburg
2-6 June - Germany - Munchen, Wittenburg, Berlin
7-8 June - Austria - Vienna
8-9 June - Czech - Prague

So far, I like Florence, Salzburg, and Berlin the most
I haven't finished Prague though, just arriving this afternoon and now having one of the best and the cheapest hostel in my trip with free internet use, so I am pretty happy now, hahahha

I don't feel like a backpacker in Prague because everything is so cheap that it's close to Singapore's prices (not cheap at all for Indonesian though,hahaha).

The next one week of my trip will be a bit fast and need to be done carefully though because UK is so expensive, hehehe.

Just a preview for my UK trip - 7 cities in 7 days
10-11 June - London (I'll be watching England vs Andorra at the closest part to the field in Wembley Stadium, don't be jealous until I post the picture though, hehe)
12 June - Oxford, Birmingham
12-14 June - Liverpool
14 June - Manchester
15 June - Edinburgh
16 June - Glasgow, Paris

All in all, it will be 26 cities in 26 days including back to Paris on my last day. It's getting a bit tired now but it's worth the effort.

More pictures and stories will be coming after 19 June 2009 when I arrive in Singapore.

Meanwhile, wish me luck for the rest of my journey.

Btw, I want to thank Sharleen and Sarah for hosting me in Vienna and bring me around to all palaces in Vienna also. Thanks very much, but after all I should say that Vienna wouldn't be fun without you two, especially when you two started to tease on each other, hahaha

FYI, Sharleen is my primary school friend. We hadn´t met each other since 9 years ago and only God knows that we met again after 9 years in Vienna instead of Jakarta. Sarah is her witty housemate.

GBU Sharleen, Sarah and all the readers, hehe.

This blog will be undergoing maintenance work for 1 month because the owner will be traveling all the time, haha.

Just for a preview for my lovely readers.

21-23 May - Netherlands - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Delft
23-25 May - Belgium - Antwerp, Ghent, Brugges, Brussels
27-31 May - Italy - Rome, Florence (and maybe Pompei and Pisa too), Venice
31 May-1 June - Austria - Salzburg
1-6 June - Germany - Munchen, Wittenburg (the start of reformation from Luther), Berlin
6-7 June - Austria - Vienna
7-8 June - Poland - Krakow
8-10 June - Czech - Praque
10-16 June - UK (England and Scotland only) - London, Oxford, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow

16-18 June - France - Paris (back home, stay at Rudi´s lovely place)
18 June - Qatar - Doha (transit for few hours)
19 June - Singpapore - arriving at 3 PM local time at Terminal 3 Changi Airport by QR638, in case you want to pick me up
22 June - Indonesia - Jakarta - finally back at home after about 5 weeks of traveling. 11 AM ValueAir Flight from Singapore

for the whole summer, I´ll bring all of you through the stories of my eurotrip journey, meanwhile let me do the trip first, haha. I´ll keep you all updated if I have anything urgent coming up in the next one month.

This post is being written in my friend´s house in Ghent, Belgium. I met him through Couchsurfing, a website that can change the world, at least some people´s world.

Au revoir.

It's the final one week I'm in HEC Paris now. I'm really busy with everything but to keep my reader occupied, I have this interesting article below. I'm sorry that it's in Bahasa Indonesia but you can use the below part to know the translation. CAUTION, I didn't have time to check the translation because it's being done by Google Translate, hehe. If you know Bahasa better, it's better to read the Bahasa version. You can click on the title to get the original article.

Indonesia Negara Paling Tersenyum

LONDON,KOMPAS.com-Beberapa media massa Swedia selama beberapa pekan terakhir ini menuliskan laporannya bahwa Indonesia berada di tingkat pertama dalam urutan negara dengan masyarakatnya tersenyum paling tinggi di dunia dibandingkan dengan negara lainnya.

Mengutip laporan The Smiling Report 2009 yang dilakukan salah satu Provider Misteri Belanja yang berada di Swedia justru menempatkan masyarakat Swedia berada di urutan ke 24. Demikian diungkapkan Sekretaris Satu KBRI Stockholm, Swedia Dody Kusumonegoro kepada koresponden Antara London, Minggu (17/5).

Dalam jajak pendapat yang dilakukan tahun 2008 yang berisi lebih dari 2,5 juta pertanyaan mengenai Senyum (Smile) dan Salam (Add-Greeting) pada penjualan di 66 negara, Swedia menempatkan Indonesia pada bagian atas daftar.

Media Swedia melaporkan Indonesia sebagai negara yang paling tersenyum sebagai hasil dari pelanggan layanan data dari evaluasi yang dilakukan di seluruh spektrum dan pameran oleh AB Bisnis di seluruh dunia, di Swedia.

Dalam laporan itu disebutkan Indonesia sebagai negara tertinggi tersenyum dengan 98 persen. Selain itu, Indonesia juga merupakan negara dengan ucapan salam yang paling tinggi yaitu 98 persen. Sementara itu Swedia berada di nomor 24 pada daftar untuk kategori senyum dengan angka 77 persen dan urutan 31 untuk ucapan salam dengan 81 persen.

Industri yang banyak senyum adalah di bidang kesehatan dan kecantikan perawatan serta transportasi dengan 86 persen dan nilai terendah berada di layanan bisnis B2B dengan hanya 52 persen. Dalam jajak pendapat itu disebutkan bahwa ucapan Salam tahun 2008 dan 2007 tercatat 81 persen dibandingkan dengan 88 persen pada 2004.

Ucapan salam tertinggi selain Indonesia juga menempatkan Hongkong dengan 98 persen, sementara yang terendah adalah Maroko dengan 48 persen. Ucapan yang terbaik ditemukan pada layanan di pemerintahan dengan 94 persen sementara di kalangan bisnis (B2) hanya 70 persen.

Dalam layanan penjualan, skor tertinggi dicatat oleh Pakistan dengan 82 persen dan terendah adalah Finlandia dengan tiga persen. Dalam pelayanan B2 memiliki nilai tertinggi mencapai 65 persen sementara dalam segi kenyamanan tercatat sangat rendah dengan 40 persen.

Dalam laporan itu terdapat kesenjangan yang besar antara benua Australia memiliki skor tertinggi dari semua benua, dengan senyum sebesar 89 persen dan salam 92 persen sementara Afrika disebutkan terendah dengan 61 persen senyum dan 51 persen salam.

ONO

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This post is originally written on 26/04 in the bus from Lyon to Paris with International students from HEC. As promised, I am going to tell you about my trips. Let me begin with the first.

First Day

In a bright Friday morning on 13 March (I just realized it’s Friday the 13th haha), we (suta, gabriel, michelle, amy, eva) went together from HEC at 7:30 am to Massy Palaiseau to get the car that we rent to embark on our journey.

First is Caen, a city famous for its Memorial Museum, which I myself regard as one of the best museum that I have been too. It’s more expensive than Louvre yet I still like it more. There will be more about it in the next day

We had a nice lunch here... and eat this steak....

We then tried to find a way to caen memorial museum but we couldn't do it, and I'm glad we couldn't because we had way more time to see it in the day after. So, we went to the famous Mont St Michel instead. We walked on what maybe the biggest beach on earth which will be gone by night.

We circled the 'island' because the tide was still low. It was really fun. Some part of it can suck you down but it's not dangerous because it is really slow.

After that we went to some stores to see the famous foie gras (liver of a duck or goose) and local product before heading to St Malo, a famous fortified city (don't be surprised people, even when I say it's famous, I didn't know what it is before). We ate dinner there, but was not really good, so we moved to other restaurant to have dessert (the one with the alcohol and being burnt with fire, don't worry we don't eat fire).

We then moved back towards Mt St Michel to see how beautiful it was in the night,and it was really good,look by yourself if you don't believe me.

We went back to Caen to go back and sleep.

Second Day

In the second day, we first went to Caen memorial museum, one of the best I've seen that I even dedicated a separated photo album for it.

The top left is the campaign material from Hitler, continued clockwise, letter from Einstein to FD Roosevelt, me and all the equipment that a soldier has, News world war declared, a wedding gown made of parachute, and a dedicated section for the first president of Indonesia, Soekarno.

We then went to Bayeux where its famous tapestry was being hosted. I like the tapestry a lot. It is about the tale of the Norman invasion of England in 1066 over 58 remarkable scenes. Made in the 11th century with length of 70 meters, it's also Unesco's memory of the world register. Following that is what I ate there and how the city looks like.




Prochain arrete (next stop) was D-day beaches, the biggest one is Omaha where the American cemetery is. It is so beautiful and peaceful, a great place to reflect. It was the place of the bloodiest battle between ally and Nazi in the D-day operation Overlord. Today, about 10,000 soldiers are resting peacefully here.




Just few kms from Omaha, there is Gold beach. We went to an observation deck above the hill. Here are the views. There are a big cross and a big statue of virgin Mary there.



We then continued our journey to Rouen to stay for one night there.

Third Day

In the next morning, we went to the Notre dame de rouen and the place where Joan d'arc was being burnt which is now Eglise Jeanne d'Arc. Who is she? Saint Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d'Arc;^[1] c. 1412^[2] – 30 May 1431) is a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII. She was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court, and burned at the stake when she was nineteen years old. (from Wiki, hehe)



We then continued to Amiens where the biggest notre dame in France located and where the head of John the Baptist is being hosted. Anyway, almost every city in France called their church Notre Dame, and believe me, there is no such thing as the Hunchback of Notre Dame here, hahaha. It means "Our Lady," so basically all the churches are dedicated to Virgin Mary.



Next was Lille, where we saw a piscine (swimming pool) turned into world class museum where I first saw the creation of Pablo Picasso and Donatello with my own eyes. To be exact, it was in Robeaux, a small town next to Lille.



We ate dinner in Lille, a local food which I recreated because I don't like cold and jelly meat,ha3, so I asked the waiter to heat it up and it eventually became a soup,haha.



That's all about my first trip, feel free to drop comments, and stay tune for the next posts. You can zoom in the pictures if you click on it.