muscle pain

Your freedom to swing your fist ends where someone else's nose begins.
-- Franklin Veaux's answer to Are we truly free in the United States? --

I tried this exercise at the gym called hyperextension. At first, I was not aware of the name of the exercise.　Until Ravi Singh told me, that is. All I knew was people lean their bellies on waist-high surface and start doing sit-up-like movements.


Like this.

I thought it would train the muscles on my stomach and started doing it, two days in a row at the gym.

... I knew better today after waking up to the most awful pain my hamstrings ever experienced. =__=

(The hamstring is the muscle on the back of one's thigh)

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putri kendedes

The owner of Putri Kendedes [sic] sure liked Soekarno a lot! He decorated the whole restaurant with Bung Karno's memorabilia.

Soekarno, the first president of Indonesia is known to had been married several times to pretty ladies. While Naoko Nemoto is no doubt the prettiest of them all, Fatmawati bore the most children. There was a picture of Fatmawati's children with their parents. Said picture lacked the youngest sibling, Guruh, because the relationship between Soekarno and Fatmawati went sour following his birth. To the extent that Fatmawati didn't even visit Soekarno on his deathbed. However when they were still all lovey-dovey, they were a cute couple.


This picture of Fatmawati rode behind Soekarno on a bike, for example.

Oh, about what this restaurant sells -- Indonesian food, something in between Sundanese and Javanese. I like its grilled gourami fish with vegetables and rice.

But you absolutely must taste its soursop juice. The sweetness, smoothness, tanginess and coldness are uncomparable! The best soiursop juice I've ever drank!

Location: Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia.

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brain rendering is really something

Lately my brain incorporate more and more people into my dreams. Last night was the peak. A city square was utilized by a performing group of which members included two of my male friends. Like many others, I sat on the ground with a female friend of mine. The show itself was magnificent, with 19th century France-ish costumes, make up, stage properties, etc.

There were two big screens above the stage, it replayed bits of important scenes, similar to replays of goal scenes on a soccer match or a FIFA videogame, really.

My friend who was in charge of a particular scene lit his lighter. People playing as the crowd were supposed to follow the fire with their eyes and head movements. The lighter moves from the right side of the stage to the left side, where other performers stood in a wedding-esque pose, ready to enter the stage. The playback of this scene turned out amazing!

However, the most awesome part was when the crew managed to release hundreds/thousands of grasshoppers. The sky above us suddenly darkened as the grasshoppers fly in circles above our heads, and some of them get tangled in the girls' hair. I myself got one.


Kinda like this.

That being said, I didn't pay much attention to the show. Earlier that day (still in my dream) my mother said she's going on a date with my ex. She was ecstatic like a kid on a candy store.

Yes, pretty f*cked up, I know.

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on visiting indonesia: tips for foreigners

So a friend is visiting Indonesia in September. She asked me for travel tips.

Since she said my answer was 'really helpful' to her, I'd just copy-and-paste it here.

General travel tips:
1. Have your documents (passport, ID, etc) copied and ready.
2. Let a friend at your hometown check on you every once in a while.
3. Have cards with important words (airport, hotel, how much, doctor, etc): in your native language on one side, in your destination country's language on another side.

Indonesia only:
1. Avoid wearing short bottoms (skirts, shorts) at public places on your first visit. If you've visited that place before and people wear short bottoms there, then you are free to do it on next visit.
2. Our food can be too spicy and/or too unsanitary for foreigners from first-world countries. Prepare accordingly.
3. We call any Caucasian 'bule'. It's read boo-lay. Not derogatory, unless tied with swear words.
4. Sometimes we call you 'londo'. It's read lawn-though. Same as above.
5. We have mosquitos. A lot of them.
6. We have some men who don't want to shake hands with women for religious reasons. Not a lot of them, but you might encounter them as a group in social settings.
7. September used to be the time of climate changing, from dry season to rainy one. But thanks to global warming, I don't think you'll need any umbrellas in September.

I'll add more later if I find something new.

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