ngoprek server di warnet, dan di sebelah ada yg mengkoneksi pc remote dari sini ke komputernya di dc.. via cable yg lagi tipikal cuma 4kb/sec.. 800x600 full screen!.. eeks, gilingan padi... x(

peace on earth.. peace on my head... peace...

just updated the char page...

...

and har har.. i laughed my ass off for this one... psy-war is on, dude.. x)

btw, someone tipped me that the right medicine for migraine is prisium... cos 20% of it is morphine... hmmm... ntar kalo sakaw bisa mampus gue...

migraine... benda yg dah setaun lebih nggak mampir dateng lagi..

parasetamol nggak mempan... ibuprofren, masih nggak tuntas... so acetaminophen disiapkan.. double doze... and *hiks!*... kepala si aip pun floating di udara...

links for today (tertunda sejak jumat kemarin, kerana migraine itu) :
a mail to santa |  ave indonesian e-govt!!! | benda ini ada yg mo beli? | this is why the armageddon war is inevitably coming

content management system... a life beyond web designing...

and i never tought that thing will be so confusing, until i actually using one.

darn, ndi... gilejuga...

makin dipilah pilih benda kamera digital ini, makin bingung kepala si aip...

awalnya dari benda olympus c300 ini, ndi.. murah meriah.. 2.3jt di black market dah dapet 3 mega pixel, iso 100 s/d 400, storagenya smartmedia (jadi si aip bisa pakai 128mb card dari nomad2nya buat jeprat jepret juga).. tapi kok bodinya culun gitu ya?... ugly...

kemudian gue liat-liat fuji finepix 401 di majalah t3 november 2002, 4mega pixel.. 3x optical zoom.. smartmedia juga... tapi ternyata 4mp itu interpolate... aselinya cuma 2mp.. weleh...2mp for 4.3million rups?.. no way!

switch ke yg resolusinya tinggian dan bisa smartmedia juga... finepix s602.. ealah.. 7.5jt x( .. 6mp interpolated pula.. alias cuma 3mp... 7.5jt buat resolusi olimpus 300 yg cuma 2.3jt.. weleh weleh weleh.. nggak seimbang harganye men...

thus drop ke finepix s304... aseli 3mp, 6x optical zoom, harga 4.3jt... dispread ke 12 bulan pake kredit 24% jadi 'cuma' 444rb/mo... tapiiii... nggak support smartmedia.. dan review yg ada complain soal iso yg cuma bisa diset di angka 100, dan auto focus yg susah kalo moto indoor...

waduh... syusyeh amat sih ip milih pemoto aja? .. kalo mo yg moy sekalian aja pake benda ini.. atau benda ini sekalian..

dan si aip langsung mual liat price tagnya.... :P

dan sementara di lain pulau, si odek sedang siap siap ke sim lim buat mbeliin sj30 ke si aip...

iya ndi.. akhirnya clie sj30 aja... abis dont need os5nya nx70, nggak butuh juga clam shellnya nr70, nggak perlu mp3nya t665, nggak usah juga extended ir-danya t615.... so sj30 aja cukup.. yg penting hi-res bisa dipake buat excel dan action-names,.. bisa pakai happy-days, dan last but not least... galax!.. x)

dan si aip lagi lagi nyengir kuda.... mungkin inget jaman dulu jempolnya biasa pegel satu jam mainin itu game tanpa henti di atas patas ac62 dari tangerang ke indosat...

mingkem, ip.. mingkem!...

the perfect love proposal for a geek?... err.. the first real life /.ing? ;)

ignored usama's letter to u.s.a...

ignored, ndi?

yup, ip... cause, imho, usama and u.s.a. while being in a opposite side of the war, both has extremely different point of view to start understanding each other... while on usama's head its all about 'justice', u.s.a. mind is about survival...

survival?

for u.s. to survive of being the most powerfull nation, at least two factors that i have in mind have carefully to be under control... oil for economy.. and defense sector (innovation and growth)...

and for these factors, palestine is expendable...

so while nation values from the founding fathers of u.s. are noble, the deliverable of the people (and the govt.) dont show the same quality...

hari pertama back to work.. berangkat jam 6:50am dan indahnya lengang jalan di jakarta... all the way dari ahmad yani, salemba tengah, matraman... proklamasi, imam bonjol, sudirman, blok s, tendean.. weleh... smoga lengang ini bertahan sampai akhir taun... semoga yg parada cararuti males kerja dan cutinya dibablasin sampe hari natal... i wish... i wish... :P

link for today: the first computer bug, taken from a bio of the women who found it...

hari pertama lebaran...

setelah sholat ied di masjid dekat rumah, si aip ikut berkumpul keluarga si neng di ruang tamu..

apa yang beda lebaran kali ini, ip?

ini kali pertama si aip lebaran bareng si neng setelah berubah status dari single...

bedanya kalo lebaran kemarin, ndi, gue sungkem ke babeh sama mamah, mikirin dosa gue yg segunung... dan kalo sekarang si neng dulu ke sayah, dan kemudian sayah ka mitoha... yg samanya, ndi... lebaran tahun kemarin dan sekarang, pikirin gue sama-sama mikirin dosa gue yg segunung ke babeh sama mamah..

untungnya jam 10 pagi si aip dan neng dah ketemu sama babeh dan mamah di peanut garden (aka kebon kacang.. deket brotherland... aka tanah abang ;), hq dari keluarga rais kalo sedang lebaran... ketemuan dengan da whole keluarga rais, dan aria muncul bersama fedya dengan anggota keluarga rais paling gress... cucu pertama dari om didi... rame :)

menu standar seperti biasa... ketupat plus sayurnya.. plus rendang.. (dan kembali si aip misses tape daun mangga si uyut... sigh..)...

hari kedua lebaran...

bangun jam 5, dan dalam satu jam tiga mobil dah beriringan di jalan tol cikampek ke arah bandung..

perjalanan yg biasa aja buat si aip, kecuali si dwiki yg tiap setengah jam nyumbang kentut bayinya yang beraroma naga belum mandi... dan untuk setiap kali naga itu datang, bluah... si aip dengan paniknya membuka jendela mobil... dan teh anna, ibu dwiki, cuma ketawa-ketawa aja... belajar being around bayi, ip :)

sampe di bandung jam 10... dan langsung ke tempat teh wati di geger kalong... nyobain tape.. (sayangnya tape hitam.. bukan tape hijau daun mangganya ala uyut.. alhamdulillah.. tapi si aip cuma berandai-andai bisa nemu tape hijau... tentu lebih yummeh :)

jam 1 siang, gerombolan langsung ke hostel yg udah dibook sedari pagi (si aip amazed juga bisa book on such a short notice.. ini bandung man.. hari sabtu... biasanya susah)..

setelah beberes di hostel, walau hujan deras, si aip dan si neng didorong oleh lapar jalan mencari makanan.. dan 10 menit jalan ke arah selatan jl. setiabudi, ada kfc.. langsung aja si aip dan neng masuk dan si aip duduk while si neng pesen dua paket satu...

selagi makan, si neng notice.. bahwa da person behind si aip back to back adalah dewi.. (he.. dewi who, neng?...)

"dewi lestari... dewi supernova itu lho a" ujar si neng ke si aip

ohhh... si neng ternyata merefer ke dee, penulis dari buku yang dulu diberikan oleh si aip ke si neng untuk menemani penerbangan si neng dari jkt ke washington september taun lalu...

ok... si aip pun kemudian meneruskan makannya dengan tekun dan lahap...

sesudah makan si aip mengajak si neng balik ke hostel buat istirahat (nyetir jkt bandung walau dah biasa tetep megelin buat si aip)... dan si neng belum mau...

"mo liat mukanya dewi dulu, a" jawab si neng polos...

"he?... ".. si aip bingung.. "lha.. kan udah hampir tiap pagi liat mukanya di transtv, neng?"

dan kemudian si aip langsung aja balik badan dan menepuk pundak dee..

"hi dee, i like your book... " si aip mengintroduce himself ke dee..

dan sesaat kemudian si aip mengintroduce si neng ke dee.. dan si neng dan dee had a brief chat of how aip and neng like her book, how neng admire pengetahuan dee soal washington, even thou dee cuma sebentar di sana, tapi neng yg dah lima taun disana masih bisa miss apa yg dee lihat.. tentang dupont circle and blah blah blah...

seru juga hari ini, ya ip?

"ho'oh, ndi... hehehehe".. ujar si aip sambil cengar cengir...

si aip seneng setelah tau si neng seneng bisa ngobrol sama dee... dan apalagi setelah tau neng bilang kayaknya si dee sendiri seneng bisa ketemu sama 'fans' yg appreciate tulisannya....

"kok tau dee seneng, neng?" tanya si aip ke neng

"soalnya si dee tangannya shaking saat ngobrol, a.." jawab si neng

ah. itu mah bisa aja bukan karena seneng, tapi masih kaget karena mungkin menyangka si aip itu tukang hipnotis karena berani-beraninya menepuk pundaknya... :)

untung si aip teh anak baik hati... }:)

"selamat hari raya iedul fitri untuk semua.. selamat berlibur... hati hati di jalan (djikalaoe pulang kampuang)...

mohon maaf lahir bathin... manusia tentu nggak lepas dari salah kata dan salah ketik...

take care, amigo..."

si aip semalem kumpul bareng friday~night club.. di cafe terrace, menteng....

"makanannya lumayan enak, ndi!" kata si aip..

"ho'oh" si andi nyengir aja..

dan seperti biasa, greg membawa ceweknya yang baru... dan si aip terbingung-bingung karena posturnya sama persis dengan cewek yg terdahulu ketika bertemu di izzi pizza.. namun info dari sandy, saat kumpul di jamz (for which si aip nggak bisa dateng), soedah ganti lagi... hehehe...

dalam bingungnya, si aip meng-sms olga yg ada diseberang meja..

cw greg baru lagi?.. yang membuat si olga begitu ngebaca handphone langsung ngakak tertawa...

"ada perubahan paradigma apa ya d kepala si greg, ndi? jaman dahoeloe kala, greg sama winta itu... and now... " ujar si aip

"well.. gonta ganti begitu sebenernya cape laggih, ip... "...

interesting news.. microsoft unveils licensing discounts to counter linux..

so to be able to have the possibility of having a more economical license fee, you have to let m$ know that you are close on using their competitors' technology...

sounds fair to me...

scientist burns penis with hot laptop... auch!!!

nov 17, 2002 - day 1, part two

orang bilang booth jualan di bugis itu kayak di blok-m, mungkin bener... di tengah tenda-tenda penjual, si aip kegerahan.. walau cuaca sebenarnya teduh...

"laela.. laela..." ujar penjual penjual.. come... come....

dan si aip cerita... dari sekian banyak penjual, hanya ada satu yang menjual sayuran... dan itu pun bukan di booth, tapi ngemper sajah di con-block beralas terpal... ada cabe keriting, tujuh lajur tempe (seukuran kira-kira 4x5x20cm).. belimbing sayur/wuluh.. satu plastik 1 sgd saja.. (err.. that's 5000rp... beli belimbing wuluh 5000 perak di pasar serong dapet berapa kantong ya? :)

dan kemudian ditemani hujan deras, dari bugis si aip jalan ke sim lim... glodoknya sg...

"one thing that i like about sim lim, ndi... those sellers provide gadget for you to be able to try.. "

dan si aip pun keliling-keliling nyobain dari mulai clie sj20, sj30, nr70, vaio temennya fujitsu p1100, de el el... sayang tungsten-t belum bisa dicoba, ya ip?...

"i'm thinking of buying m130, ndi... murahan dimana ya?.. di versacom atawa c-palm jkt atawa di sim lim?"

dari sim lim si aip take a bus to orchard... keliling-keliling... dan kemudian shalat di mesjid al-falah... sampai menjelang jam buka puasa (at about 7:00pm), he headed to lucky plaza.. mo buka puasa dg nasi padang..

soal rasa nasi padang, sederhana jalan pemuda emang nggak ada matinye... hehe... wajar aja, ndi kalo neng sayang cerita kalo istri kakaknya, betsy, pekerja ngo yang dahulu sekian tahun tinggal kost di rumah ibu.., setiap kali datang ke jkt the first thing she definitely will do is go directly to warpad sederhana dan pesan.. "rendang... satu porsi!"... no lalapan, no sambel, no nothing else... cuma rendang di atas nasi... and she can eat that menu over and over again, and for several days before she has an apetite for something else... like i said, ndi... sederhane nggak ade matinye :)

balik ke plaza hotel, si aip naik taksi... yang cabbynya kakek-kakek yang bahasa inggrisnya incomprehensible buat si aip... so sepanjang jalan, si aip cuma bisa bilang beach road--yes--no--further--stop.. aiyaya.. kamsia... x)

service plaza hotel i quite good. saat si aip minta morning call every day at 4:00am, resepsopnis notice kalo si aip puasa.. dan si aip kemudian ditanya mo breakfast diantar ke ruangan?...

4:00am? well well well... selama di jkt belum pernah si aip nemu resepsionis seresponsif itu...

nov 18, 2002 - day two

hari pertama untuk kerja... dan si aip took a cab..

"morning, sir!" tukas si cabby

"morning!... could you take me to kallang sector, please.." jawab si aip.. dan melajoelah cabnya ke kantor si aip

one thing yang si aip notice sepanjang jalan, the road is great.. the cab is good, the people is ok...

wajar lah, ip... that cab has a fare about three or four times of those in jkt... the road is well maintained since for a car to use particular road, the road charge at about 2 to 12 sgd per road.. the money is there for the govt to maintain the city...
...
di kantor kemudian si aip ketemu david, dan langsung tenggelam dalam kerjaan sampai jam 17:00

nov 19, 2002 - day three

sesampai di hotel sepulang dari kantornya, si aip coba coba keliling seputar hotel.. dan ada benda called the plaza di belakang hotel... ada toko kecil sejenis indomaret atau alfa retail.... sayangnya nggak ada makanan ringan yang familiar buat si aip kecuali cokelat...

nov 20, 2002 - day four

4:06am.. ding dong!... bell di pintu berbunyi.. room service deliver sahur meal si aip... nasi goreng indonesia.. dengan bumbu khas sg yang rada2 bercita kari... thus dengan nasi yang keras...

"heran gue ndi, di nasi padang pun nasinya keras kayak gini.. simply different standar atau memang semua koki selalu salah masak sih?" kata si aip sambil hopelessly ngeliatin nasgornya

sehabis mandi, si aip kemudian ke consierge, minta book penerbangan pulang ke jkt.. nov 21, 16:30... hmmm... sampe jkt jam 17:00wib...

"so, buka puasa dimana besok ya ndi?" :)

sesampai di kantor, si aip plug his notebook dan langsung ngoprek.. dan saat loading outlook, dia liat ada email balasan dari omg.. setelah sekian kali email yang si aip kirim mental terus, akhirnya.. omg menanyakan h-r-u setelah sekian lama ndak ada tali sambung kabar...

"o-sh*t, ndi.. d-xtc.. i mean, err.. " kata si aip dengan muka serius

omg with her email told aip that she's fine, while the company she's in right now is currently being liquidated.. she'll be transfered to a sister company and will still have her job until the end of 2003, and after that she'll have a personnel assesment to get the chance to have a permanent status... her dad just currently being hospitalized and still ill til now...

"i dunno what's in my head right now, ndi... i really wish to be able to visit her dad this weekend, ndi.. is it ok for me to still care for her?..." said aip confused

shoe.. here i go thru this again.. watching si aip in front of the door into what he thinks as an oblivion... is it ok for you to be that way?... err.. i dunno, ip.. i have to think about it before i let you know my opinion about that...

da server in munich seems to have a problem just now... as si aip tried to login several times, it reads.. invalid domain... watta****...you may wish to take a break, ip... jalan2 aja sana keluar...

nov 17, 2002 - day 1, part one

the landing on changi was smooth, and it certainly made si aip relief to have the 70 minutes journey thru heavy turbulence ended.

sepanjang perjalanan ke hotel, si aip sempat mikir soal gps dan online booking system yang ada di taksi... canggih ya, ip?

yep.. billing dari airport (dan hotel juga kalo bookingnya dari hotel) langsung masuk ke argo... to be distributed later within the system...

plaza hotel lumayan bagus ternyata, lebih baik dibanding paramount hotel di east coast tempat indra dan yudis menginap.. dan setelah membereskan perabotan, si aip langsung set course ke bugis..

jalan ke bugis di peta itu jauh, tapi saat ditransfer ke langkah kaki, nggak jauh ternyata.. mungkin karena baru hujan kali ya.. jadi terasa adem..

masuk ke bugis junction, kemudian ke bugis square.. dan kemudian hujan bertambah lebat.. so mo gak mau lihat lihat ke dalam plaza di bugis itu... it didnt take that look before si aip pusing pusing..

sh*t, dude!... dvd player sharp $189.. a.k.a less than 1jt..

dan begitu si aip masuk ke toko hobbyist, ada toko model boneka real-life.. dressed up look like an army, fireman, private, pilot... hehehe.. mukanya pucet... it seemed like all his childhood dreams slap directly onto his head.. haha...

saat melihat kepala model real-life itu adl.. george lucas... argh ndi... that's too much!.. x)

dan otak si aip langsung meleleh dan kemudian mengalir tercecer melalui kupingnya.... lemes dah dia...

with an airline ticket, a hotel voucher, and a 1.7ghz pentium 4 notebook in hand, i'm leaving on a jet plane, baby...

and talk about intel p4, the latest chip from intel is darn hot... geez, man... virtual processor?.. how on earth did they do that?

dari blognya bhotax...

kasih lampu sen ke kiri, ban udah setengah belok tiba-tiba.... jger!! motor ngebut nyelonong dari kiri mo motong ceritanya tapi gak keburu ngerem akhirnya nabrak gua

alamak.... kemaren-kemaren erly, terus si aip, dan sekarang si bhotax.. sisi kiri semua pulak...

untung si bhotax insured.. soalnya ngebenerin pipi kiri si kambing cost 400rb buat kantong si aip..

kambiiiing, kambing... kelewat genit kali dia sampe dicium orang...

btw, hari ini si aip ngeganti nama kambing jadi liloo.. sesuai suara yang muncul saat si aip menginjak rem... "lilooliloolilooo.."..

semoga aja mulai hari pakai nama baru ini, dia nggak jadi lebih genit, ya ip?...

buka puasa dimana hari ini?

macetnya jakarta menjelang magrib awalnya mengagetkan buat si aip. sekian kali saat pulang sore, he simply got stuck in the traffic. most of the time, it is about 5:30 when he leaves neng's office after he picks her up, and -unfort- that way they only have about 20 minutes untuk mempersiapkan diri berbuka puasa. so... buka puasa dimana jadi topik yang penting dan genting..

sekali waktu, karena saking macetnya sudirman, mereka decide untuk buka puasa di warung si-doel aja di kts. dan mengingat macet, pilihan transport kesana hanya dua, (1) naik ojeq, atau (2) on-foot... :) ..

membayangkan nggak comfynya naik ojeq, dan mungkin masih ada sisa-sisa bad-memory atas berciumannya si kambing dengan kuda besi mas tukang ojeq, mereka pilih on-foot... dari menara sudirman s/d kts... melewati club-store... (berjalan berpegangan tangan.. kalo seandainya driving range disitu berisikan air, suasananya dah kayak film india aja... sumpah haha :)

btw, apa sih yang ditawarkan oleh kts 'yg baru' ini?

suasana? nggak juga... environment? nggak lah.. masih acak adut gitu kok...

dan untung berjalan jauh kesana paid-off... karena it turned out that biji salak buka puasa warung si-doel is vewy vewy holy delicious.. si aip dan neng tanpa malu minta tambah benda itu... (darn.. cerita gini jadi ngiler gue... darn... x)

hari lain, masih dengan kemacetan yang sama, jam 5:45 si aip dan neng masih stuck di sudirman... so they decided to park di hotel indonesia, dan jalan ke plaza indonesia... mampir di chopstix, dan 10 menit kemudian, sementara si neng bersemangat melahap mie goreng seafood, si aip dah begah tabah melihat nasi kedua yang dipesan... dipesan karena sapi lada hitamnya masih banyak dan butuh teman untuk bisa dilahap...

iiiip aip... waktu waktu sore begini emang enaknya ngebahas makanan ya? xP .. nyammm... x9~

dari commondreams, israel dan george semak2's real intention?

global hegemony..

duit, capitalism, and consumerism surely work!..

i think when someone choose hedonism as the ultimate way of life, he/she will fall to become a component in this global domination project of ... err.. hmm.. of whom?...

minggu pagi, sms pendek si aip kirim ke tammy, menanyakan kabar tammy dan tanya apakah odek sudah sampai di jkt.. dan sebentar saja kemudian ada sms masuk, balasan dari tammy..

gue lagi di rs. odek udah dateng.

"rs? tammy dah delivery baby?... omg..." ujar si aip sambil senyum

dan akhirnya jam 10:30am aip dan neng sudah ada di rs. yadika pondok bambu menengok tammy dan bayi kecilnya.. satu jam kemudian odek da new father muncul dan cuma ketawa cengar-cengir saat diberi selamat..

"kenapa lo, dek?" tanya si aip

"gue belum nemu nama yang bagus buat anak gue".. jawab si odek serius

si aip ketawa

"iya tuh.. udah dari awal hamil dah gue bilangin supaya siapin nama, bilangnya malah ntar ntar aja.." tukas tammy

...

tammy, odek dan si aip temen sekampus.. bersama klingon, rully, adam, opik, yudha etc... dan kos-kosan odek adalah hq buat icph.or.id. sekitar 5, 6 atau 7 tahun odek dan tammy dekat... setumpuk cerita kekonyolan bisa diceritakan.... tapi yang terasa saat ini adalah bahwa hey, these two friends of mine udah jadi ayah ibu, bo!...

dan malamnya, satu sms datang dari odek... rifa ilyasa achrinza...

haha.. dah nemu namanya dek? :) ..

btw, waduh.. namanya sangat odek sekali sih?.. ;)

sambil cari-cari bahan untuk tugas kuliah, si aip jalan-jalan di internet... dan nemu gudang ebook ini.. sampe ada iso rh8.0 segala...

null desktop itu di rh8.0 apa rh8.1 ya?

dan setelah menyerah ngoprek w2k di virtualpc, akhirnya install ulang w2k plus sql2k di vmware.. dan sesuai ujaran snydez, it run just fine...

hmm.. entah cepatnya vmware kali ini adalah anomali atau justru cepatnya virtualpc sebelum pasang w2k itu yang aneh?...

dan kemudian si aip pun membackup data dari w2k di vpc, thus direstorekan di w2knya vmware...

"gimana ide untuk membuat data exchange agent, ip? ada berita baru gak?" gue tanya si aip

koneksi delphi ke sql server udah ada, ms-access udah.. xml? ada, dan bahkan benda ini aja ada kok.. koneksi ke sap!.. tapi gak tau, ndi.. belum ada energi lagi buat nerusinnya.. kepikiran thesis belum ada progress lagi setelah ujian proposal bulan kemarin...

pelan-pelan aja laggih.. bikin kerangkanya aja dulu... kalo mentok di depan keyboard, pake pensil aja di kertas..

..trying to prove that you didn't hack something is impossible if people believe you're skilled enough.. --kevin mitnick

i guess (within a certain context), trust is the above everything...

sabtu pagi, si aip menghantar si kambing untuk berobat ke satu bengkel di daerah pulo mas.. --hari kamis sore sebelumnya pipi kiri si kambing dicium mas tukang ojek dengan kecepatan 30-40kpj... spion pecah dan pipi si kambing bengkak..

dan setelah dua minggu terasa mata agak buram dan merasa mungkin mata terganggu sehingga membutuhkan kacamata, si aip dah niat untuk mencairken tunjangan kacamata untuk keperluan ini.... so selagi menunggu perbaikan, si aip pun mampir ke satu rumah sakit di dekat bengkel, untuk diperiksa mata oleh bapak dokter... diperiksa sana sini, tutup mata kiri-kanan, tes baca-baca, dilihat matanya pun pakai lensa, dan ternyata pak dokter menyataken bahwa mata si aip 100% fine, perfect condition, dan untuk itu ndak butuh pakai kacamata..

he?... padahal dah bersiap mo pakai kacamata...

si aip kemudian ndak tau mesti sedih atawa mesti senang...

mungkin rabun selama dua minggu itu karena fatigue mata sadja... cos too much screen can make you sick..

interesting thing to waste time with: building a tiny linux implementation from scratch

hari senin itu punya dua karakteristik yang berbeda.. di satu sisi all loads from hell got loose, di sisi lain otak ini kalo diandaikan sebagai mesin baru distarter setelah dua hari istrahat... dan no way in hell bisa lari 60kpj tanpa protes menggelitik...

juragan hermanto seperti dah mempersiapkan diri untuk senin hari ini.. jauh jauh hari, di jumat kemarin dia dah titip pesen untuk nggak masuk... he choose to catch some fish di ujung dunia sebelah barat sana.. i can see his mind already somewhere else while he still keep telling me to keep things in order at the office on monday.. dan hari ini memang dead line untuk sistem timesheet under web buat dideploy, to be running from the operational server, connecting directly to those smartcard reader thing on entrance gates... imagining siap-siap dengerin komplain.. --man... i need a vacation...

sabtu kemarin akhirnya bisa juga ikut kumpul gatheringan blogbugs... dan terkaget-kaget kalo ternyata rame juga gerombolan blogbugs ini.... too bad i cant join them spending time sampe hari minggu.... ramenya kayak apa? :) .. intip aja di blog nona yang satu ini..

so i have loaded 512mbytes of ram onto this 750mhz duron machine... with 16gigabytes of disk space, how come running win2k with sql2k under virtualpc gets very very langsam?... got to oprek-oprek this thing more kayaknya...

dan makin deket ke akhir taun, makin excited buat nyari notebook... hopefully ekspektasi dana buat budget nggak jauh-jauh meleset... di ratu plasa kemarin ada satu benda bagus, fujitsu p1100... crusoe 700mhz... ram 256.. berat cuma 1.8kg.. apa 800gram ya?.. one light machine... unfort, baca di digicom, benda ini nggak recommended buat system developer.. simply because the keyboard is too damn cramped...

kalo benda fujitsu ini nggak acceptable, gimana vaio yang satu kelas dg benda itu?..

i am root, therefore i am

si aip jemput neng di bandara.. dan kemudian sepanjang jalan pulang dia ngedengerin neng cerita naik tembok cina.. dan soal bosnya beli oleh-oleh bagai orang kalap..

beli banyak karena murah atau karena memang pakai duit kantor?

kalo alasannya dua itu, wajar aja sampai kalap...

plutonium 239 in bali?...

ideas are based on what we’d like to achieve...

hmmm... kadang rasanya badan itu cuma jadi beban untuk bisa melakukan perjalanan dengan kecepatan melebihi cahaya..

tuh kan... lagi kumat lo ya, ip?...

dari blog detta.. clie nr70v digaret???

/me drolling... saliva acid all over my keyboard..

ugh..

dari blog nunique, bicara soal nulis blog dari kapan...

1999..

walau kalo dirunut soal nulis, ketikan di komputer sudah ada sejak ada intel 80286 12mhz di pojokan kamar...

1990..

ini masa gelab banget yak?

dah sekian hari ditinggal neng ke beijing.. hik hik...

aip bakal dibawain oleh-oleh apa ya?... hmmmmmmmm... *tangan di dagu, melihat ke atas, mata agak miring ke kanan*

dan siap siap bulan depan untuk pindah kantor dari pancoran ke bej... sedih juga ninggalin pizza hut tebet.. tapi excited buat bisa makan siang lagi di phohoa bawah gedung bursa...

after three years, back to the gotham city again i guess... :)

biztalk dan visual studio dot net, dua benda yang paling 'tanda tanya' di kepala saat ini...

i presume infrastructure needed will be a) windows 2000 advanced server for iis and asp engine.. b) sql server 2000 for database and xml interfacing.. c) 25% clock cycle in my head for two weeks...

untuk a dan b dah dicari di ratu plaza, dan dah coba beli walau gagal install di virtual pc di xp... perlu install dari sctratch?.. hmm.. tempting... asal siap ngeburn 10 cd-rw buat backup data...

think of three words ending in gry. angry and hungry are two of them. there are only three words in the english language. what is the third word? the word is something everyone uses every day. if you have read carefully, i have already told you what it is...

there is another report from al-jazeera this morning (regarding bali-blast attack). they are broadcasting a letter reportedly signed by osama bin laden, in which he says that the u.s.-led coalition has not been successful in stamping out al-qaeda, in which this message also congratulates those attackers...[cnn.com]

congratulates those attackers?... weh.. nyang boneng, dude? :(

btw, here is a interesting story about al-jazeera, from msnbc..

arrgh... senin already? x(

weekend telah tiba..
weekend telah tiba..
hore!.. hore!.. hore!!!

weekend telah tiba..
weekend telah tiba..
hatiiiiiku gembiraaaa..

serasa tasya, si aip bernyanyi...

all play and no rest, makes kim a dead boy...

menyimak acara 'navy seal' di metro tv, mengenai usaha penculikan penjahat perang di serbia.. its hard for me to avoid from the conclusion bahuasanya bagi amerika adalah hal yang bisa (dan mungkin biasa) untuk mengirimkan agentnya untuk melakukan infiltrasi ke kedaulatan negara lain jika aksi itu serve america's purpose..

gimana soal infiltrasi ke indonesia?

ada tiga hal yang membuat si aip ndak bisa avoid dari konklusi itu..

satu... tingginya aktivitas recon di daerah konflik... (i should've noted a link about these from detik.com, but this one is all i have).

dua... osama bin laden dan umar al-faruq are most likely american agents...

tiga.. to become an american agent is not that hard.. (temen si aip pernah melakukan fungsi intelejen untuk cia.. recruited by a cia operative yang kerja di pwc jakarta... kerja intelejen 2 hari, setor laporan, ditransfer duit yang cukup buat beli honda astrea.. kerja macamana di jkt yang bisa kayak gini :)

btw, satu temen si aip juga pernah jadi analis intelejen lepasan... (entah buat bakin atau militer.. atau memang dua-duanya setali tiga uang kayaknya)... and dari info mengenai rewardnya, being an agent for american pays better :)

addendum... soal diacak-acak amerika, indonesia mah sedari dahulu sudah...

so many things to do, so little time...

1269 kilometer in three consecutive days...

si kambing hebat juga ternyata, ndi :)

can global warming cause an 'ice age'?

assumption is the mother of all f*ck-up...

alamak!

aku tunggu kamu
kamu belom dateng juga
butuh kamu
seperti seorang sakit asma merindukan obatnya
oh 'gajian'... lamma kallli dikau.. dah tanggal dua lima nih!

dapat dari bemo, 40 richest person in the world, under 40..

dan malam ini satu teman kecil si aip ada yang nikah lagi.. dan kembali cerita jaman kuda laut dahoeloe kala keluar dari nyokap ke si neng soal gimana badungnya si aip di waktu kecil...

si aip cuma cengar cengir aja ngedengerin kisah kisah bolot itu... nggak ada komentar, nggak ada denial... nggak mikir juga kayaknya...

sampai satu titik... dimana nyokap cerita gimana si aip pernah hanyut di parit saat sore sehabis hujan.. dan muka si aip berubah...

yap... gue inget, ndi... gue inget itu hari... kejadiannya sekitar tahun 84... siang itu sehabis pulang sekolah turun hujan gede dan lama.. i stayed at home, feel extremely bored dan just cant wait to have the rain over... so when it did over, i just jump and ran outside the house, to the road.. and immediately amazed to see parit dengan air coklat yang bergulung-gulung.. i still remember the smell of the water... aroma seperti tanah... seperti kalo di tengah terik matahari kita siram tanah pekarangan dengan air.. that's the smell... and the sound, it sounded like a continous thunder.. i must have been so small back then, cos air yang bergulung-gulung itu look so big...

dan setelah itu terjadilah satu kebodohan... i wish to taste the water.. the urge was irresistable so i just put one of my leg, ahhh... the water is so fresh... and so powerfull... wuts!... kaki itu tertarik air dan i was hopelessly lost my balance... i fell into the ditch...

byur!

i feel like being pulled in, almost like swallowed.. badan serasa ikut tergulung air, sampai kemudian posisi badan terlentang di dasar parit... i tried to pull myself up, by putting my feet down.. by trying to grab anything... i remember how panicked i was... the ditch has about 30 metres of length before it goes to the a bigger river.. i remember of thinking something like 'oh sh*t, i want everything back to normal'.. the tough of that bigger river, oh shoe....

till suddenly, i feel something has a hold on me.. i feel like being held but in the time being still circling.. i remember drinking some water... and then... some hand grab my back... and i feel the air again... i no longer in the water.. i remember being put in the field on the side of the ditch.. having the grass pinching my cheek and my eyes.... bruishes and scars are all over my body, for which the pain will i have for the next hours...

i know i almost die that day..

and later i learned, that those are someone's feet that hold me from keep flowing with the water, and that is someone's pair of hands that took me out of the water... and that someone is a person who happened to being walking home from his work that day... i didnt know him, and up to this day i still dont know who he is... but i still can remember being laid down to the grass by his hand..

he is a stranger to me, but i know i have to realize that to have my life as it is right now, i have many people to thank for, and that stranger is one of those person....

good deeds may be trivial, but some deeds do matter... i realize that may be for him to get me out of the water is a small effort which is not worth a thing, but for me being pulled out from the water meaned my life...

i guess, we all have some person to thank for our life... and for me, on of those person is a stranger.. i cant say how thankfull i am to him...

but on the other hand, i know someone that i have to thank for my life to... and up until today i still have the opportunity to say my thanks...

and that person is the one who tell the story... my mom...

matahari hari ini cerah.. is it because today is a weekend day ya ndi... or is it just me being too carried away.. but today surely is a shiny day..

pagi ini si aip bangun siang.. dan langsung mandi thus cabut ke atrium... beli relay fan ac dan filter bensin... naik kopaja 47 di tengah hari bolong memang moy... apalagi ditambah debu dari proyek jembatan di cemput, blah.. god seems to remind him again that no matter how ngeselin si kambing, tapi dibanding dulu naik kopaja atawa bemo 3 jam tiap hari, yo ip, you should be gratefull, dude....

dan hari ini udah hari sabtu lagi ya, ndi?... berasa gak sih kalo kayaknya weekend ketemu weekend itu cepet? something is not right here.... last time i felt like this is when i was back on junior high school, back then there were not much to think.. and everything seems to go by just like that, and i didnt mind back then.. bahkan sebenernya, i liked it... karena mungkin masa masa itu sedemikian sucks, dan i just wanna get over it... hehe... tapi kok saat ini perasaan waktu yang cepet berlalu itu bisa muncul ya? i surely dont want to have these days to go by 'just like that'...

nggak mungkin juga lo got nothing to do, ip... coba review to-do list elo deh... ada apa aja disitu?

err... thesis, finalisasi aplikasi wbs buat nyantai, explore aplikasi webcam, tugas kampus verifon, buat module otorisasi workflow buat ess, move data ess demo dari sql server ke ms-access, upload wbesite corporate nyantai, buat subdomain nyantai di wiena dot net, sh*t.. banyak juga euy.. nggak nyadari gue, ndi

i think you just dont juggle those balls well enough, wouldn't you agree? coba kalo lo devote satu jam di tiap weeknight buat satu task itu, i bet you will feel better... cos i think you feel days go by too fast now is because you feel you didnt do your things enough... i'm not judging you in any way, ip... just trying to be your second brain here... but am i just being right or what?

selagi mengendara dari sudirman, berbelok ke jalan suryo dan got stuck di blok s.. radio one berceloteh soal penetrasi pasar di indonesia dari sudut pandang produsen barang mewah...

ternyata ada satu djoeta penduduk yang dikategorikan sebagai 'golongan atas'... gue nggak tau persis gimana ngitungnya, namun kalo boleh menerka menggunakan piramidnya abraham maslow (benda ini udah terlalu kuno belum sih?), kayaknya golongan ini masuk level tingkat 5 dan 4, dan mungkin juga 3..

satu juta penghuni golongan atas ini mendominasi acquisition of whealth di indonesia, dan persentase besar dari jumlah total deposito pribadi di indonesia dipastikan belong to this community...

jumlah total dari deposito pribadi yang belong to indonesian people (not clear, ini di indonesia sadja atau sudah termasoek yang di luar negeri) adalah sedjoemlah 267 milyar dollar... aiyayaya!!!

so kalo boleh sok teu, kalo pake pareto 80:20, satu juta orang ini hold 80% dari 267 mil dol... a.k.a 213 mil dol...

kalo 213 mil dol dibagi satu juta maka rerata satu orang di komunitas holds 213 000 $... a.k.a dengan rate 9000 rp saat ini jadi sekitar 2 milyar rupiah....

so djikalaoe anda memiliki private deposit sebesar at least 2 milyar rups, congratulazion, dude... karena lo termasuk target market eksklusif.. hehehehe...

dan community entrance barrier 2 milyar ini nggak terlalu gede ternyata.. that's why isi komunitasnya bisa sampe 1 juta orang :)

btw, djikalaoe anda punya 1 billion $, what would you do? ... here are five ideas to spend that amount...

ndi, i assume you are very very familiar with these signs... :) :( :P x) ..., right?

those 'smiley' characters actually have a birthday.... next thursday that is! :)))

somethings can not be solve by e-something :)

jalan sama neng, arlan dan donna.. nonton austin powers di ps, thus nonton kembang api di lippo karawaci... thus makan pancake di bale aer... thus nunggu ganti tanggal di baso moroseneng depan mc'd pe'i...

sampe rumah jam 12:30...

tidur jam 2:30am.. dan jam 4:00am dibangunin si neng karena tetangga sebelah ribut mergokin maling..

terkantuk kantuk dan nggak bisa melek, si aip cuma mumbling dan kemudian hit the deck lagi .. gabruk...

bangun jam 9 pagi dan weh.. dah ada kue tart plus lilin...

met ultah, ip.. resolusi taun 2000 lo kayaknya belum kesampean ya?.. "menikmati hidup"... :) .. so... ucapan gue, semoga resolusi itu kesampean di sisa taun ini... amien...

dahoeloe si aip cerita dia suka berkendara tengah malam di jalan toll jakarta - tangerang dan enjoy keadaan kiri kanan dan jalan yang gelap gulita...

pagi ini dia cerita bahwa nggak kebayang ternyata kemarin malam keadaan dan suasana yang sama bisa terjadi di tengah tengah jakarta... imam bonjol gelap gulita...

a news quote from nelson mandela... "united states of america is a threat to world peace..."

"israel has weapons of mass destruction. nobody mentions that"... he adds

updating my amazon wish list

kapan ya ada rejeki bisa beli semua buku itu?

dreaming.. dreaming.. dreaming.... gubrak!...

ada yang bilang menikah itu berarti nambah saudara (saudara dari istri jadi saudaramu).. jadi punya ayah dan ibu baru (ayah dan ibu istri jadi ayah dan ibumu juga)...

dan pagi ini si aip dititipi satu bungkusan... yang saat dibuka di mobil ternyata isinya dua pasang roti tawar lapis mentega dan kismis..

sementara satu pasang disabet novizki, si aip makan satunya lagi dengan lahap

"duh ibu.. bela-belain bikin roti buat si mantu"

dan sambil makan, somehow si aip miss his mom..

dan selagi bengong memikirkan alur sejarah manusia, si aip terantuk ke soal destiny

kenapa abu lahab sudah tervonis selalu kufur, bahkan sebelum pada saat dimana ia bisa turn over the verdict? was it his destiny?

kenapa manusia selalu akan termasuk golongan at loss? at loss, kecuali yang benar dan yang sabar...

so is that our destiny? or is it our 'default' destiny?.. destiny by default?

if that's true, the word 'default' imply that destiny can be changed then?

mungkin analogi yang bisa mendekati adalah.. mungkin sebagai manusia, kita hidup dalam aturan-aturan yang walau sebagian besar enforced, namun hasil akhir dari rule adalah tidak absolute...

semisal, gravity is 9.8m/s2.. if you jump without a paracute from a certain height, the rule said you are surely be dead...

sure but not certain...cos there are some instances that one can jump from some height and yet the person still lives...

misal, tahun 40-an, satu benteng terbang amerika (sejenis b-29 gitu) terbakar di udara... dan untuk tidak turut terbakar, satu gunman reluctantly do the inevitable.. melompat.. dari ketinggian 4000m

dari rule of gravity, he was surely be dead...

but no... he fell onto trees and snow... and yet he lived..

mungkin itu yang dinamakan destiny.. destiny berisikan rules... yang pasti... tapi tidak absolut...

he should've been dead, but in perhaps one in a million chances, he could've had survive.. and yes, he was....

that's why, even thou walaupun misalkan manusia destined untuk selalu akan termasuk golongan at loss namun dengan tetap berusaha benar dan berusaha sabar,
even walaupun kemungkinan untuk bisa menjadi sabar dan benar itu hanya one in million chances, one could survive.

kata kuncinya... berusaha

mungkin jika ditarik satu pertanyaan ekstrim, kenapa juga mesti hadir satu kaum umat manusia kalo pada akhirnya cuma akan jadi total mass of failures? kenapa manusia mesti dihadirkan di muka bumi?

mungkin jawabannya memang... untuk berusaha...

berusaha untuk mencoba menjadi benar.. dan kemudian selalu bersabar dalam usahanya itu...

as si aip did his poopoo last night, keingat dia sama rule d almighty mengenai waktu... bahwa demi waktu, manusia itu pasti at loss

loss?


loss itu kalo punya sesuatu dan kemudian kehilangan.. punya sesuatu dan kemudian berkurang.. betul toh?


so waktu itu pasti selalu berkurang kah? ndak mungkin nambah kah? ndak mungkinkah waktu berjalan terbalik? so, ndak mungkin kah kita bisa balik ke masa lalu?


ah.. nalar si aip nggak sampe...


dan keingat lagi satu kata d almighty... bahwa in the very end of these days, when da judgement comes, ones who regret their wrong doing on the day they live
shall cry and ask for second chance.. to have their live back.. to do everything the right way..
dan upon that request, d almighty cuma bilang 'nope, i wont give you d chance..cos you will do those things exactly de same'


kenapa 'will do things exactly de same'? karena one person selalu nggak akan mampu mengubah masa lalu? atau djikalaoe seseorang leap ke masa lalu maka kemudian pengetahuannya akan masa datang pun otomatikli vanished?


atau djikalaoe seseorang bisa go back to the past, he will find himself did his thing exactly the way he did and he cant do anything about it?


well.. kalo point terakhir itu benar, maka teknologi untuk pergi ke masa lalu tersebut sudah exist in all this time....
that technology already has a name.. it is called... memory.

uncloaking terrorist network...

oops... ada agus budiman disitu... poor him...

a country with a lower life quality than erithrea (11 points below) without incubator supplies (part of embargo)... with the highest child mortality on the world, if one's die there, no coffin will be available (yep.. embargoed too)...

word for today: chickenhawk

...quack!

bad news: akses browsing ke *.blogspot.com kena blok sama filter jahanam di ruang server sana..

good news: masih bisa ketawa...



"huahahahahahahahaha!"... a'la nohara sinosuke

saving from: http://www.sprintv6.net/...install.tar.gz
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bicara cinta, si aip takut jatuh ke kondisi klise... bicara cinta, apa iya mesti jadi membosankan?

first love never last, that i know... tapi bicara first love never die, lagi lagi kok ya si aip susah melepas stereotype kalimat itu dari keklisean....

neng itu temen si aip dari kecil... neng itu cewek pertama yang aip kasih anting, dan memang cuma dia yang si aip berani kasih benda itu.. neng itu udah 20 taun kenal si aip... and yet, this is the very first time that si aip kucluk willl spend her birthday sebagai teman hidup..

neng, i have the luxury of saying 'yes, first love can last', tapi maafin saya kalo justru di kali pertama ini saya nggak bisa ngasih apa-apa... in a way, this is worse than 18 years ago ya?.. waktu itu ada anting kan?...

i just really really hope that love is blind.. can really make you 'blind'.... err.. atau saya salah paradigma? apa justru kalo nggak ada cinta, you stay there beside me itu yang justru buta... i think my words are getting more and more belibet... but before this is getting worse, let me say.. happy anniversary, neng... i hope you are happy with your life with me now... dan semoga kata-kata itu dimatamu nggak klise...

love u,

a

jam pulang kantor...

oops...

a wolf is capable of chewing off his own leg when he got booby-trapped in that leg...

bush surprises for us citizen...

challenging ignorance on islam...

dicari programmer java... kalau ndak bisa ngejava, ya ditraining dulu.. kalau sudah ditraining, ya disertifikasiken...

cuma masalahnya dimanakah trainingnya?... kemudian dimana sertifikasinya?

kalau cuma di jakarta sajah, aiyayaya... sejauh yang saya tau, ndak ada yang bagus....

kalau saya diberiken mandat mencari programmer java, uang untuk training dan sertifikasinya ta' beliin buku.. sama akses leased line buat browsing ke java.sun.com..

suruh belajar sendiri... nanti di akhir taun kalau dia sudah bisa, uang sisa trainingnya ta' kasih ke dia... makin kecil biaya yang dia pake, makin besar sisa yang ia kantongi....

btw, ad-ins dulu ngurusi apa ya?.. portal ordering periklanan atau.. err.. groupnya prambors itu masima atau ad-ins ya?..

philips dvd-q30 region free hack... gimana ngetestnya ya?.... gak punya dvd lain region sih... hmmmm..

update (22/8) : yes, it works!.. yeehaa... x)

pusing-pusing begini, kok ya bisa juga ya tetep baca dilbert ya ip?... :z
dan walau ketawanya cuma dalam hati, yang namanya komik itu memang menghibur...

merdeka!

andi is having a headache.. ugh...

bajaj invade usa... emang bisa lolos environment test di sana?

bajaj emang gak ade matinye....

a christian minister’s conversion to islam

© 2002 (abu yahya) jerald f. dirks, m.div., psy.d.

one of my earliest childhood memories is of hearing the church bell toll for sunday morning worship in the small, rural town in which i was raised. the methodist church was an old, wooden structure with a bell tower, two children’s sunday school classrooms cubbyholed behind folding, wooden doors to separate it from the sanctuary, and a choir loft that housed the sunday school classrooms for the older children. it stood less than two blocks from my home. as the bell rang, we would come together as a family, and make our weekly pilgrimage to the church.

in that rural setting from the 1950s, the three churches in the town of about 500 were the center of community life. the local methodist church, to which my family belonged, sponsored ice cream socials with hand-cranked, homemade ice cream, chicken potpie dinners, and corn roasts. my family and i were always involved in all three, but each came only once a year. in addition, there was a two-week community bible school every june, and i was a regular attendee through my eighth grade year in school. however, sunday morning worship and sunday school were weekly events, and i strove to keep extending my collection of perfect attendance pins and of awards for memorizing bible verses.

by my junior high school days, the local methodist church had closed, and we were attending the methodist church in the neighboring town, which was only slightly larger than the town in which i lived. there, my thoughts first began to focus on the ministry as a personal calling. i became active in the methodist youth fellowship, and eventually served as both a district and a conference officer. i also became the regular “preacher” during the annual youth sunday service. my preaching began to draw community-wide attention, and before long i was occasionally filling pulpits at other churches, at a nursing home, and at various church-affiliated youth and ladies groups, where i typically set attendance records.

by age 17, when i began my freshman year at harvard college, my decision to enter the ministry had solidified. during my freshman year, i enrolled in a two-semester course in comparative religion, which was taught by wilfred cantwell smith, whose specific area of expertise was islam. during that course, i gave far less attention to islam, than i did to other religions, such as hinduism and buddhism, as the latter two seemed so much more esoteric and strange to me. in contrast, islam appeared to be somewhat similar to my own christianity. as such, i didn’t concentrate on it as much as i probably should have, although i can remember writing a term paper for the course on the concept of revelation in the qur’an. nonetheless, as the course was one of rigorous academic standards and demands, i did acquire a small library of about a half dozen books on islam, all of which were written by non-muslims, and all of which were to serve me in good stead 25 years later. i also acquired two different english translations of the meaning of the qur’an, which i read at the time.

that spring, harvard named me a hollis scholar, signifying that i was one of the top pre-theology students in the college. the summer between my freshman and sophomore years at harvard, i worked as a youth minister at a fairly large united methodist church. the following summer, i obtained my license to preach from the united methodist church. upon graduating from harvard college in 1971, i enrolled at the harvard divinity school, and there obtained my master of divinity degree in 1974, having been previously ordained into the deaconate of the united methodist church in 1972, and having previously received a stewart scholarship from the united methodist church as a supplement to my harvard divinity school scholarships. during my seminary education, i also completed a two-year externship program as a hospital chaplain at peter bent brigham hospital in boston. following graduation from harvard divinity school, i spent the summer as the minister of two united methodist churches in rural kansas, where attendance soared to heights not seen in those churches for several years.
seen from the outside, i was a very promising young minister, who had received an excellent education, drew large crowds to the sunday morning worship service, and had been successful at every stop along the ministerial path. however, seen from the inside, i was fighting a constant war to maintain my personal integrity in the face of my ministerial responsibilities. this war was far removed from the ones presumably fought by some later televangelists in unsuccessfully trying to maintain personal sexual morality. likewise, it was a far different war than those fought by the headline-grabbing pedophilic priests of the current moment. however, my struggle to maintain personal integrity may be the most common one encountered by the better-educated members of the ministry.

there is some irony in the fact that the supposedly best, brightest, and most idealistic of ministers-to-be are selected for the very best of seminary education, e.g. that offered at that time at the harvard divinity school. the irony is that, given such an education, the seminarian is exposed to as much of the actual historical truth as is known about: 1) the formation of the early, “mainstream” church, and how it was shaped by geopolitical considerations; 2) the “original” reading of various biblical texts, many of which are in sharp contrast to what most christians read when they pick up their bible, although gradually some of this information is being incorporated into newer and better translations; 3) the evolution of such concepts as a triune godhead and the “sonship” of jesus, peace be upon him; 4) the non-religious considerations that underlie many christian creeds and doctrines; 5) the existence of those early churches and christian movements which never accepted the concept of a triune godhead, and which never accepted the concept of the divinity of jesus, peace be upon him; and 6) etc. (some of these fruits of my seminary education are recounted in more detail in my recent book, the cross and the crescent: an interfaith dialogue between christianity and islam, amana publications, 2001.)

as such, it is no real wonder that almost a majority of such seminary graduates leave seminary, not to “fill pulpits”, where they would be asked to preach that which they know is not true, but to enter the various counseling professions. such was also the case for me, as i went on to earn a master’s and doctorate in clinical psychology. i continued to call myself a christian, because that was a needed bit of self-identity, and because i was, after all, an ordained minister, even though my full time job was as a mental health professional. however, my seminary education had taken care of any belief i might have had regarding a triune godhead or the divinity of jesus, peace be upon him. (polls regularly reveal that ministers are less likely to believe these and other dogmas of the church than are the laity they serve, with ministers more likely to understand such terms as “son of god” metaphorically, while their parishioners understand it literally.) i thus became a “christmas and easter christian”, attending church very sporadically, and then gritting my teeth and biting my tongue as i listened to sermons espousing that which i knew was not the case.

none of the above should be taken to imply that i was any less religious or spiritually oriented than i had once been. i prayed regularly, my belief in a supreme deity remained solid and secure, and i conducted my personal life in line with the ethics i had once been taught in church and sunday school. i simply knew better than to buy into the man-made dogmas and articles of faith of the organized church, which were so heavily laden with the pagan influences, polytheistic notions, and geo-political considerations of a bygone era.

as the years passed by, i became increasingly concerned about the loss of religiousness in american society at large. religiousness is a living, breathing spirituality and morality within individuals, and should not be confused with religiosity, which is concerned with the rites, rituals, and formalized creeds of some organized entity, e.g. the church. american culture increasingly appeared to have lost its moral and religious compass. two out of every three marriages ended in divorce; violence was becoming an increasingly inherent part of our schools and our roads; self-responsibility was on the wane; self-discipline was being submerged by a “if it feels good, do it” morality; various christian leaders and institutions were being swamped by sexual and financial scandals; and emotions justified behavior, however odious it might be. american culture was becoming a morally bankrupt institution, and i was feeling quite alone in my personal religious vigil.

it was at this juncture that i began to come into contact with the local muslim community. for some years before, my wife and i had been actively involved in doing research on the history of the arabian horse. eventually, in order to secure translations of various arabic documents, this research brought us into contact with arab americans who happened to be muslims. our first such contact was with jamal in the summer of 1991.

after an initial telephone conversation, jamal visited our home, and offered to do some translations for us, and to help guide us through the history of the arabian horse in the middle east. before jamal left that afternoon, he asked if he might: use our bathroom to wash before saying his scheduled prayers; and borrow a piece of newspaper to use as a prayer rug, so he could say his scheduled prayers before leaving our house. we, of course, obliged, but wondered if there was something more appropriate that we could give him to use than a newspaper. without our ever realizing it at the time, jamal was practicing a very beautiful form of dawa (preaching or exhortation). he made no comment about the fact that we were not muslims, and he didn’t preach anything to us about his religious beliefs. he “merely” presented us with his example, an example that spoke volumes, if one were willing to be receptive to the lesson.



over the next 16 months, contact with jamal slowly increased in frequency, until it was occurring on a biweekly to weekly basis. during these visits, jamal never preached to me about islam, never questioned me about my own religious beliefs or convictions, and never verbally suggested that i become a muslim. however, i was beginning to learn a lot. first, there was the constant behavioral example of jamal observing his scheduled prayers. second, there was the behavioral example of how jamal conducted his daily life in a highly moral and ethical manner, both in his business world and in his social world. third, there was the behavioral example of how jamal interacted with his two children. for my wife, jamal’s wife provided a similar example. fourth, always within the framework of helping me to understand arabian horse history in the middle east, jamal began to share with me: 1) stories from arab and islamic history; 2) sayings of the prophet muhammad, peace be upon him; and 3) qur’anic verses and their contextual meaning. in point of fact, our every visit now included at least a 30 minute conversation centered on some aspect of islam, but always presented in terms of helping me intellectually understand the islamic context of arabian horse history. i was never told “this is the way things are”, i was merely told “this is what muslims typically believe”. since i wasn’t being “preached to”, and since jamal never inquired as to my own beliefs, i didn’t need to bother attempting to justify my own position. it was all handled as an intellectual exercise, not as proselytizing.


gradually, jamal began to introduce us to other arab families in the local muslim community. there was wa’el and his family, khalid and his family, and a few others. consistently, i observed individuals and families who were living their lives on a much higher ethical plane than the american society in which we were all embedded. maybe there was something to the practice of islam that i had missed during my collegiate and seminary days.
by december, 1992, i was beginning to ask myself some serious questions about where i was and what i was doing. these questions were prompted by the following considerations. 1) over the course of the prior 16 months, our social life had become increasingly centered on the arab component of the local muslim community. by december, probably 75% of our social life was being spent with arab muslims. 2) by virtue of my seminary training and education, i knew how badly the bible had been corrupted (and often knew exactly when, where, and why), i had no belief in any triune godhead, and i had no belief in anything more than a metaphorical “sonship” of jesus, peace be upon him. in short, while i certainly believed in god, i was as strict a monotheist as my muslim friends. 3) my personal values and sense of morality were much more in keeping with my muslim friends than with the “christian” society around me. after all, i had the non-confrontational examples of jamal, khalid, and wa’el as illustrations. in short, my nostalgic yearning for the type of community in which i had been raised was finding gratification in the muslim community. american society might be morally bankrupt, but that did not appear to be the case for that part of the muslim community with which i had had contact. marriages were stable, spouses were committed to each other, and honesty, integrity, self-responsibility, and family values were emphasized. my wife and i had attempted to live our lives that same way, but for several years i had felt that we were doing so in the context of a moral vacuum. the muslim community appeared to be different.

the different threads were being woven together into a single strand. arabian horses, my childhood upbringing, my foray into the christian ministry and my seminary education, my nostalgic yearnings for a moral society, and my contact with the muslim community were becoming intricately intertwined. my self-questioning came to a head when i finally got around to asking myself exactly what separated me from the beliefs of my muslim friends. i suppose that i could have raised that question with jamal or with khalid, but i wasn’t ready to take that step. i had never discussed my own religious beliefs with them, and i didn’t think that i wanted to introduce that topic of conversation into our friendship. as such, i began to pull off the bookshelf all the books on islam that i had acquired in my collegiate and seminary days. however far my own beliefs were from the traditional position of the church, and however seldom i actually attended church, i still identified myself as being a christian, and so i turned to the works of western scholars. that month of december, i read half a dozen or so books on islam by western scholars, including one biography of the prophet muhammad, peace be upon him. further, i began to read two different english translations of the meaning of the qur’an. i never spoke to my muslim friends about this personal quest of self-discovery. i never mentioned what types of books i was reading, nor ever spoke about why i was reading these books. however, occasionally i would run a very circumscribed question past one of them.

while i never spoke to my muslim friends about those books, my wife and i had numerous conversations about what i was reading. by the last week of december of 1992, i was forced to admit to myself, that i could find no area of substantial disagreement between my own religious beliefs and the general tenets of islam. while i was ready to acknowledge that muhammad, peace be upon him, was a prophet of (one who spoke for or under the inspiration of) god, and while i had absolutely no difficulty affirming that there was no god besides god/allah, glorified and exalted is he, i was still hesitating to make any decision. i could readily admit to myself that i had far more in common with islamic beliefs as i then understood them, than i did with the traditional christianity of the organized church. i knew only too well that i could easily confirm from my seminary training and education most of what the qur’an had to say about christianity, the bible, and jesus, peace be upon him. nonetheless, i hesitated. further, i rationalized my hesitation by maintaining to myself that i really didn’t know the nitty-gritty details of islam, and that my areas of agreement were confined to general concepts. as such, i continued to read, and then to re-read.

one’s sense of identity, of who one is, is a powerful affirmation of one’s own position in the cosmos. in my professional practice, i had occasionally been called upon to treat certain addictive disorders, ranging from smoking, to alcoholism, to drug abuse. as a clinician, i knew that the basic physical addiction had to be overcome to create the initial abstinence. that was the easy part of treatment. as mark twain once said: “quitting smoking is easy; i’ve done it hundreds of times”. however, i also knew that the key to maintaining that abstinence over an extended time period was overcoming the client’s psychological addiction, which was heavily grounded in the client’s basic sense of identity, i.e. the client identified to himself that he was “a smoker”, or that he was “a drinker”, etc. the addictive behavior had become part and parcel of the client’s basic sense of identity, of the client’s basic sense of self. changing this sense of identity was crucial to the maintenance of the psychotherapeutic “cure”. this was the difficult part of treatment. changing one’s basic sense of identity is a most difficult task. one’s psyche tends to cling to the old and familiar, which seem more psychologically comfortable and secure than the new and unfamiliar.

on a professional basis, i had the above knowledge, and used it on a daily basis. however, ironically enough, i was not yet ready to apply it to myself, and to the issue of my own hesitation surrounding my religious identity. for 43 years, my religious identity had been neatly labeled as “christian”, however many qualifications i might have added to that term over the years. giving up that label of personal identity was no easy task. it was part and parcel of how i defined my very being. given the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that my hesitation served the purpose of insuring that i could keep my familiar religious identity of being a christian, although a christian who believed like a muslim believed.

it was now the very end of december, and my wife and i were filling out our application forms for u.s. passports, so that a proposed middle eastern journey could become a reality. one of the questions had to do with religious affiliation. i didn’t even think about it, and automatically fell back on the old and familiar, as i penned in “christian”. it was easy, it was familiar, and it was comfortable.

however, that comfort was momentarily disrupted when my wife asked me how i had answered the question on religious identity on the application form. i immediately replied, “christian”, and chuckled audibly. now, one of freud’s contributions to the understanding of the human psyche was his realization that laughter is often a release of psychological tension. however wrong freud may have been in many aspects of his theory of psychosexual development, his insights into laughter were quite on target. i had laughed! what was this psychological tension that i had need to release through the medium of laughter?

i then hurriedly went on to offer my wife a brief affirmation that i was a christian, not a muslim. in response to which, she politely informed me that she was merely asking whether i had written “christian”, or “protestant”, or “methodist”. on a professional basis, i knew that a person does not defend himself against an accusation that hasn’t been made. (if, in the course of a session of psychotherapy, my client blurted out, “i’m not angry about that”, and i hadn’t even broached the topic of anger, it was clear that my client was feeling the need to defend himself against a charge that his own unconscious was making. in short, he really was angry, but he wasn’t ready to admit it or to deal with it.) if my wife hadn’t made the accusation, i.e. “you are a muslim”, then the accusation had to have come from my own unconscious, as i was the only other person present. i was aware of this, but still i hesitated. the religious label that had been stuck to my sense of identity for 43 years was not going to come off easily.

about a month had gone by since my wife’s question to me. it was now late in january of 1993. i had set aside all the books on islam by the western scholars, as i had read them all thoroughly. the two english translations of the meaning of the qur’an were back on the bookshelf, and i was busy reading yet a third english translation of the meaning of the qur’an. maybe in this translation i would find some sudden justification for…

i was taking my lunch hour from my private practice at a local arab restaurant that i had started to frequent. i entered as usual, seated myself at a small table, and opened my third english translation of the meaning of the qur’an to where i had left off in my reading. i figured i might as well get some reading done over my lunch hour. moments later, i became aware that mahmoud was at my shoulder, and waiting to take my order. he glanced at what i was reading, but said nothing about it. my order taken, i returned to the solitude of my reading.

a few minutes later, mahmoud’s wife, iman, an american muslim, who wore the hijab (scarf) and modest dress that i had come to associate with female muslims, brought me my order. she commented that i was reading the qur’an, and politely asked if i were a muslim. the word was out of my mouth before it could be modified by any social etiquette or politeness: “no!” that single word was said forcefully, and with more than a hint of irritability. with that, iman politely retired from my table.

what was happening to me? i had behaved rudely and somewhat aggressively. what had this woman done to deserve such behavior from me? this wasn’t like me. given my childhood upbringing, i still used “sir” and “ma’am” when addressing clerks and cashiers who were waiting on me in stores. i could pretend to ignore my own laughter as a release of tension, but i couldn’t begin to ignore this sort of unconscionable behavior from myself. my reading was set aside, and i mentally stewed over this turn of events throughout my meal. the more i stewed, the guiltier i felt about my behavior. i knew that when iman brought me my check at the end of the meal, i was going to need to make some amends. if for no other reason, simple politeness demanded it. furthermore, i was really quite disturbed about how resistant i had been to her innocuous question. what was going on in me that i responded with that much force to such a simple and straightforward question? why did that one, simple question lead to such atypical behavior on my part?

later, when iman came with my check, i attempted a round-about apology by saying: “i’m afraid i was a little abrupt in answering your question before. if you were asking me whether i believe that there is only one god, then my answer is yes. if you were asking me whether i believe that muhammad was one of the prophets of that one god, then my answer is yes.” she very nicely and very supportively said: “that’s okay; it takes some people a little longer than others.”

perhaps, the readers of this will be kind enough to note the psychological games i was playing with myself without chuckling too hard at my mental gymnastics and behavior. i well knew that in my own way, using my own words, i had just said the shahadah, the islamic testimonial of faith, i.e. “i testify that there is no god but allah, and i testify that muhammad is the messenger of allah”. however, having said that, and having recognized what i said, i could still cling to my old and familiar label of religious identity. after all, i hadn’t said i was a muslim. i was simply a christian, albeit an atypical christian, who was willing to say that there was one god, not a triune godhead, and who was willing to say that muhammad was one of the prophets inspired by that one god. if a muslim wanted to accept me as being a muslim that was his or her business, and his or her label of religious identity. however, it was not mine. i thought i had found my way out of my crisis of religious identity. i was a christian, who would carefully explain that i agreed with, and was willing to testify to, the islamic testimonial of faith. having made my tortured explanation, and having parsed the english language to within an inch of its life, others could hang whatever label on me they wished. it was their label, and not mine.

it was now march of 1993, and my wife and i were enjoying a five-week vacation in the middle east. it was also the islamic month of ramadan, when muslims fast from day break until sunset. because we were so often staying with or being escorted around by family members of our muslim friends back in the states, my wife and i had decided that we also would fast, if for no other reason than common courtesy. during this time, i had also started to perform the five daily prayers of islam with my newfound, middle eastern, muslim friends. after all, there was nothing in those prayers with which i could disagree.

i was a christian, or so i said. after all, i had been born into a christian family, had been given a christian upbringing, had attended church and sunday school every sunday as a child, had graduated from a prestigious seminary, and was an ordained minister in a large protestant denomination. however, i was also a christian: who didn’t believe in a triune godhead or in the divinity of jesus, peace be upon him; who knew quite well how the bible had been corrupted; who had said the islamic testimony of faith in my own carefully parsed words; who had fasted during ramadan; who was saying islamic prayers five times a day; and who was deeply impressed by the behavioral examples i had witnessed in the muslim community, both in america and in the middle east. (time and space do not permit me the luxury of documenting in detail all of the examples of personal morality and ethics i encountered in the middle east.) if asked if i were a muslim, i could and did do a five-minute monologue detailing the above, and basically leaving the question unanswered. i was playing intellectual word games, and succeeding at them quite nicely.

it was now late in our middle eastern trip. an elderly friend who spoke no english and i were walking down a winding, little road, somewhere in one of the economically disadvantaged areas of greater ‘amman, jordan. as we walked, an elderly man approached us from the opposite direction, said, “salam ‘alaykum”, i.e., “peace be upon you”, and offered to shake hands. we were the only three people there. i didn’t speak arabic, and neither my friend nor the stranger spoke english. looking at me, the stranger asked, “muslim?”

at that precise moment in time, i was fully and completely trapped. there were no intellectual word games to be played, because i could only communicate in english, and they could only communicate in arabic. there was no translator present to bail me out of this situation, and to allow me to hide behind my carefully prepared english monologue. i couldn’t pretend i didn’t understand the question, because it was all too obvious that i had. my choices were suddenly, unpredictably, and inexplicably reduced to just two: i could say “n’am”, i.e., “yes”; or i could say “la”, i.e., “no”. the choice was mine, and i had no other. i had to choose, and i had to choose now; it was just that simple. praise be to allah, i answered, “n’am”.

with saying that one word, all the intellectual word games were now behind me. with the intellectual word games behind me, the psychological games regarding my religious identity were also behind me. i wasn’t some strange, atypical christian. i was a muslim. praise be to allah, my wife of 33 years also became a muslim about that same time.

not too many months after our return to america from the middle east, a neighbor invited us over to his house, saying that he wanted to talk with us about our conversion to islam. he was a retired methodist minister, with whom i had had several conversations in the past. although we had occasionally talked superficially about such issues as the artificial construction of the bible from various, earlier, independent sources, we had never had any in-depth conversation about religion. i knew only that he appeared to have acquired a solid seminary education, and that he sang in the local church choir every sunday.

my initial reaction was, “oh, oh, here it comes”. nonetheless, it is a muslim’s duty to be a good neighbor, and it is a muslim’s duty to be willing to discuss islam with others. as such, i accepted the invitation for the following evening, and spent most of the waking part of the next 24 hours contemplating how best to approach this gentleman in his requested topic of conversation. the appointed time came, and we drove over to our neighbor’s. after a few moments of small talk, he finally asked why i had decided to become a muslim. i had waited for this question, and had my answer carefully prepared. “as you know with your seminary education, there were a lot of non-religious considerations which led up to and shaped the decisions of the council of nicaea.” he immediately cut me off with a simple statement: “you finally couldn’t stomach the polytheism anymore, could you?” he knew exactly why i was a muslim, and he didn’t disagree with my decision! for himself, at his age and at his place in life, he was electing to be “an atypical christian”. allah willing, he has by now completed his journey from cross to crescent.

there are sacrifices to be made in being a muslim in america. for that matter, there are sacrifices to be made in being a muslim anywhere. however, those sacrifices may be more acutely felt in america, especially among american converts. some of those sacrifices are very predictable, and include altered dress and abstinence from alcohol, pork, and the taking of interest on one’s money. some of those sacrifices are less predictable. for example, one christian family, with whom we were close friends, informed us that they could no longer associate with us, as they could not associate with anyone “who does not take jesus christ as his personal savior”. in addition, quite a few of my professional colleagues altered their manner of relating to me. whether it was coincidence or not, my professional referral base dwindled, and there was almost a 30% drop in income as a result. some of these less predictable sacrifices were hard to accept, although the sacrifices were a small price to pay for what was received in return.

for those contemplating the acceptance of islam and the surrendering of oneself to allah—glorified and exalted is he, there may well be sacrifices along the way. many of these sacrifices are easily predicted, while others may be rather surprising and unexpected. there is no denying the existence of these sacrifices, and i don’t intend to sugar coat that pill for you. nonetheless, don’t be overly troubled by these sacrifices. in the final analysis, these sacrifices are less important than you presently think. allah willing, you will find these sacrifices a very cheap coin to pay for the “goods” you are purchasing.

--
dr. jerald f. dirks - former minister (deacon) of the united methodist church. he holds a master's degree in divinity from harvard university and a doctorate in psychology from the university of denver. author of the cross and the crescent: an interfaith dialogue between christianity and islam (isbn 1-59008-002-5 - amana publications, 2001). he has published over 60 articles in the field of clinical psychology, and over 150 articles on arabian horses.
--

ada yang mesti journey jauh untuk sampai ke titik itu...

sementara gue?..

ya Allah... hampura... di hadapan semua kemudahan-Mu, saya memang hamba yang tidak tahu diri...

monday morning... yeehaaaa!!!

sudah waktunya pulang...



mari bermacet-macet lagi...

today, the cost for replacing one of your arms with a bionic one is at least euro 90.000..

yes, the arm is cool by running on debian linux.. but i still prefer to keep this current one

btw, creative agak pushy gak sih dengan ngerelease benda ini?... manajemen file lebih simple, tapi id3 tag mo ditaro dimana? lha wong ndak ada displaynya...

buset deh.. iseng-iseng, dari test ini hasilnya adalah si aip is 'definitely a woman!' (the system said he/she has 86% confidence)...

'hell, how come?' aip asked

jawabnya... "well, deep down, your gender affects everything about you, from your favorite number to your views on canada. many women who took the test think and act just like you... statistically speaking, you are a chick."...

holi kwakamoli.. logic itu benda terlalu simple kayaknya... x)

setelah pontang panting seharian, semalam si aip ke salemba buat ketemu dosen pembimbing thesisnya... bawa dua proposal buat thesisnya.. satu tebalnya 5 lembar, satu lagi 26 lembar...

sesampai di kampus, pak johnny keliatan mikir saat liat bahan proposal thesis yang 5 lembar

"kurang tebel ya pak?" kata si aip dalam hati

.. so si aip memperlihatkan bahan proposal thesisnya yang lain.... 26 lembar...

dan komentar pak johnny malah "ini terlalu tebal...."...

with a week only as the time left, berjibaku kayaknya kata paling pas buat urusan yang satu ini...

mimpi si aip malam tadi nggak biasanya.. mimpi pantatnya di pegang cowok, terus si aipnya marah.. dan terus si cowok digebu'i sampai mati.. terus besoknya masuk koran.... "ada yang mati dipotong 9".. dan si aip pun langsung say goodbye ke temen-temennya, dan dia cabut lari ke jawa jadi buronan pulisi...

ada yang bilang mimpi itu proses pemindahan data dari bagian short-term memory ke long-term memory di kepala... dan tetep aja aku ndak ngerti arti mimpinya...

dua jam lalu ku terduduk disitu
merenungkan, apakah ku selama ini terbutakan
sendiri memangkas keberanian
yang sedari awal memang tak ada

walau bagai dalam cadar
ingatan akan dirimu
membuat ku menulis ini dalam getar
dan tak mudah ku mencari kata
ku tak ingin terjebak kompleksitas metafora
yang akhirnya tak bermakna

dan dalam terduduk
serasa ku berada di ruang luas
memandangmu yang bagai kabut
bergaris putih lembut
meliuk liuk seirama angin
menyisir lereng
membawa sejuk
...

kadang kuingin kau tidak tersenyum padaku
karena senyummu membawa
langgam dan lagu berirama di kepala
hingga kadang walau ku dalam panas mentari
kau menjadi hujan
hilangkan segala
kecuali segar hawa tanah tumbuhan terpercik air

ingin kuketuk gerbang awan di langit
dan bertanya
ah.. anugerah apa lagi ini ya Tuhanku?
apakah ini episode
atau satu babak akhir dalam skenarioMu?

ku bersyukur
walaupun jika sedianya
rasa ini ada hanya untuk ada

/a

ini maksudnya apa ya?... duh masa lalu... dahulu puyeng kepala kemudian menulis ini, dan sekarang pun membacanya malah jadi pusing kepala....

kata-kata itu manifestasi njlimetnya kata hati, apa justru sudah menjadi representasi mahluk bernama njlimet itu sendiri?

semoga njlimet sampai disini saja.. tidak berpindah ke kepala anda

kalau sampai iya, dosa lah saya

friday~night club kok jadi sering kumpul ya, ndi?...

setelah jumat dua minggu lalu kumpul dan saling mempermalukan diri sendiri di hanamasa blok-m, jumat kemarin *bip!* pesan masuk ke hape si aip..
dan tumben pula... dari arvin...

biasanya arvin teh pangsibukna.. kalo janjian paling susah dateng, dan kalau dateng pun paling buncit pun..kok bisa bisanya ini hari jadi pelaku komporisasi...

dan jumat memang hari paling te'ope... setelah si neng minta ijin nggak masuk kerja, si aip ngantor buat... ngabsen sajjah... jam 10.30 balik ke rumah... ba'da sholat jumat jumat, langsung wuzz ngebut di jagorawi buat ke bogor... si neng minta dianter jalan-jalan ke kebun raya bogor..

seumur-umur si aip nggak pernah pacaran ke kebun raya bogor (kalo nganterin temen pacaran kesana sih pernah, but that another story), dan siang itu jalan-jalan berdua aja ke sana.... kok ya aneh rasanya...

dari bogor, si aip langsung balik ke kantor.. tempel id card ke proximity card reader... dan langsung cabut ke izzy pizza...

dan si aip baru tau bahwa friday~night kumpul mendadak karena ternyata connie sedang berkunjung di jakarta...

semalaman aktivitas si aip dan neng cuma ketawa-ketawa dan makan.... dan shoe, dude... makanan di izzy pizza are goddamn delicious... hmmm yummy...

nggak sampai satu jam si aip dah ngabisin 3 menu... dan cuma berhenti karena ada kesadaran bahua mungkin perut-perut ini tetap nggak akan kenyang walau nambah 2 menu lagi...

so in the end of the evening, dengan masih laparnya perut, gerombolan friday~night pun meneruskan makan malam dengan satu porsi bubur ayam samping menteng plaza...

dan btw, baso di sebelah bubur ayam itu pun sebenarnya menggoda, tapi kalo perut sampai mbledus gimana?

ke kantornya neng tengah hari ternyata lebih susah daripada sore hari pas njemput... padatnya jalanan jakarta di waktu jam makan siang ternyata lebih bikin kaki pegel dibanding saat rush hour petang... biasanya di kuningan macet cuma dari prapatan kuningan sampe halte kiri dari tendean, siang ini dari arah pancoran baru lewat pintu tol, udah padat lalu lintas...

lalu lintas jakarta emang nggak ada matinye.. satu gejala yang makin lama makin terasa benarnya : di saat engkaoe meladjoe, djikalaoe engkaoe ingin mengambil djaloer lain, djanganlah engkaoe menjalakan lampoe sign... belokkan sadjalah kemoedimoe dengan serta merta tanpa basa basi... karena djikaloe engkaoe menjalakan sign, niscaja akan terdengar boenji klakson dari kendara di belakangmoe... :P

sama kuningan, podo di pizza man sudirman.. penuhnya ampun... kayaknya sore hari saat pulang malah nggak secrowded ini...

dan sepanjang jalan setidaknya 3 atawa 4 kali neng mesti cursing... entah ke bis kota, kopaja, metromini, mikrolet, bajaj atawa pengendara motor (yang nyalinya berbanding terbalik dengan tipisnya jarak saat dia motong jalur kendaraan lain)... maklum deh neng, ini bukan dc..

sehabis tuntas urusan bajar membajar uang kuliah si aip di bni gedung mendiknas, lapernya perut jadi to-do berikutnya...

mo kemana?

si aip monya junk food.. ke ps aja beli wendy's...

neng fine aja, tapi terus usul... 'gimana kalo sop buntut di niaga?'...

weleh... ayam goreng wendy's dibanding sama sop buntut tower kafe mah no contest sayaaaaaang... x)

si andi menulis sambil berujar dalam hati 'kok jadi ngiler sayah...' :(

meeting meeting mullu... gila gila gilaaa.. x(

balik ah... sudah terlalu malam buat terus kerja...

buruh sih buruh, tapi being workaholic itu sebenernya kutukan kan ndi...

yeah right... talk to yourself@1999 deh... hehehehe... jawab si andi sambil nyengir

alamak pusingnya, ndi.. weekend sabtu minggu cuma bolak balik aja ke bengkel... dari ekspektasi bocornya oli cuma karena bocornya packing carter, ternyata merembet ke mesti ganti noken as dan satu benda lagi yang gue lupa namanya..

dua benda itu sebenernya baru diganti dua bulan lalu.. bersamaan dengan ganti o-ring dari delco.. tapi kayaknya montir di rawamangun itu nggak gape masangnya.. jadinya bocro lagi deh...

sesiangan sabtu aja sebetulnya dah beres urusan bocor itu.. tapi keterusan juga di minggunya buat ganti shock-breaker depan dan kedua 'atasnya'... thus ganti benda pemegang kemudi di daerah power-steering...

bengkel di cinere itu langganan bapaknya neng... dan selain memang kayaknya gape, bang cepi sang montir itu deket dengan keluarga mang isun, ipar dari ibu.. kenal deket atawa serasa deket begitu ternyata berpengaruh juga ke charge... total jendral kerja dua hari, bongkar setengah mesin, bongkar shock dan kemudi dua harian cuma kena 250rb.. weleh... hehe.. di rawamangun bongkar setengah mesin aja udah 175rb.... dan di santosa motor tebet ditawarin periksa mesin dan benerin bocor oli aja harga belum ditawarnya aja di 750rb... perbandingan harga bak langit dan bumi... preet.. :P

dan enaknya ngebengkel di cinere.. selama mobil dibongkar, nunggunya sambil nongkrong di kolam ikan.. mancing ikan bawal... hehe...

lo kayak bisa mancing aja, ip.. doyan ikan juga kagak kan?.. :P

...

dan nerusin ngomong soal pusing, kayaknya obat anti pusing itu adalah punya badan gede...

si imam.. temen si aip di kantor yang badannya kayak tekab, cerita soal malem-malem dia nongkrong sama temennya.. makan nasi goreng di depan lp salemba... lagi enak makan didatengin preman..

"bang... 'misi... gue baru keluar el-pe kemaren... masuk gara-gara ngebantai orang... keluar bokek... ade gocengan gak?.. ".. si preman ngomong dengan santainya...

si imam lagi makan eneg juga dengernya... sialan nih orang... gak tau orang lagi makan apah?... so si imam pun terus ngebales dengan lebih santai

"kemaren gue baru nangkep orang... ini gue juga lagi nunggu satu tangkepan lagi..."

si preman pun terus bengong... kemudian pusing... dan kemudian berlalu dengan pusingnya... :)

cerita lain di topik yang sama... dan masih si imam juga...

si imam nyetir mobil... di perempatan lampunya merah.. so si imam pun berhenti... dan..

bleduk!.. ada suara di kanan belakang mobil..

rupanya ada gerombol preman bodinye nyundul mobil si imam... si imam tau itu sengaja... so dia cuekin aja...

satu preman mendekati imam di sisi kemudi...

"hei.. temen saya kesenggol mobil kamu... kamu mesti tanggung jawab..."

si imam minta maaf.. "bilangin sama temen kamu... maaf aja.. salah dia sendiri"

sesaat si temen itu balik ke gerombolannya... terus balik lagi ke sisi kemudi si imam..

"nggak bisa... kamu mesti bantu obati..."

si imam terus melihat ke si temen di luar pintu itu, dan bilang dengan gaya cool dan perkasanya... "saya tembak kamu!"

si temen itu pun langsung ngacir dan pusing... x)

kesimpulan : obat anti pusing itu adalah punya bodi sterk..