facing your giants

When I read this book's excerpt on Max Lucado's site, I thought "Who on earth can write a whole book about that battle between David and Goliath?" That battle, however famous, cannot fill a whole book.

... Or can it?

But turns out there were other giants beside Goliath David had to face! Want to know who they are? Read the book! ;)

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tricky robbery

Two days ago my friend's house get robbed. There were not any casualties. It was done in stealth, although we think the robber was armed, it was not an armed robbery. It went on like this: that noon, my friend was not at home. Her husband and baby were also out of the house. The only person left in the house is their housemaid.

Came some men in disguise of cable repairman. The maid let them go in. They proceeded to do some technician-y thing behind the TV, then they told the maid they needed to pull a cable up to the roof. The maid showed them a hole on the ceiling or they managed to poke a hole themselves, I was not clear, but then like 90's action movies they located main bedroom. After reaching main bedroom they poked a hole on the ceiling again and enter that room from above.

My friend (and her maid) was not aware of the deeds until later that night when my friend returned home. She lost i-Pad and some cash. The robbers, in search of valuables, turned her bedroom into a mess.

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3 days to kill

With the same screenwriter as Taxi has, 3 Days to Kill sure shares some of its hilarious jokes. The story evolves around a dying man who needs to be a hitman for a certain woman in exchange of medication for his terminal cancer. His tasks are getting more and more complicated as the family he had abandoned, whom he contacted with reconciliation in mind prior to his meeting with this injection woman, come in his way.

This movie also has some surreal scenes, as seen through main character's eyes, while he is fighting side effects of the medicine. But maybe it is reality. I don't know. His employer is a very strange yet beautiful woman. I personally love her style when she wears that white-blode wig. She shows profusely that she is attracted to the main character. But she is probably a bisexual for arranging a cabaret turning into striptease show in her place. But again, maybe the striptease is just main character's hallucination.

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eurasian nose peak

I got this unconventional make up tutorial from the internet. It differs from other make up tricks I have read so far.

First you have to whiten the bridge of the nose with concealer. Then use the concealer to draw a circle or ellipse on the nose peak, above the nostrils. Then draw U-shape framing that peak using gray eyeshadow lightly. Or black eyeshadow very lightly. Then dab face powder all over the nose.

Tadah! You now have the nose of an eurasian!

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i, frankenstein

It is very vampire-vs-werewolf-y than the traditional making of movies with similar titles. Victor Frankenstein, the mad scientist only appeared for less than 10 mins in this movie, half of the time as a dead corpse on the ground.

The creature Victor made soon got trapped in the war between demons and gargoyles. Queen of gargoyles named him Adam. After betrayal from both sides he eventually sided with the gargoyles.

Adam Frankenstein was very muscular. When female protagonist tended his injuries (on his back, thus the shirtless lapse of time), I elbowed my lover. "What do you think if after the movie we went to cemetery to fetch guys with muscles?" He was not very muscular. And was not amused. And he kept pinching my cheek. XD

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judge and jury

So I was doing this translation job for a friend. Judge and Jury by James Patterson. As I stepped into higher chapters I realized why this novel hasn't been translated into Indonesian language yet. It is because inside there are a lot of idioms we are not familiar with.

For example poker. There are hole cards, ante, fold, raise, chip, pot, flush, low pairs, etc. Crime: union tampering, mistrial. Chess: opening, pawn break, etc. How am I supposed to translate all of them, making my readers who are not familiar with poker or chess or American justice system understand what's going on in the novel?

In the end I didn't translate most of those words but did add some explanation in other sentences... I feel bad... What should a translator do in such case?

Anyway, the story is about mafia in New York. First time I received it from the customer I was always on my toes until I finished reading it. If you have time you should read it. It put me on suspense!

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too much dark horses can rot your soul

Planes and Turbo. One is a crop duster and the other is a snail. Both want to be the fastest they can be. I managed to finish Planes, but only get halfway through Turbo.

Don't get me wrong. I like movies where the main character is someone of low importance rising to prominence, but there are too many movies like these being made. With similar predictable plot. With lower and lower start point it starts getting ridiculous. Hey people if this snail can be the fastest then you also can reach your dream! Get a grab of it!

P-patronizing!

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stop trying to get closure from people

There is an old Indonesian song, its lyrics being translated to English say as follows:
"Why did you go away? Why did you let me down? Why did you destroy... I am asking for an (your) answer with a hollow feeling."

So many people (if not just me) are left without answer. Just like that. Be it in love, friendship or business, it seems like some people are digging holes in our hearts, the hollowness that can be filled only with their explanation of why they did what they did.

We want closure! We crave for reason! Because we think over and over again and cannot find any.

You know what? Maybe the reason is not us. We cannot find it because it is in them.

Lately I read a fella looking for help, here is excerpt of the answer he got:

When you see her, it sounds like the the thoughts that run through your head are things like: "How could she! I am so hurt! Why won't she talk to me?" Flip it around and practice thinking things like "How sad that she has to play games. How sad that she chooses to tolerate people who fuck with people. I pity her."
Quit feeling hurt. Start feeling pity.
You are never going to get a decent explanation from her... so don't try to get it.

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pempek sriwijaya

I now bestow the title of best pempek on earth to Pempek Sriwijaya of Sidoarjo. It is located on Duryat Street, and I eat there everytime possible.

If you happen to visit this city, order their submarine super-dry-fired without shrimp powder, just like I always do. It is heavenly, kid you not. Also there are two kind of sour sauce, the one with chili and the one without. Always go for the one with chili. And while you're there, try their snow ice with peanut. Yummy to the max!

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man in steel

Watching this movie makes me think: so did Lana know Clark Kent is Superman from the beginning or didn't she?

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durian juice with beer

I drank the most delicious beer ever, it was mixed with juiced durian and sugar at Sriwijaya Foodcourt near Dinoyo area. Consequently it was also the most delicious juice I have ever drank. The foodcourt also sells other juices and food such as meatball, soto, barbecue on stick, etc but I didn't manage to taste them.

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toenails

Clipping my toenails feels good... My toes feel lighter and cooler afterwards. It's a pity I cannot do it more often, as toenails grow much slower than nails on my hands.

I believe there is an explanation of that difference of growth speed, maybe in books like Why Do Men Have Nipples? - Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask A Doctor After Your Third Martini. Those books' popularity proves that our people have high curiosity over trivial things, to the point that they are willing to pay a price for it.

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drupal and smarty

In my journey of learning CMSes, Smarty has the most steep (steepest?) learning curve. Until now I still cannot manage to install it on my computer.

Second place goes to Drupal, so awful, scratching my head deep trying to differentiate regions, zones, sections. Not included setting view up. Aargh!

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reward mentality

The danger of having a deed-reward mentality is that it becomes hard for us to understand the will of God when we are frustrated. Oh, why is this happening to me? Why is God is not listening to my prayers? What have I done wrong?
-- Deed-Reward Mentality --

I must confess, I have this sort of mentality. In extreme. So when something I'm working on doesn't show immediate result, I get frustrated, and in more than one occasion quit.

Oh the humongous list! Learning drums, guitar, Latin dance, cooking, Arabic, sewing, Phyton, driving, swimming, gift-wrapping, just to name a few.

But this post won't end on me lamenting over them. For many years my eyes were shut on this matter, like a blind man I kept wondering why I can't finish most things that I had started. Now I know! You can't imagine my joy!

The question is, what next?

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campanula rapunculus -- part two

When I was browsing about the plant, I stumbled upon its use on homeopathy. Homeopathy is methods of curing diseases by using plants that has similar criteria with them. Similar cures similar, it said.

So Campanula Rapunculus heals those who worry a lot, who doesn't have firm stand in life (due to its nature of wiggling if blown by the wind).

Homeopathy said something about water memory, too. Can't be bothered to look it up now, have a friend waiting for me at Tunjungan Plaza, got to go!

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campanula rapunculus

A kind of purple bellflower, I wonder how Grimm brothers could write that Rapunzel's mother had drooled over this plant during her pregnancy. I mean it is flowering plant, bell-shaped, with purple color. Must say looks a little toxic to me.

By the way how did ancient people know which plant was edible and which plant wasn't? Were they having a volunteer or was a not-so-fortunate man from the tribe chosen (read: forced) to test the poison level on assorted plants by eating them?

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is this a dead-end?

Seth said that asking yourself 'Is this something that will respond to guts, effort and investment?' helps you decide whether or not this is where you can commit.

He kinda opened my eyes on my current situation. This man is brilliant. Some other time he told me people are not rational. Which happen to be realized as truth, days later. I think I'm gonna worship him now.

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