Good Bye 2017, Hello 2018

Sunday, December 31, 2017

I'm leaving 2017.

2017, what a beautiful year. Yes, it was one of the best years. Which are the other best years? Well, I'd say 2003. I love 2003 so much. It's probably the best.

But now I'm gonna tell you about 2017, not 2003.

So many things happened in 2017. Best moment in my life and one of the worst moments in my life both happened in 2017.

My brother got married in February. I've been writing and telling people about it. It's not just because he is the first sibling who got married. Everything was just so beautiful and perfect! But I'll tell you about it later. I'll have some special article for them.

I can't move on, really. Every time I remember about that day I got all teary and melancholy. The wedding itself is perfect and beautiful. And it was really a wonderful blessing to get all of our beloved family members and family friends altogether. Almost all the people we love were there to celebrate with us. That's why I love weddings. And by weddings I only mean my family weddings btw.

I gotta meet all of my beloved aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, and it really brought me joy. Yeah it might be a surprise, or not, but I really love all of you, my uncles (except my mother's brothers), my aunts (including the wives of my mother's brothers), my cousins (including the children of my mother's brothers), and of course my nieces and nephews! Oh I have the most adorable nieces and nephews, and the most adorable family! Thank God!

I was so happy to have almost all of the people I love and care about around.

But more than that, we, me and my siblings, were unspeakably happy to finally see the lovebirds got together for the better or worse. They deserve it. Yes, I've written an article special for them. I guess you know when I will release it.

On April, my bestfriend for 11 and a half years, Bulbul passed away. And of course I'm writing a special memoir about him. But here, I just wanna say how devastated I was, to finally have to say goodbye to him forever. He's old, and he's a dog. But the fact that I would never see him again is just so soul-crushing.

Okay, those are the two most important moments of 2017. But there are still other moments.

February was all about wedding and other celebrations. It's the month of my sister's birthday, biggest annual event in our family. Lol! But seriously! Oh I love her so much, that lil brat!

The rest is about weddings. The last technical meeting for my brother's wedding, the some-kinda-bachelor-and-bachelorette party for my brother and his then-bride-to-be, the prayer and showering ceremony for my brother, and then the wedding itself. Two of my old friends were also getting married. One of them is my best friend, one of the most caring person I've ever met. She got married on March 4, but I threw a bachelorette party for her on February.

Yes! On 2017 my brother and my bestfriend both are getting married. And this year, hopefully my sister and my other bestfriend are getting married too. Should I make it clear that they're marrying their partners, not to each other?

I'm not fond of marriage life myself. I don't think I want to share my life with even more people. I've had enough people and love in my life. And for me, if I really love someone, I don't need to vow to love them forever. Love should be a pure feeling, not an obligation to fulfil a vow.

But when I see other people getting married to the loves of their lives, I'm really happy for them, because I know they're happy. And wedding is a celebration. I love celebration. And it's a celebration of love.

Okay, what else?

I've made a lot of sketches on 2017! I love most of them. They might not be that great, but they are for me. You can check on my Instagram account @alavishpirate .

I was so productive, especially in January and June. In January, my New Year resolution of making at least a sketch a day was still really fresh from the oven, so yeah I sketched almost every day.

In June, there was this 'Game of Thrones 30 Days Challenge'. There were 30 questions, and I made sketches for the answers. I made a Disney-ish GoT characters. People loved it and really appreciated it. I have so many stories to tell about that challenge.

First of all, it was so great to finally be able to finish a 30 Days challenge. Believe it or not, I've never finished such challenge in my whole life. So, finishing the challenge itself has been a small achievement for me.

And I had a really great time making the Disney-ish characters. I love Disney illustration so much! Their animations are the best. It's my personal taste btw, don't even try to debate me about it. And I love Game of Thrones and its characters so much! So, those 30 days were the most enjoyable 30 days of my 2017. I love each day of it.

I wasn't satisfied with all of them. But mostly I was, and still am, satisfied. I think I executed some of them the best I could possibly be. But there are two pictures that are very special.

First, 'the Battle of Bastards' episode. The challenge was to post (for me it was to sketch) the scene in GoT that made us cry.

Now, if you haven't watched GoT until the last season, just skip to these next six paragraphs, and just read from the seventh paragraph after the 'SPOILER ALERT' warning.

-- SPOILER ALERT!! SPOILER ALERT!! SPOILER ALERT!! --

You know, watching GoT, I've never cried but once. I didn't cry when Ned died, or Drogo died, or Lady, Hodor, not even Viserion (but maybe because it was already spoilt for me). You know, the one and only scene that made me cry in GoT was the epic battle between Jon's (Stark) army and Ramsay's (Bolton) army.

That episode was so tense and it was such an emotional rollercoaster for me. We've seen the Starks keep on losing and being humiliated since season 1. I love Tyrell and Martell. They're my favourite houses. And I'm rooting for Targaryen even though I like none of them. I don't always like Dany, but I always support her. I don't like any of the Starks. They're all too naive, and they upset me a lot. But somehow, I can't help but longing to see them win for once!

They're the good guys, or at least the closest to good guys we can possibly have in GoT. I'm so rooting for them, but they kept falling down. So, when I saw Jon trampled under his own army, I already got ready for another Stark disappointment. But then Sansa came with the Knights of the Vale, and situation changed dramatically. Ramsay lost. If you're a typical GoT fan like me, you'll understand how satisfying it is to finally see Ramsay lose like that. He lost the battle, his face was bitten to pulp, and the way he died... Oh my... This episode made me love Sansa instantly.

But the one that made me really cry was when the Stark banners replaced the Bolton banners. It was very emotional for me. The Starks finally got Winterfell back! For me, personally, that's the most beautiful moment in GoT history.

Back to my GoT challenge, that day, I was so sure about what I wanted to make for that challenge. I wanted to illustrate the epic scene when Jon stood by himself against Ramsay's cavalry running towards him. I wanted to illustrate Jon trampled under his own army. I wanted to illustrate the dramatic twist when Sansa came with the back up plan (or maybe her actual plan). I wanted to illustrate all of those epic scene, and end it with the moment when the Bolton banners got down and replaced by the Starks. I've imagined great illustration.

But, because of the limited time and skills, I finally only made one picture of that moment when Stark banners replaced the Bolton banners.

--

Okay, the SPOILER ENDS there.

So, I finally made that one illustration, that I found very unsatisfying. First, because I wanted to make more, and second, because I've never been good in making a landscape illustration. I'm bad at drawing buildings and still objects.

So, I thought... "Ah well, this is one bad illustration. I'm not good at drawing buildings. It's okay. I just want today's challenge to be done and it's done."

When I posted it on my Instagram account and some people started to give it some likes, I was like, "Ah well, there are still nice people out there who appreciate even a lousy art like this."

But then people kept on liking them, and turned out that it got even more likes than any other posts in my Instagram account! It broke a record! I mean, I'm not a popular Instagram user. I only got like 500 hundred something followers, so I only got around 30 to 60 likes in one post. But that picture, that illustration that I thought was lousy and so unsatisfying, it got almost 100 likes! Wow! I was so surprised.

Okay, that's the story of 'The Battle of Bastards'.

Now here comes another spoiler, but only if you haven't watched season 4. Skip these 2 paragraphs.

ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT!

Then there's this story of The Mountain. One of the most horrible deaths in GoT, or for me, it was the most horrible, was the death of Oberyn Martell. But I made it for another challenge actually. The challenge was to post the best fighting scene in GoT.

So I made the Disney-ish version of The Mountain crushing Oberyn's skull. I've seen the better version. There's this awesome artist that also made Disney GoT, but much better than mine. And her/his version of Oberyn vs Mountain is so awesome. But I was satisfied with mine anyway.

--

SPOILER PART ENDS.

So, I was and still am so satisfied with my Disney-ish illustration of The Mountain and The Viper. But what really crazy for me was when I found out that the actor who plays The Mountain, Hafþór Júlíus "Thor" Björnsson, posted my drawing on his own Instagram account!

I didn't realize it before, because he didn't mention me. He didn't know, because his friend sent it to him without mentioning my account. But it doesn't really matter. I just found his Instagram account and I was stalking on him, because he's one of my favourite GoT actors. Yeah I have a thing for big guys with big boobs and big butts. So I stalked on him, and, while scrolling through his timeline, I suddenly found my sketch! Omg! That was unbelievable!

He is a really nice guy and he really appreciates his fans artworks. I found that I wasn't the only lucky fan whose artwork has been posted by him. But still, that's really something for me. It almost felt like a dream!

Those are some stories from the art department of my 2017.

From the sports and activities department, there are some stories too!

I finally played futsal again! And I finally wallclimbed again! I used to be very active around 2010-2013. I played futsal, I practiced football (soccer), I went wallclimbing weekly, I practiced muay thai, yoga, and I even went to the gym. But then I needed my money, energy, and time for other purposes, so, slowly but sure, I retreated from those activities, one by one. The last time I went wallclimbing (weekly) was 2013, and the last time I played futsal was 2014.

My last futsal team always played so far from my house, in the middle of heavy traffic, on Saturday night. So it was really a struggle for me to even get there. But I also got sick a lot, I don't know, probably because we played at night, we usually started at 8 or 9. And also, there are some dramas evolved too. So, there were too many reasons for leaving that team. It's not a professional team anyway.

So I've never had a team for like two years. Yeah, two years, from 2014 to 2016.

But on 2017, it was all coming back to me. I went wallclimbing with my new friend. Well, he's not technically new. We've known each other for years, but we just started to hang out with each other last year. And we went to a really cool wallclimbing place. It is the best place for wallclimbing I've ever seen. It is indoor, there are so many tracks, there are auto belay, the shower room is pretty clean for a public shower room.

And futsal! Oh my...!

It all started when my cousin asked me to play with her team. It's not a real team that practice weekly. They're the alumni of the same university. They were in the campus futsal team together, and now play occasionally.

So I played with them, and they asked me to be some kinda presenter in their university big reunion futsal tournament. So, two days after, I became a presenter, and that's when I met this amazing futsal team.

The team plays in between my office and home every Saturday. And I have a weekly meeting every Saturday. So, I can easily go from the office, to the futsal place, and then go home. They play from 4 pm to 6 pm. For me, it's the ideal time to do something physically active. And they're all very good players! In short, the team is perfect!

But anyway, I haven't played with them for maybe two months now, because there were always things to do or events to go, or I was simply not fit enough to play. Yeah, I miss them.

What else?

Languages!

Last year I've learned German, Greek, and Japanese. I think that's the only goal I've reached.

I planned to learn German from January to March, Greek from April to July, and Japanese from August to December. But I haven't started to learn German until the end of January. So I had to reschedule the Greek lesson to maybe May or June. On April, I thought, forget Greek, I'll just learn German this year. But no. I couldn't stop myself from starting to learn Greek. When I finally learned Greek, I promised I wouldn't learn any new language until I can really communicate in Greek. I thought, let's just reschedule Japanese to next year. But on October or November, I started to learn Japanese. And I finished all the lessons before 2018 started!

Well, that was my 2017. Overall it has been treating me well with all those blessings.

Good bye 2017, welcome 2018!


I haven't really talk with those languages, but I've finished the lessons in Duolingo, so I got the basic rules. This year I wanna really improve them.

Jangan Baper!

Rabu, 29 November, 2017

Sebenarnya, saya mendapatkan inspirasi ini saat sedang belajar Forex. Tapi di sini saya akan lebih banyak menggunakan perumpamaan film, terutama film seri. Kenapa? Pertama, lebih banyak orang yang menonton film dan film seri daripada yang belajar Forex. Ke dua, saya lebih suka dan lebih paham soal film dan film seri daripada Forex. Ya jelas, saya nonton film dan film seri sudah dari orok, belajar Forex baru sebulan terakhir ini.

Jadi gini, sewaktu saya membaca buku 'We Are Traders Not Gamblers' dari Ellen May (bukunya bagus sekali ngomong-ngomong), saya mendapatkan satu kunci yang penting sekali dalam dunia trading, yaitu JANGAN BAPER.

Saya yakin hampir semua orang Indonesia yang aktif menggunakan media sosial, sudah tidak asing dengan kata 'baper'. Tapi untuk memastikan semua pembaca paham, saya akan menjelaskan sedikit tentang kata 'baper'.

'Baper', singkatan dari 'bawa perasaan', adalah ungkapan untuk orang yang terlalu melibatkan perasaan atau emosinya terhadap suatu hal. Misalnya, katakan lah si A salah bicara. Bagi seseorang, misalnya si... J deh (soalnya kalo B udah umum), perkataan A bukan masalah, karena ia tidak 'baper'. Tapi sebaliknya, si R sangatlah 'baper'. Maka, kata-kata A, yang bukan masalah bagi J, menjadi masalah besar bagi R.

Kurang lebih begitu lah contohnya. Sudah jelas ya.

Kenapa baper ini bahaya? Karena kata dasarnya saja perasaan. Perasaan, bila tidak dikontrol, bisa sangat berbahaya. Karena perasaan ini tidak punya logika. Contohnya cinta, menurut Agnes Monica, cinta ini kadang-kadang tiada logika. (Abaikan jokes receh ini pemirsa)

Perasaan bisa membuat orang bertindak tanpa berpikir. Perasaan bisa membuat orang berpikir, menilai, dan mengambil keputusan yang tidak obyektif.

Nah, baper ini bisa terjadi di mana saja. Dalam dunia trading, termasuk Forex, trader sering baper dengan aktivitas tradingnya, sehingga mengakibatkan tindakan atau keputusan yang tidak obyektif itu tadi. Akibatnya, saat sedang berada di posisi rugi, trader bisa rugi semakin banyak, atau saat harusnya sudah untung, trader malah merugi. Semua itu karena baper.

Sekarang lupakan dulu soal Forex dan trading, karena saya juga tidak paham benar, dan belum pernah benar-benar mempraktekkan trading Forex. Mari kita bicarakan hal yang lebih menyenangkan, seperti film dan film seri.

Saat kita menonton film atau film seri, kita bisa begitu menikmati film atau film seri tersebut, sehingga kita begitu mengidolakan satu (atau lebih) karakter tertentu, atau begitu membenci satu (atau lebih) karakter tertentu. Kita begitu baper, kita menginvestasikan emosi kita pada suatu karakter, sehingga kita berharap karakter ini menang, atau bahagia, atau mendapatkan orang yang dia sayang, melenyapkan musuhnya, mendapatkan apa yang dia inginkan, ataupun melakukan hal tertentu yang kita harapkan darinya.
Karena itu, ketika sedang menonton film atau film seri, tidak jarang kita berteriak, marah, dan menangis. Kita bisa begitu kecewa saat cerita tidak berjalan sesuai yang kita harapkan. Dalam tingkat ekstrim, kita bahkan bisa bertengkar dengan sesama penggemar film, terutama film seri, terutama Game of Thrones (eh tuh kan jadi ikutan baper), hanya karena menyukai karakter atau kelompok yang berbeda.

Padahal, sebenarnya, apa pengaruhnya nasib si tokoh atau kelompok yang kita idolakan, terhadap kehidupan kita?

Sewaktu saya masih penonton sepakbola yang fanatik, saya sangat mengidolakan Ronaldo. Saya menangis saat Ronaldo gagal membawa Brazil juara dunia di Prancis 1998. Saya menangis saat Ronaldo cidera berat di tahun 2000. Saya bertengkar dengan teman saya yang menghina Ronaldo. Saya benci sekali pemain maupun tim yang menciderai Ronaldo, atau mengalahkan Internazionale ataupun Seleção (brasileira).

Sebagai pembelaan, saya masih sangat muda, belum punya KTP, jadi wajar lah ya kalau masih ababil. Maklum lah ya. Yah, walaupun sampai 2010 saya masih suka baper kalau nonton bola.

Tapi saya juga bertanya-tanya, kenapa nasib dari seorang pemain sepakbola, atau hasil dari sebuah pertandingan atau turnamen sepakbola, bisa begitu penting bagi saya? Mengapa saya bisa marah-marah atau menangis hanya karena hasil pertandingan sepakbola? Padahal itu sama sekali tidak mempengaruhi kehidupan saya. Dan herannya, mengapa saya bukan satu-satunya yang seperti itu?

Sebenarnya alasannya hanya satu: baper!

Nonton bola aja baper. Sekarang saya sudah tidak terlalu baper nonton sepakbola, tapi saya masih sangat baper saat menonton film seri, terutama Game of Thrones. Terakhir saya nonton Game of Thrones, saya teriak-teriak dan marah-marah karena karakter yang saya benci tidak jadi mati.

Intinya, jangan baper!

Buat apa teriak-teriak dan marah-marah, padahal ceritanya sudah ada yang menulis. Kita mau marah-marah, teriak-teriak, nangis-nangis, ceritanya akan tetap berjalan sesuai kehendak sutradara, produser, dan penulis skenario.

Begitu kita menyadari bahwa itu hanya  film seri, mudah saja untuk tidak baper. Tapi yang sulit adalah, menyadari bahwa kehidupan yang kita jalani sehari-hari adalah sebuah film, atau film seri.

Yang paling sulit adalah untuk tidak baper dalam hidup kita sendiri. Ya jelas! Film seri, yang tidak ada hubungannya dengan kehidupan nyata saja, kita bisa baper, apalagi yang benar-benar kehidupan kita sendiri?

Saya takut kalah, saya takut salah, saya takut kehilangan barang, uang, dan orang. Saya begitu resah memikirkan kemungkinan-kemungkinan yang tidak diinginkan.

Padahal, sebenarnya, kehidupan kita sudah ada yang menulis dan mengatur. Kalau anda tidak percaya Tuhan, ya anggaplah itu kekuatan angka yang lebih besar. Seperti halnya di Forex, kita tidak bisa mempengaruhi pasar, karena terlalu banyaknya orang lain yang ikut bermain dalam pasar, dalam kehidupan kita, dalam dunia ini, terlalu banyak orang dan faktor lainnya untuk kita harapkan mengikuti keinginan kita.

Jangan sampai baper, karena semua sudah ada yang mengatur. Bedanya, dalam kehidupan kita, setidaknya kalau kita percaya Tuhan, kita bisa bicara langsung pada produser, sutradara, dan penulis skenario.

Bayangkan, kalau kita bisa bertemu langsung dengan George RR Martin, dan memohon agar Daenerys, Tyrion, dan Jon hidup bahagia selamanya, Cersei, Jaime, dan White Walkers mati semua, dan Westeros damai dan sejahtera selamanya.

Buat yang tidak mengikuti Game of Thrones, maaf ya roaming. Tapi intinya paham lah ya. Alangkah enaknya kalau setiap kali bisa bertemu dan bicara langsung dengan pembuat film dan mengutarakan unek-unek kita, ketimbang hanya teriak-teriak dan marah-marah sendirian atau ke orang yang tidak bisa berbuat apa-apa terhadap film tersebut.

Tapi harus diingat, walaupun kita bisa mengutarakan keinginan kita kepada sang pembuat film, entah itu sutradara, produser, atau penulis skenario, siapa pun itu yang membuat film, ia sudah lebih tahu dan sudah punya rencana sendiri. Apabila keinginan kita tidak bertentangan dengan kehendaknya, mungkin keinginan kita akan dikabulkan.

Alangkah buruknya jalan cerita Game of Thrones kalau Daenerys menang dengan mudah dan Cersei mati begitu saja. Semua itu harus ada prosesnya, dan semua itu harus ada alasannya.

Tapi bukan berarti tidak ada yang bisa kita lakukan. Dalam banyak kasus, produser ataupun sutradara mendengarkan dan menuruti keinginan aktor atau aktrisnya. Hal itu terjadi karena si aktor atau si aktris ini sudah memiliki peran yang cukup besar dalam film, sehingga bisa mempengaruhi jalan cerita.

Karena itu, orang-orang yang sudah memiliki peran besar di dunia, atau dalam rencana Tuhan, keinginannya biasanya akan lebih mudah tercapai. Dan keinginan mereka pun tidak bertentangan dengan hukum alam atau rencana Tuhan.

Yah, ini hanya pemikiran sih, bisa benar, bisa salah, tapi kalau tidak merugikan, kenapa tidak dipertimbangkan?

Starting Everything All Over Again

Friday, September 8, 2017

For the last couples of months I've been struggling to learn some languages. I've been spending my entire spare time to learn.

So, I've mentioned a few times in this blog and other social media, that I wanna be able to speak as many languages as I can. I wanna speak fluently at least five languages other than english and my mother tongue, indonesian.

I've been learning italian and spanish for years with lots of methods and media. I didn't do it persistently and not all the methods are really effective. But I used to be able to hold a basic and daily conversation in italian and spanish. And then I started to learn portuguese, french, and dutch last year, and this year I am learning german and greek.

I know. I am greedy. But do I even speak any of those languages now? I don't! OMG! Not even italian or spanish. I mean, yeah I can understand text messages and reply in italian. And I can say some italian sentences that I frequently use. But I've lost lots of my italian and spanish vocabularies! I even forget some english vocabs too sometimes!

I use this apps, this very helpful and actually can be effective apps, Duolingo. I used to use Live Mocha. It's also good, but Duolingo is easier, more practical, fun, and systematic.

But I've been using it the wrong way. I was too greedy and just couldn't wait to learn new languages. So, everytime I almost reached the end of the lessons, it became more like a game for me. I focused on finishing the rest of the lessons as fast as I can. My only goal became getting the trophy so I can start the next language.

So, yeah, if you asked, I've got all of the trophies for italian, spanish, portuguese, french, dutch, german, and greek. I've finished learning all of them.

But I forgot to find out about the basic keys of learning languages: conversation, repetition, and practice persistently.

When italian was the only language I learn, I did it almost properly. There are these sets of sentences that I repeated every single day. After a whole lots of repetitions, these sets of sentences helped me get the concept, the patterns, the basic system of italian. Also some words really stick in my memory.

Then I looked for italian friends to practice with text messages, chat, or video call. The easiest way to find a friend is from online dating. Most of the guys are there for sex or relationship, but surprisingly, I found some people who are really willing to help me learn.

Yes. Online dating. Because online dating apps are easier and simpler to use than any other apps. And it's so easy to create a profile there. And people there are so open to strangers, unlike on any other social media.

So, I was kinda... well I'm not gonna say fluent. But everytime I met some italians, I only speak italian. No english!

I thought I was on this state:
- Speak indonesian and english fluently
- Speak italian and spanish almost fluently
- Still need more practice on my portuguese and french
- Have finished learning dutch, german, and greek, but can only say view words in those languages

My plan on the beginning of this year was to learn both german, greek, and japanese. WTF? Right?

I've made my plan. I've made a program, as in school program, to learn each language. Every time I realized one program wouldn't work, I'd make a new one.

After learning Greek and realized that I needed more time to learn German and Greek, I've decided to postpone japanese to next year.

So I thought, by the end of the year, I've been fluent in 9 languages, including english and indonesian. But hello!! Wake up, me! I can't even speak italian fluently!

To have my italian at least on the same level with my english, I still have a long way to go! So, basically, forget about spanish, portuguese, french, dutch, german, greek, and japanese! I just realized I had to start from zero again.

Well, almost zero.

Anyway, I just found these amazing links today and I just wanna share them because they've inspired me a lot.

First, I found this "22 Tips for Learning a Foreign Language" by Mark Manson.
https://markmanson.net/foreign-language

Then this one is about forgetting-the-previous-language problem, from Scott H Young:
https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2013/11/22/language-switching/

And I noticed that both of them mentioned Benny Lewis. So I looked at this Benny Lewis, and man he is awesome!

Here's his article about mixing-language:
https://www.fluentin3months.com/not-mix-up/

See what my problem is? I am lack of references. As an artist, I don't know many artists. As a writer wannabe, I don't read enough book. As a polyglot wannabe, I didn't even know any famous polyglot!

Dear Mark Manson, Scott H. Young, and you, the one and only Benny Lewis, thank you so much for your articles!

Just an old piece I once wrote

Everytime anyone asks me to marry him (no, no one is asking me recently, it just randomly popped out in my mind), I always ask myself, do I love him as much as I love my dad? How do I know?

I imagine three things:
1. Something bad happened to him and caused him to lose both of his legs: would I still be there and take care of him for the rest of our life?

2. We were in a car accident, the car is about to explode, and he was unconscious: would I just get the hell outta the car and save my ass before the car explodes, or would I bother trying to save him, trying to drag him outta the car with a risk of being blown up together?

3. Someone (on purpose or not) shot a bullet at him: would I take the bullet for him? Would I heroically jump in front of him?

So yeah, I always imagine those three things to really know if I really love someone. Has the answer been a yes? Nope. Except for number 3. Sometimes the answer is yes. When someone shot him, yes, I'd heroically jump in front of him. But only if he was shot from the back! So basically I was just covering myself! Lol!

But actually, if I really love him as much as I love my dad, I wouldn't even dare to imagine anything bad happen to him.

Am I an idealistic for thinking this way? Well, I mean, if I ever said yes to a proposal, it would mean a lot! It would mean that I've gotta share my life with him. I would have to live under the same roof with him! I would have to share dreams and goals with him. And if our dreams a bit different, we've got to compromise. It's freaking huge!

Yeah, actually, if you're about to marry someone, you have to make sure that you both share the same vision, mission, dreams, and goals. Because that's kinda the whole point, isn't it?

So, for selfless people, their goals most probably are having a happy family with a kid or more, raise the kids together, grow old together while keep making each other happy.

But what about people like me, with very personal goals? I wanna publish books, travel the world, learn languages, study interesting things just because, save the animals and the environment. Yeah it is easy to find a man who is wealthy and ready to make a family. And maybe also happens to have a good genes to make beautiful children. But a true partner in achieving bigger goals..., not so much.

Point is, marriage is a HUGE commitment. It won't always be easy. And whether you are willing to do it or not, you will have to be there in the worst moments, because you'd have promised him for better or worse.

If you love him or her because he or she is beautiful, imagine if something happened to that beautiful face. What if he/she became deformed? Would you still love her? And if you think you'll still love him/her because now he/she has great personality, remember that the personality could change when something really bad happened. They might become mad, depressed, and yell at you all the time.

My father just told me about the last days of one of my aunts' husband. He was one of the nicest husband ever. He was smart, caring, and willing to do everything for his wife. But when he was old and sick, he was unable to do anything, and he lost lots of memories. He forgot almost everything, and he became so furious most of the time.

You will not need to sacrifice for love. People might see whatever you did for your loved ones as a sacrifice, but you just do it for yourself, because all you want to do is making your loved one happy.

Okay, maybe it's hard to love someone as much as I love my dad, mom, brother or sister

Circle K dan Etimologi Kata 'Tenggat

Rabu, 14 Juni 2017

Ada apakah dengan Circle K?

Circle K depan komplek rumah gue tutup. Udah itu aja.

Sedih sih. Banyak kenangan sama Circle K depan rumah. Dulu, tahun 2009, pertama kali gue dan keluarga menempati rumah ini, Circle K itu adalah sumber kebahagiaan kami, selain warteg belakang rumah.

Asli deh! Dulu di sekitar komplek ini masih sepi banget. Belum ada tuh Roti Bakar Edi, Alfa Mart, Indomart, PSY, Mie Ceker, dan tempat-tempat makan lain yang bikin macet itu. FYI, di komplek ini jarang banget ada tukang makanan lewat. Ya ada sih sebenernya, cuma jarang, nggak sesering di rumah lama. Di rumah lama, segala macem tukang makanan lewat. Ada bakso, sate… (udah kaya Obama belom?), bakpau, putu, roti, roti Lauw, jagung bakar, nasi goreng, mie tektek, mie dokdok, ketoprak, bubur ayam, susu kedelai, susu pengalengan, sate padang! Sate padang aja ada!

Sementara, di rumah yang sekarang…

Duh, rumahku yang sekarang, maaf ya aku banding-bandingin kamu sama mantan. Aku tau kok, rasanya nggak enak dibanding-bandingin sama mantan.

Intinya, di rumah ini, yang konsisten lewat cuma ketoprak, roti, sama sayur. Ada juga sih mie ayam, tapi nggak enak. Sama kadang-kadang tukang putu lewat kalo amalan penghuni rumah ini lagi baik.

Jadi, dulu itu, Circle K depan rumah bagaikan oasis di tengah padang pasir yang membentang seluas samudra sedalam lautan. Apa sih? Singkat kata, sangatlah membantu kehidupan rumah tangga kami. Dari beli roti, pop mie, kornet, sampai peralatan mandi, semuanya bisa didapatkan di Circle K! Kunjungi Circle K sekarang juga! Eh udah tutup deng. Lupa, malah ngiklan.

Sampe akhirnya daerah sekitar rumah kami udah penuh dengan jajanan pun, Circle K tetap jadi sumber kebahagiaan kecil kami. Yang paling penting sih, di dalemnya ada ATM BCA. Sumpah itu ngebantu banget! Sekarang ATM BCA terdekat nggak ada yang bisa dijangkau dengan modal kaki doang. Minimal lo mesti punya sepeda. Itu pun udah ngos-ngosan. Eh, nggak juga sih, cuman mager aja.

Terus gue sering banget beli snickers di sana. Nggak pernah cek sih, di Indomart sama Alfa Mart ada apa nggak. Terus ada cookies yang ada cornflakes-nya itu, sumpah enak banget! Gue pertama kali makan kue itu gara-gara sahabat kesayangan gue yang sekarang udah tobat jadi gue takut deket-deket, takut keseret. Tapi tetep aja kue itu penuh kenangan. Kenang-kenangan pas kita masih sama-sama di jalan yang sesat.

Yang paling berkesan adalah… gue selalu bisa ngajak Bulbul dan Joey ke Circle K itu. Mereka bakal dengan setianya nunggu di depan pintu kaca, duduk, nggak bergerak, sampe gue keluar dari Circle K. Setelah Bulbul nggak ada, tiap gue ke Circle K gue masih bisa ngebayangin Bulbul lagi nungguin di depan pintu, duduk manis dengan lidah menjulur keluar, dengan mata innocent-nya.

Dan sekarang Circle K itu tutup.

Nggak ada lagi ATM BCA yang bisa dijangkau dengan jalan kaki.

Nggak ada lagi anjing yang setia menanti.

Nggak ada lagi tempat alay nongkrong sampai pagi.

#BiarPuitisAe

Nah, sekarang, apa hubungannya kah Circle K yang tutup dengan etimologi kata ‘tenggat’?

Nggak ada.

Ya, apa hubungannya? Nggak ada kan?

Maksudnya adalah, di tulisan kali ini gue akan menulis tentang dua hal: 1. Circle K tutup, dan 2. Etimologi Kata ‘Tenggat’. Udah sih gitu aja. Tapi judulnya mayan menjual kan? Bikin-bikin penasaran gimana, gitu. Ya nggak sih? Nggak ya?

Oke. Etimologi kata ‘tenggat’.

Akhir-akhir ini gue emang lagi terobsesi banget sama bahasa. Bahkan gue bikin blog baru khusus membahas bahasa dan sejarahnya. Cek deh www.mylittlelanguagecorner.blogspot.com

Yeay promosi lagi kan gue!

Nah, pagi ini, pas lagi jalan-jalan, tiba-tiba gue punya ide, kira-kira dari manakah asal kata ‘tenggat’?

‘Tenggat’, dalam Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, memiliki arti ‘batas waktu’.

Contoh kalimat: Hari ini merupakan tenggat penyerahan data calon mantu kepada orangtua.

Kata ‘tenggat’, alias ‘batas waktu’, alias ‘deadline’, alias ‘time limit’, adalah waktu di saat kita harus mengumpulkan sesuatu atau selesai mengerjakan atau melakukan sesuatu.

Nah, apakah yang orang katakan saat, setelah berkerja keras dalam kurun waktu yang mungkin mingguan, bulanan, tahunan, bahkan puluhan tahun, akhirnya berhasil juga menyelesaikan pekerjaannya?

THANK GOD!!

Thank God, baca: theng gad.

Theng gad > thenggad > tenggat

Masuk akal?

Bercanda yah guys! Serius amat! Kalo beneran mau tau etimologi seriusnya, ya googling aja sendiri. Hehe…

Maaf yah kalo postingan gue kali ini nggak bermutu dan nggak berfaedah. Kan emang biasanya nggak bermutu dan nggak berfaedah. Jadi udah maklum kan.

Ciao! Cabut dulu sebelum ditimpuk.

31 at Last

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Happy birthday to me!

Thirty something at last…

I’ve been very blessed.

I feel that I’m really blessed in every aspect of my life.

In the last month of my 30, I’ve done some things with great impact on my life.

Before I reached 31, I’ve spoken 3 languages and learned 6 more languages. The last was Greek. I finished learning the lesson a day before my birthday. I still need to practice a lot. Now at least I can write in 9 languages.

I’ve finally found another futsal team. Women team that plays weekly and full of futsal stars with great talent. I’ve left this sport for years because lack of team. But now I’ve found the perfect futsal team. Thank God. It’s been a very long time since the last time I played, but I believe, if I kept practicing, I’d be better and better every day. But the point is, in the beginning of my 31, I’ve finally joined a team again!

I’ve met some new friends, new communities, and I really love them, my friends and communities. To the people I just met, yes, every single one of you, I just wanna say, it’s truly nice to know all of you!

What else?

Okay. I’ve done something that… well, this one, I’m not sure if it was good or bad for our life, was it the right thing to do, or would make things even more complicated, but, I tried to clear things with the one. I’ve done some big mistake in the past, but now we both seem to be happy and in perfect condition, so I think it’s time to forgive myself. Dear my Ftkqp Dekbvknw, my owl, my hypothetically twin flame, if you happened to read this, well, you know, you’re still and always will be my one and only. I’ve closed my heart for anyone else. This heart is already yours.

Sorry if it sounds tacky and, I know, what the hell am I doing? Right? Writing about such personal thing on my blog?

But first, I just wanna tell the one about my feelings, but not telling it directly like with private message or something, because… you know, you can’t just tell people about your feeling about them directly to them, I don’t know why. And when I said directly that I loved someone, but I didn’t wanna be together, what would that make me? An asshole? A jerk? Right? I don’t care. Asshole and proud!

And second, I just need to make some kinda announcement, so I wouldn’t have to argue with people who kept telling me I needed to get married or I haven’t found the love of my life. I have. And I still don’t wanna get married because I know for sure what I really want in life. Nobody can have me. And by the way… it’s none of your frickin business! Get a life, people!

And, last but the most important thing is, I’m so blessed with the most beautiful family. My dad, my mom, my sister, my brother, my brother’s wife, and my sister’s fiancé are very close and love each other. We’ve been spending plenty of beautiful times together, but also supporting each other in the worst time, like when our dog died two months ago. I feel so blessed to have all of them in my life. I feel so blessed that I could celebrate my birthday with them. My brother and his wife weren’t here and aren’t here yet. But we will celebrate together soon.

This year, for the first time after 11 years, I got to celebrate my birthday without my very bestfriend, Bulbul. I wish heaven was real and he was in heaven now, looking at me—or not, as long as he is happy. And, before he passed away, he had found me another beautiful dog, Joey. Now Joey fills our house with love.

I also thank all of my new friends and old friends for their birthday wishes. It means a lot to me. I know I’m not good at maintaining relationship. I wish I would be able to fix that sooner or later.

Okay, that’s it for my birthday.

Oh, and don’t forget to check on my latest blog: www.mylittlelanguagecorner.blogspot.com

That’s the other thing I’ve made before 31.

Ciao!

The Most Personal Thing I've Ever Shared

Sunday, June 4, 2017

I miss talking about mathematics philosophy and sending cheesy messages with our own encrypted text. With that specific person.

What went wrong, really?

I remember that time when I prayed that one day I'd regret giving up on my one true love for the sake of my freedom.

Why did I make such wish in the first place? Well... Coz I need some drama, maybe? Coz I was curious of what a heartbreak feels like?

One conversation about soulmate vs twin flame and boom! Voila! Here comes the drama I was asking for.

I don't want to get back together. I know for sure I'd just do the same mistake over and over again. But I kinda miss us. No, I really, really miss us. But that most probably is just because we're not together. It's normal to miss or want something we're not recently having. Maybe it's just that.

Anyway, I refused to compromise and make  a little sacrifice by giving more of my time to spend together. So maybe it wasn't really twin flames anyway? Maybe it wasn't even love? Am I unable to love? Or am I just unable to spend enough time with the one I love?

Museum Kematian

Minggu, 21 Mei 2017

"Agapi" means "Love"

Hari ini kami nyekar ke makam Eyang di Tanah Kusir.

Macet.

Kenapa sih orang harus banget bela-belain nyekar sebelum puasa, termasuk nyokap gue ini?

Padahal nanti pas lebaran nyekar lagi.

Nggak ngerti.

Yah, namanya budaya, gimana lagi?

Tapi gue punya cara sendiri sih buat menikmati kunjungan rutin ke makam seperti ini.

Berkunjung ke makam itu bagaikan berkunjung ke museum. Iya, museum nisan.

Apa yang gue cari di sana?

Gue liatin tanggal-tanggal lahir mereka. Gue cari, mana yang umurnya paling panjang. Gue nggak pernah nyatet dan nggak pernah inget hasil pencarian gue dari tahun ke tahun. Tapi rekor gue hari ini, ketemu orang yang meninggal di usia 92 tahun. Seinget gue dulu pernah nemu yang meninggal usia 100 sekian tahun.

Terus gue juga selalu nyari makam tertua di sana.

Gue tau apa yang ada di pikiran lo. Kenapa gue nggak googling aja kapan TPU tanah kusir dibangun?

Gih googling. Paling lo nemu berita-berita tanah kusir kebanjiran. Tapi kalo ada yang nemu, please let me know. Sumpah gue penasaran nggak penting.

Berikutnya adalah, orang-orang yang meninggal di usia muda. Ada yang belum 40, belum 20, belum 10 tahun, bahkan ada yang masih balita, bahkan masih bayi.

Terus kadang-kadang gue suka nemu juga makam-makam yang berjajar dengan tanggal kematian yang sama. Berarti ada kejadian di hari itu, tragedi yang menewaskan mereka.

Nah, hari ini gue dan adek gue nggak sengaja nemu sederet nisan yang meninggalnya sama-sama muda, dan hampir barengan. Ada tiga orang, usianya 14, 12, sama 29. Terus kita baru nyadar, ternyata di nisan mereka ada tulisannya: Pahlawan Ampera. Nah, gue jadi penasaran tuh, ada kejadian apakah tahun segitu? Apakah Pahlawan Ampera itu?

Terus di bagian makam lain, gue nemu sederet nisan yang meninggalnya sama-sama tanggal 3 februari 1981. Dan ada benderanya, yang menandakan mereka itu pejuang. Ada apakah tahun segitu? Gue pun googling, dan malah nemu kasus pembajakan pesawat Woyla 1981.

Ya itulah kenapa gue bilang makam itu bagaikan museum. Ada pelajaran sejarah di sana.

Terus, sebelum akhirnya pulang, gue nemu makam yang bagus, rapi, dan ada quote-nya.

Gue jarang-jarang nemu makam kaya gitu. Jadi tadi gue foto.

Gue selalu mikir, gimana bumi nggak makin penuh kalo orang lebih banyak yang lahir daripada yang meninggal, udah gitu yang meninggal masih makan tempat juga. Jadi gue maunya kalo sudah saatnya nanti, gue sumbangin semua organ gue yang masih bagus, terus sisa jasad gue dikubur tanpa nisan sampe jasad gue ilang sepenuhnya, dan terserah di atas situ mau dibangun rumah, stadion, taman bermain, sekolah, pokoknya udah meninggal sih meninggal aja, jasad gue diapain juga gue udah nggak ngerasa apa-apa kan?

Tapi, hipokritnya gue sebagai manusia normal adalah, gue rasa kalo orangtua gue sendiri, gue pun akan memakamkan dengan 'layak', dengan makam indah, terawat, dan bisa gue kunjungi setiap saat. Bahkan mungkin akan gue desain sendiri nisan dan kata-katanya.

Yah, gitulah pemikiran-pemikiran yang sering muncul saat berkunjung ke makam. Salah satunya, jadi diingatkan kembali kalau suatu hari maut akan memisahkan gue dengan orang-orang yang gue sayang. Dan itu membuat gue lebih menghargai hidup dan waktu yang gue punya dengan mereka.

Farrokh Bulsara and Josephine March

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Farrokh 'Bulbul' Bulsara and Josephine 'Joey' March

Just like a concept that is made up after a randomly-created creation, these cuties have been Bulbul and Joey before they were Farrokh Bulsara and Josephine March.

*
Farrokh Bulsara:

When I adopted him, I wanted to name him with much cuter and better name. He is my first dog. I had always dreamt of naming my first dog something like.. okay I can't even remember what the cute names were.

But when I took Bulbul home, my dad insisted to call him Bulbul. So, Bulbul it is. I was disappointed in that name, but later on, I found that it could actually be from 'Farrokh Bulsara'.

Even though my favorite band is Led Zeppelin (and I still wish I could name my future dog Bonzo), I've always been a big fan of Farrokh Bulsara, or Freddie Mercury. I think, he's the best vocalist ever, the best performer ever, the best front man ever, and one of the most genius musicians ever! I mean.... come on! Those songs created and sung by him are just... f***ing insane!

Btw, I've always loved that name, Farrokh Bulsara. It sounds exotic. Even though I have never been sure if I wanted a kid, I've always wanted to name my son Farrokh Bulsara. That, or Salvatore, or Marius Pontmercy, or Karac Pendragon (no, they're not my passwords for any accounts).

So, yeah I started to secretly name my dog Farrokh Bulsara, and now I guess it's just not a secret anymore. Bulbul, or Farrokh Bulsara, always makes me emotional by any means, just like Freddie Mercury's songs.

*
Josephine March:

Since Joey was adopted from her former owner who has abandoned her, her name was given by her former owner. So, yeah, of course the complete name Josephine March came after.

Josephine March from 'Little Women', a character that is based on Louisa May Alcott herself.

Yes, I used to love that book before I became more of a Mario Puzo's fan. It's almost the same, except that Beth didn't die in an exploding car, and Jo didn't have to avenge Beth's death, and Jo didn't kill Amy for their rivalry. No one's gonna understand this joke because I guess no one is a fan of 'The Godfather' and 'Little Women' at the same time.

Anyway, just like Jo, my baby Joey is not as pretty as a female dog should be. She's boyish, stubborn, and hot-headed, but very intelligent and brave.

In 'Little Women', Josephine March is called 'Jo'. But, Josephine Potter in the 90's TV series 'Dawson's Creek' is also named from Josephine March, and she's called Joey instead of Jo. And she's also boyish, intelligent, and hot-headed just like Jo and my Joey.

And btw, I can always relate with Jo from 'Little Women' and Joey from 'Dawson's Creek' because they both love writing, and 'Dawson's Creek' Joey even loves to sketch too!

Keel’s Simple Diary: Day 3

Date: Thursday, February 09, 2017

Your day was (only choose one): ( ) lazy    (v) imaginative   ( ) good to go

Explain why:

This didn’t really start as a good day. But my day was a hell only for a few minutes, and then… the rest of the day was so peaceful.

So today I’m totally home alone. I mean, I have my dogs, but I’m the only human here. So I really enjoy today. I have the best me–time ever! So the day turned to be imaginative. I created things, even when I was in the bathroom taking shower. I made some raw sketches on the bathroom wall with black shampoo.

What else did I do today? I did my language learning, I made some sketches, I ate delicious food and enjoyed focusing on my food while eating. So many –gasm moment today.

Oh, and lately I’ve been reading some articles about prehistoric Europe. I started with the Palaeolithic Europe. It’s very interesting. I used to be so obsessed with the prehistoric human back in junior high. Then I was interested in so many other things. And now I’m back to my old obsession.

An essential thing you reject without reflection:

Hmm… very hard question to answer. I mean…, why would I reject essential thing? If I reject things, that means those things are not essential. That simple.

“Love is a wonderful thing and things are wonderful.”

Agree.

An army of:                                                                     A couple of:

Tennis balls                                                                     Trophies

Bottled water                                                                 Dry countries

Sad things                                                                        Great stories

Cool inventions                                                              Honorable mentions

New business                                                                 Accidental cruelties

Butter and soap                                                             Musicals and operas

Rude flies                                                                        Donuts

New evidence                                                                Nice old guys

Yeah, I don’t know what to do with the lists. Whatever. But, speaking of tennis balls, it reminds me that my brother needs some tennis balls. We do need it because he already bought a pair of rackets and we’ve been wanting to try to play tennis.

Prehistoric Diseases, Common Cause of Death, and Human Lifespan

Monday, February 6, 2017

I remember how fun it was, being alone at my room back in college, reading encyclopedia, jumping from one topic to another. I wasn’t really addicted to Google or anything on the internet. In fact, it was almost 2010 and I only used internet to send e-mail or looking for some images I needed for my homework.

But when I started to use social media, I became addicted to the internet and social media. And my blog, part of the social media, has always been all about me. It’s actually because I have many blogs for so many things. But then I’m too lazy to continue writing those blogs, and only post in this diary, so, of course almost everything here is about me. Yes, I’m still enjoying browsing for scientific, historic things, but I never write any of it on this blog.

I only keep the miscellaneous in my private notes in my computer. But now that my computer seems to be dying, I wanna start writing some notes here, just for back up, just in case.

Anyway, lately I’ve been reading some articles about the Lower and Upper Palaeolithic Europe, and suddenly these questions just popped out in my mind:

1. What is the most ancient disease in medical history?

2. What is the most common cause of prehistoric death?

3. How long is the lifespan of most prehistoric humans?

So I found some articles, and I’ll just write down all my conclusions from those articles. To read the complete articles, just check on the links.

First question, what is the most ancient disease in medical history? What about… top 10 most ancient diseases instead?

This is from one of my favorite sites: science.howstuffworks.com

10 Oldest Diseases in History:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/10-oldest-known-diseases.htm

Some archeologists have found some of the most ancient diseases by analyzing the bones, DNA, and whatever left from the prehistoric human remains. And here is the list of Top 10 Oldest Diseases in History:

10 > Cholera (dated 400 BCE, Greece and India)

Cholera can be found on the list of diseases catalogued by the Athenian physician Hippocrates in 400 BCE. Cholera itself has been existing far before Hippocrates. This disease originated in the Ganges River that happens to be one of the most ancient locations of human population density. Cholera lives in the world’s water sources.

9 > Typhoid Fever (430 to 426 BCE, Greece)

A great plague swept through the city-state of Athens, by the description from the historian Thucydides, has the same symptoms with Typhoid Fever.

“People in good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head and the throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid breath. When it fixed in the stomach, it upset it; and discharges of bile of every kind named by physicians ensued, accompanied by very great distress. If they passed this stage, and the disease descended further into the bowels, inducing a violent ulceration there accompanied by severe diarrhea, this brought on a weakness which was generally fatal.

The disease couldn't have come at a worse time. The plague contributed to Athens' eventual loss to Sparta in the Peloponnesian War and a long hiatus for democracy in world history.”

8 > Leprosy (dated 1550 BCE, Egypt)

The Egyptian "Ebers Papyrus," written in 1550 B.C.E., which recommends, "If you examine a large tumor of Khonsu in any part of a man and it is terrible and it has made many swellings. Something has appeared in it like that in which there is air ... Then you shall say concerning it: It is a swelling of Khonsu. You should not do anything against it" [source: Nunn].

And here’s the scariest part of Leprosy:

“While typhoid and cholera are fairly straightforward in their aggressive spread through water sources, leprosy relies on another dispersion strategy -- that of dormancy. People can carry the bacteria that cause leprosy for 20 years or more before showing symptoms, and during this time can spread the disease.”

7 > Smallpox (dated 1580 BCE, Egypt)

Generally, the goal of mummification is to preserve soft tissue. So, as you would expect, Egypt provides a treasure trove of information on ancient, soft tissue diseases.

The most ancient of these mummies was dated 1580 B.C.E., and the most recent was the mummy of Ramses V, who died in 1157 B.C.E.

Smallpox is one of history's greatest killers, responsible for 300 to 500 million deaths in the 20th century [source: Saint Louis University].

6 > Rabies (dated 2300 BCE, Babylon)

Rabies is ingenious: Not only does it infect a host, but it also hijacks the host's brain in a way that makes the host want to bite things. This is how rabies gets a ticket to ride. And it's been doing it since at least 2300 B.C.E., when it was described in the Eshuma Code of Babylon [source: Rupprecht et al.].

5 > Malaria (dated 2700 BCE, China)

Granted, that statistic extends the origin of the disease back in time past its first definite mention, which was in the Chinese "Nei Ching" ("The Canon of Medicine"), around the year 2700 B.C.E. [source: CDC].

The disease continues to infect 300 million people every year, killing 1 million of them [source: Shah].

The Wall Street Journal reports that malaria is responsible for half of all human deaths since the Stone Age [source: Shah].

4 > Pneumonia

Hippocrates wrote that fluid in the lungs should be called pneumonia if, "the fever be acute, and if there be pains on either side, or in both, and if expiration be if cough be present, and the sputa expectorated be of a blond or livid color" [source: Hippocrates]. But he also distinctly calls it a "disease of the ancients."

Where exactly does pneumonia place in this list of oldest known diseases? Because it's a soft tissue disease, the archaeological record isn't strong. But it's likely that various forms of pneumonia have been around as long as our lungs.

3 > Trachoma (8,000 BCE, Australia)

“Trachoma is a chronic infection of the upper eyelid that eventually results in the eyelid constricting and turning the eyelashes in toward the cornea. Over time, the rubbing of the constricted eyelid and especially the eyelash makes the patient go blind. This is what happened to Aetius, Paulus Aeginetus, Alexander, Trailaus, Horace and Cicero. And trachoma is described in Hippocrates and in the Egyptian Ebers papyrus [sources: Siniscal and Nunn].

But researchers make a compelling case for earlier trachoma found in a corner of the world little associated with early diseases: Australia. Aboriginal skeletons from 8000 B.C.E. show a common skull lesion around the eyes [source: Webb]. Scientists determined that these lesions were due to bone infection that had come from soft tissue infection. Though there are a few eye diseases that could fit this bill, the skeletons were found in the Australian region in which trachoma is most common today.”

2 > TBC (500,000 years ago, Turkey)

In 2008, a team of scientists from University College London excavated the submerged ancient city of Alit-Yam, off the coast of Israel. There, they found the buried remains of a mother and her child. Both skeletons showed bone lesions characteristic of tuberculosis [source: Lloyd]. DNA testing confirmed it: Tuberculosis is at least 9,000 years old.

While the Alit-Yam finding is the oldest confirmed case of TB, characteristic lesions have been found on bones found in Turkey, dated about 500,000 years ago [source: Lloyd].

1 > Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (as long as the history of human and animals cells)

“Mitochondria are small organelles found in nearly every cell in the human body. And they perform a function essential to human life, converting glucose from food to energy called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, which cells can use.

But mitochondria carry their own genetic material -- separate from human DNA -- and these genes look a lot like those of bacteria. In other words, it's very likely that the mitochondria that we depend on for survival are the products of an ancient infection [source: Andersson et al.].

Whatever the infection, it predates animal life, let alone humans. So there's no use exploring the fossil record. Instead, researchers compared the genes of mitochondria to those of existing bacteria. The closest match was to bacteria of order Rickettsiales, many of which cause diseases -- including Rocky Mountain spotted fever [sources: Eremeeva and Dasch, Andersson et al.].

But remember, we're talking about a disease that existed before animal life. So the oldest disease isn't really Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever itself, but some unnamed proto-disease with genetic similarity.

Long, long ago bacteria invaded a cell. And because of this infection, we have life as we know it.

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Second question: what is the most common cause of prehistoric death?

So I’ve found this interesting journal in this link:

http://web.mit.edu/7.01x/7.013/documents/7.013Lect30.pdf

And they even happened to have the comparison between the prehistoric human and the present human. It’s a very interesting journal! You really should check!

Modern Humans and Disease, Highly Developed Countries:

- Life expectancy has increased from ~50 yrs in 1950 to 86 years in 2000. For the first time in history a mother knows that the loss of one of her children before maturity is an unlikely event.

- Main causes of death are non-communicable diseases (cancer, obesity, diabetes, hypertension).

- Food plentiful, sedentary lifestyle.

- Acute infections decline because of improved public health information, vaccines, medical treatments, and increased resistance to infection due to nourishment

Early Humans and Disease, domestication of plants and animals (~6000 years ago):

- Creation of first !urban" areas with large populations in continuous close contact. Increase in food supply and expansion of populations.

- Main causes of death were accidents, food shortage, predation, infectious disease, with increases in communicable diseases: TB, Measles, Smallpox, Leprosy, Polio

- Diet was different from that of hunter-gatherer, but still based mainly on unrefined plant foods.

- Non-communicable diseases (cancer, obesity, diabetes, hypertension) were rare to non-existent.

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And finally…, the last question: how long is the lifespan of most prehistoric humans?

I found this article with very amazing facts in Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_medicine

So they have medicine, even before writing existed! Wow! This is really amazing!

And by the way, how long is the lifespan of prehistoric humans? Here’s what is written in the page:

“The life expectancy in prehistoric times was low, 25–40 years, with men living longer than women; archaeological evidence of women and babies found together suggests that many women would have died in childbirth, perhaps accounting for the lower life expectancy in women than men. Another possible explanation for the shorter life spans of prehistoric humans may be malnutrition; also, men as hunters may have sometimes received better food than the woman, who would consequently have been less resistant to disease.”

Wow! 25 to 40 years old!? Can you imagine? Humans lifespan used to be that short!

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Here’s some other interesting links:

Timeline of Medicine and Medical Technology (from 3300 BC to present):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_medicine_and_medical_technology

History of Medicine:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_medicine

Lovely Sunday Morning

Sunday, February 5, 2017

I thank God for this wonderful day. Today was really beautiful. It wasn't raining in the morning. The sun didn't really appear, but at least it was still bright and not raining.

So I rode my bike to my favorite part of Bintaro. I always enjoy the peace in such solitude. I mean, yeah there were some people around me, but they were busy with their own business.

Riding a bike in a Sunday morning might not seem so special. But, come on! These days were always raining, especially in the morning.

But today, it was indeed special, because, when I was on the way home, I saw two big, beautiful snakes. Their owner was taking them to the small park not far from my house. He let me touch them and play with them. They were boa, one was black and brown, and the other was albino. Both were male. The brown and black one was sweet and very gentle, while the albino snake was more aggressive and brave. They really reminded me of my dogs.

I went home, and it was still pretty sunny. I went to have late breakfast, well, actually lunch, with my parents and sister, then we went home. I showered one of my dogs, washing my clothes, and then... Yeah finally it was raining. Right after I finished washing my clothes.

I never like rain. I've been always wondering how could a rain be considered a blessing by some. But today when the rain was over, I realized how beautiful the sunset was. And it was because of the rain and some clouds that are still there.

Ten Years Ago

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

I suddenly remembered this theory that says, "People must have changed in 10 years."

It's not the first time I was reminded to that theory. And everytime, I would think of myself 10 years ago. I would try to remember how I was, how things were.

Luckily, since 2006 to 2009, I have always written diary every single day, with every single detail. So, from 2016 to at least two years from now, I can really tell how I was ten years ago.

So I checked my diary entries from the early 2007. Yeah those sweet memories. I don't know why did it feel so sweet. Are most memories sweet or am I just lucky?

Anyway, have I changed? Well, I can't really tell. Yes, the details are all there. But really, I don't know if anything about me has changed at all. I was and still am a kid forced to grow up because of my age and body keep growing. I was and still am happy to be surrounded by my sister, my brother, my father, and even my mother. I was and still am easily amazed by the simplest thing there is. I overreact about everything, either in positive or negative way.

I'm still as misunderstood as me 10 years ago. That's why, like 10 years ago, I still prefer being alone, having conversations with myself, than having conversations with real people out there. I'm still as much as a loner I was 10 years ago.

So, what is it? Come on!

I'm wiser, I guess, I hope. Well, I'm not wise. Not yet. I wish I will become wise someday, somehow. But at least, today I feel somewhat wiser than I was 10 years ago.

Is there any certain age where people just stop growing up mentally?

Yeah I don't see/read/feel any different between me nowadays and who or what I was 10 years ago. Well, what I was and what I am luckily are different. I was a college student with lots of homeworks and deadlines, and now I'm a woman with career, income, and a bit more responsibility for myself and more other things, less deadlines tho'.

Well there you go! There have been some changes after all. Ten years ago, I was still living from my parents' money. That's why it was so easy for me to spend my money for useless things like snacks and charity. Lol, I'm kidding. No I'm not. Yeah, ever since I started to earn my own money, it started to be so difficult to give. Because I really feel how hard it is to earn some money.

Anyway, I just read the first 25 days of my 2007 diary, and most of it made me smile. Such sweet memories.

I didn't use to appreciate my luck of having my brother and sister. Not until I left home 13 years ago. Being away from everyone I love, I suddenly realized how much I love them and how lucky I am to have them. All of the first 25 days of my 2007 were marked by me as beautiful, happy days, and most of the times, it was because of my brother and sister.

My sister was about to graduate from high school and was looking for university, while my brother was looking for identity. My sister was with her now ex-boyfriend. I just realized something. We simply like each other's boyfriend/girlfriend when the boyfriend/girlfriend doesn't ruin our circle. We should always be able to hang out together. Because if I have to choose between spending time with my boyfriend or my siblings, I will always choose my siblings, 100% of the times! No, guys, I don't expect you to do the same. And even if I do, it's still not your obligation to fulfill my expectations.

Then there are some other memories too, from my 2007. I spent a lot of time with the three girls, my best friends till forever. One of my best friends has clearly changed, 180 degrees different, from 10 years ago. And every single day I miss the old her so much! Still respect the new her anyway.

And there was my legendary lecturer, the guru of indonesian graphic design. I was so sad when he passed away 3 years ago. His class was always interesting.

And there was also this class, Visual Language. I loved that class. In our first session, we were given a task to draw our favorite flower (bunga). And almost without thinking, I started to draw a money tree. It means 'interest' or here we call it 'bunga bank'. We always had to write the meanings or the concepts of our work. So here's what I wrote back then:

"Begitu mendengar kata bunga, yang muncul di pikiran saya pertama kali adalah bunga bank. Ini adalah bunga favorit saya."

When the lecturer read my description to the class, she and the class just couldn't stop laughing. I was happy because: a, I was being totally honest. I mean, come on! Who really loves any flower more than money? And b, I made everyone laugh. I always enjoy making people laugh.

My work got one of the highest grade. My drawing was really bad compared to anyone in the class, but at least I was different. As graphic designer students, we were all about being different and thinking outside the box. So, I kinda won, or felt like it.

And to enjoy making people laugh, that thing has never changed. Yeah, that's all I wanna say about my 10 years ago.

From food, to Alicia Vikander, to Bong Chandra, and to food again

Monday, January 23, 2017

Juicy caramel pop corn…

Salty pop corn with extra butter…

Pizza with extra cheese and lots of black olives on the topping

Rich, creamy chocolate milk shake with extra whip cream

Snickers, Pringles, chocolate ice cream with almonds… damn I’m so hungry.

I’m not actually hungry, I just ate, really. I just can’t stop thinking about food. I was watching a movie and it just felt wrong to watch a movie without any snacks. Well, the ideal movie night for me is sitting on a couch with one or more dogs on my lap, while eating pizza and drink some chocolate milk shake, then when I’m done finishing the pizza, I’ll continue with pop corn, the caramel first, then the salty one with extra butter, then the other snacks.

But how am I gonna enjoy all the food if dogs are all around me? They’ll want to have some of my food, then I wouldn’t be able to focus on my movie. Okay, no dogs. Just food and movie, that would be perfect.

I keep thinking of food! Like… all the time! Is that healthy?

Wait! OMG! I still have the hot chocolate from the seminar! Wait, was it chocolate or coffee? Please be chocolate! Okay, let me check!

Great! This is chocolate. And now I’m enjoying my cup of the most delicious hot chocolate ever. Seriously! How could this chocolate be so good!

I’ve been wanting to tell you about the seminar I attended on Saturday. Well, I’ll tell you on the next post.

Anyway, for the first ten or fifteen minutes of the movie I kept thinking of the snacks I should have had with the movie. But then I’m so drown to the movie.

I just watched ‘The Light between Oceans’, and boy that movie was… awesome!

I love it!

I haven’t seen the review before, but when I saw Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander on the cover of the DVD, I knew that the movie would be a good one, and I was right!

The story was very touching, and I love them so much! I fell in love with their characters. I also fell in love with their acting as always. As usual, when I’m so drown by a movie, I would google everything about it. So I googled all about the movie, and found out that Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender have been dating since the making of the movie, which is early in 2014.

D’oh! Where have I been? But, actually, yeah I kinda recall that I’ve heard that they were dating before. I just forgot. I wasn’t that into Michael Fassbender. Not as much as I love Alicia Vikander. That girl was amazing! That girl was the greatest young actress, so naturally beautiful, so adorable! I’ve been a fan ever since I saw her in ‘Ex-Machina’. She’s really talented and always great in all of her movies. And her movies are always great too! ‘Ex-Machina’, ‘Men from UNCLE’, ‘Testament of Youth’, ‘Danish Girl’, ‘The Light between Oceans’, you name it.

And she’s unbelievably gorgeous!! She’s on my Top 10 Most Beautiful Actresses list. Look at her teeth! So perfect, so white! And her skin! Oh My God! The most beautiful skin I’ve ever seen! And her big, dark eyes! Those eyes are super beautiful! Her body is far from perfect, at least by my taste. But it makes her even more adorable.

Btw, when I went downstairs to get the hot water for my chocolate, I found chocolate flavored Energen Cereal. So, after I finished my hot chocolate, now I’m busy chewing on the Energen Cereal powder. One of my favorite snacks!

Hey, you know what? I’m gonna tell you about the seminar now, not in the next post as I said earlier.

So, on Saturday I went to a great seminar. Really! That seminar was awesome! I usually fall asleep in a seminar. Correction: I ALWAYS fall asleep in every seminar I ever attend. Every single one of them.

But I didn’t sleep on Saturday’s seminar. It was too inspiring! I didn’t even feel sleepy at all. The main speaker was the most successful young motivator in Indonesia, Mr. Bong Chandra. And then there were three other great speakers: Mr. Kevin Osmond, Ms. Grace Natalie, and… for me, the most inspiring one, Mr. Leonard Theosabrata!

They all have given me a whole lot new ideas, perspectives, thoughts, and of course, information and knowledge. But for me, personally, I was so amazed with Leonard, because it was the very first time I saw a speaker speaks so bluntly. I’m so in love! No, not that way. I know he’s married. I mean, I know you know what I mean.

He said he hardly ever read a book. He said he only read like… five books or something, for his entire life! And he said he never bother to pretend to be someone he’s not. He doesn’t care about branding. He is just whoever he is. I fell in love with him with every word he said. Seriously.

I just didn’t know a successful business man could be that casual. He’s really casual, not only the way he dressed that day, but the way he talks, the way he thinks. I feel like he’s the only seminar speaker I can relate to. He’s so casual, simple, funny, charming, yet bold, brave, and somewhat genius.

Among all the great things and ideas he said in the seminar, I just can’t stop thinking about what he said about the ‘Mindfulness’.

“Mindfulness is the art of conscious living. You didn’t have to be a Buddhist or a yogi to practice it. Waking up and seeing things as they are. A practical way to be more in touch with the fullness of your being through a systematic process of self-observation, self-inquiry, and mindful action. Mindfulness practice is gentle, appreciative, and nurturing, heartfulness.” That’s what was written on his slides.

Mindfulness. Yeah, so I’ve heard. I knew. But it was so hard to do. For me, to be conscious is difficult. To be in touch, to be heartful, to be focus on something is one of the most difficult things to do. Some said I might have an ADD. And I think it is probably true. I mean…, just read my blog! Read my entries. Read how I always jump from one thing to another. That’s how easily my focus moves.

That has been an issue for me. I can’t keep focus on my conversation with people. I can't even focus while kissing. But that doesn't really matter. Anyway, I just can’t keep focus on the present. My mind is (almost) always everywhere but at the present moment.

I’m trying to practice mindfulness in everything I do in my everyday life. But I do have some things that I can do with mindfulness, like:

1.      Mathematics, pattern, and anagram

2.      Drawing, making sketch, making artwork

3.      Destroying things

4.      Playing games

5.      Eating

Yes, eating. I can stop all the activities and thought when I eat. I’ll focus on my food, enjoying every bite, smelling it, taste it, feeling the texture while I chew it, the sound of it. Sometimes the taste of a food can even make me dance. Taste is like a music. I can say I have a pretty special relationship with food.

That’s why I actually really hate it when people talk to me during meal time. I hate talking while eating. But sometimes I just have to.

Okay, I’ll tell you more inspiring things about the seminar when I got the time. See you later! Ciao!

Keel's Diary: Day 2

Forgot to post it on Friday. Ugh! (My days have been busy.

Keel’s Simple Diary: Day 2 (no. 45)

Date: Friday, January 20, 2017

Your day was (only choose one): ( ) a ruler              ( ) a junction        (v) fooling around

Explain why:

…because I was just fooling around, that’s why. Oh, I went to the cheapest and nearest salon to cut my hair. And I made some artworks. And I finished watching the latest episode of ‘This is Us’. OMG that series makes me cry every single time. I think maybe it was the last episode for the first season. Well, I hope not. If it was, then I couldn’t wait for the next season to begin. But BTW, I got a spoiler that next week they would reveal… yeah it doesn’t matter. But point is there will be next episode next week. So… yeay! Do you watch ‘This is Us’? If you do, which character do you relate the most? Mine is Kevin.

Many are insisting on doing something nice to me. Thanks guys, really. I love you.

“No reason to comment on a stupid comment.”

Tell me about it!

Yes! You are right! You are totally right!

I was just so pissed with all those stupidity!

Yeah, so, as always, here in my very country, the people are fighting about political things. It’s just so annoying for me to see stupid posts from stupid people with stupid comments from another stupid people. They say stupid religious things like… okay, I don’t wanna offend any religion here. Anyway, I posted some comments and it pissed some airheads. Lol! But it was useless anyway. So, yeah, there is no reason to comment on a stupid comment.

A particular directive you find very disturbing: well..., let's see... any particular directive can be pretty disturbing, because it is particular, and it is directive. So...

The right moment:                                                        Perfect timing:

A special condition                                                        Comes and goes

Requires awareness                                                      Allows spontaneity

Whatsoever!

A type of social event you find rather uneventful: arisan, WTF is the point? I don’t get it. I never get it!