on oversharing

I've been very grumpy for the last several months, and things that I encountered in life didn't help my temperament either. One of the things that I usually do to take a break from the rage is to go to social networking site. However, lately it only makes it worse.

My biggest issue is with the News Feed. Even though, I don't need to deal with useless game invitation anymore, the problem now moves to people within my Friends List. These friends overflow my News Feed with all aspects of their lives. Including some that I don't think are not necessary, unimportant to others, and even bordering on oversharing. It's too much information, people!

Goddamit, I don't need to know where you check in EVERY HOUR. I don't need your "wise" quotes EVERY 10 MINUTES. I don't need to see the same picture taken from multiple angles. I don't need to see what you wear and what's on your face EVERYDAY. And I certainly don't need to know the story of your love life. Yeah you've been rejected/dumped/got into a fight. Boo hoo. Move on, you're not the only one. It's too bad that you haven't realized that life sucks. I've had enough drama in my life, and if I want to see more drama, I'd go to the cinema and pay for it.

All of these make me feel like a voyeur and I'm really not comfortable with it. Don't people respect or have a need for privacy anymore? Life is private and social networking doesn't mean you have to be "social" in every part of your life.

The worst case was when one of my friends was tagged in a picture of a woman breastfeeding her son. If the picture is discreet and cover things that should be covered, it should be fine. But it's not, and it's almost a full blown XXX picture. The guy who posted the picture should be court-martialed and then executed for idiocy.

Previously, this pet peeve is not an issue, because there's a feature where one has an option to hide updates from people that they don't want to see. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I gleefully put several names on that list. I don't have the heart to unfriend them, because even though they're not really close with me, I once interacted with them in my life.

I have even contemplated to cancel my account altogether. But I still have the need to interact with my friends, and the site is a convenient way to keep in touch with them.

When I can't really stand it anymore, the last resort would be to sort out my List, unfriend the worst repeat offenders, or enroll myself in an anger management course. It's not a bad idea to tell everyone that you join anger management course as your Status Update. It's surely not over sharing, right?

another decision time

The idea grew overnight. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that I don't have the patience nor the passion to stay longer to do it. Examples from the last couple of months only strengthen the notion.

This whole idea of being in the rat race is really inevitable and you're always on the lookout for greener pasture. But will the pasture be actually greener? Will it be better? Will it make me happy? Can I really get it?

Another decision to ponder. Another gamble to take.

on daring the devil

I need to make one thing clear. I'm NOT an adrenaline junkie. But I love whitewater rafting, am longing to go bungee jumping, try the most challenging roller coaster, and do skydiving. I can't really explain why I want to do it, other than there's something inside me that's dying to try that out.

When I was in Bali, I almost went to A.J. Hackett to do my bungee jumping there, until the wife said that she'd let me do it only after I left her 100 billion rupiahs in her bank account. I sulked because she wouldn't accept installment either.

Even when we were in Movie World Gold Coast, she didn't allow me to try Batwing Spaceshot and Superman Escape. Superman Escape is just a normal roller coaster, while Batwing Spaceshot is probably more exciting because the riders will be shot 60 metres up and then going back down again.

Therefore, I rejoiced when Universal Studios Singapore announced that their main attraction would be a dueling Battlestar Galactica roller coaster. I drooled while reading the news and imagining what it's like to be strapped in that seat and have your world turned upside down for 3 minutes. I was happy because it's closer to home and I could go by myself.

However, a couple of weeks after they opened the park, they had to close the roller coaster as one of the seats fell down during their morning test. So they suspended its operation indefinitely until they've fixed the issue.

That's why I was a bit disappointed when I finally went to Universal Studios Singapore with my sister's family last year. I played all the attractions with my brother-in-law & nephew, and there's nothing challenging for me. The closest thing was when I tried the Canopy Flyer in the Jurassic Park area. Something didn't feel right when you're hanging 30m above the ground and your feet couldn't feel anything solid beneath them.

Then, we arrived at Revenge of The Mummy. My sister wanted to come along until the usher told her to store her bags in the locker room. She didn't want to do that, so she decided to stay behind and wait for us. In hindsight, it was a correct decision.

The three of us climbed the stairs and queued inside the mock pyramid complete with spiderwebs, fake sarcophagus, mummified Pharaohs, and lights from iPhone. I didn't know the Egyptians loved their iPhones so much.

When it's our turn to board the roller coaster, my brother-in-law, who only joined the ride because his son asked him to, asked to sit at the back of the ride as he said it'd have the least impact. So we followed him and sat at the last row. We're still joking and laughing when suddenly the roller coaster drop backwards making us the first and the worst to feel the impact.

All hell broke loose and we all screamed like there's no tomorrow. It's a non-stop twist and turn that I can understand what Sir Alex Ferguson meant when he said Ryan Giggs could make defenders have twisted blood. The complete darkness only made it worse because we couldn't anticipate what's next coming our way to lessen the impact. It felt like forever and there were times when I wanted to open the straps and jumped out of the ride.

I didn't think I could be happier when the ride was finally over. My 6-year old nephew, whom I admit is braver than me, was very quiet; a sign that the ride was also terrifying for him.

The final insult, however, was displayed after the Exit door. There's a small stall showing the automated pictures of us while we were in the roller coaster. I managed to find one picture of us in which my nephew was white as a paper, my brother-in-law was somewhere between losing his mind and collapsed, and that was me with mouth open as wide as the universe and eyes almost popped out of the socket. I didn't know I could audition for Jim Carrey's part in The Mask.

It was an image that I would remember forever because it's probably how I will look like when finally Grim Reaper taps me on my shoulder.

The experience didn't kill off my daredevil instinct. Instead, it only gives more fuel to the fire. I still long for finally doing bungee jumping.

But first, another visit to Universal Studios Singapore beckons. They finally managed to get the all-clear for Battlestar Galactica roller coaster. So it's time to wear that brave face, join the queue, put the straps on, and let's see if I can replicate the same facial expression again.

This time around, I won't listen to my brother-in-law.

sun pan

When I was growing up in Lampung, one of the things that I loved the most was the number of food sellers passing by on our street every day. There was also a variety of food sold depending on the time of day.

In the morning, you can order mie bakso or miso as what we call in Lampung. It was basically a bowl of beef ball soup, accompanied with yellow egg noodle or bihun (rice vermicelli) and a sprinkle of fried shallot. I didn't know what they put in the soup, but I would think it would contain beef bones, offal, plus fats. There were rumours that some other sellers would put other things beside those items to get more customers. But then, it is another story for another post.

You could order your miso based on your preference, types of noodle, and condiments. Mine always consisted of meat balls, egg noodle & rice vermicelli, lots of sweet soya sauce, a bit of chili sauce, and no tomato ketchup.

The miso seller's name was Bejo. He was definitely the darling of our street because of his miso. There was once a time when he was gone from our street because local police prohibited him to do his business from the sidewalk. We missed him a lot, and rejoiced when he finally was able to deliver his miso as usual several months later.

Another food that you could order in the morning was Soto Ayam. This one was the Javanese version with chicken, small beansprout, rice vermicelli, perkedel (potato cutlet), and also fried tempeh. You could also order to have rice added into your soto. As the same case with Bejo's miso, you would need to wait around 30 minutes to have the food delivered as you weren't the only hungry people on the street.

More food types could be found in the afternoon such as fried beancurd. You could order a few beancurd and then they would slather sweet soya sauce or chili sauce on top of your beancurd.

Another food would be the otak-otak or otah for those living in Singapore or Malaysia. It was essentially fish paste wrapped in banana leaf which would then be steamed before it was then grilled. You would eat otak-otak with peanut sauce.

Indonesian version of otak-otak was quite different with the version found in Singapore & Malaysia. While our version was white, quite sweet, and firmer in texture, otah was a bit orange-ish and spicier. Otah never looked appealing for me, that's why I never ate it here.

Other than otak-otak, our favourite seller also sell ketan (sticky rice with shredded coconut) that you would eat with sambal chili. You would need to use your hand to eat it, because afterwards nothing beat the joy of licking every leftover coconut or sticky rice from your fingers.

Actually, there was another guy who sold otak-otak, but we never bought from him because of his aggressive style. When he came to our store, he would drop his otak-otak basket and then tell us that his otak-otak were still hot and asked whether we wanted them. All of this in a tone and style that you would see & hear whenever a guy wanted to have a fight with you. You're supposed to sell otak-otak and not challenge your customer to a fight, dude!

Another seller who was totally different than the agressive guy was the Pecel lady. Pecel is almost similar with Gado Gado, except for the fact that Pecel has more types of vegetable in it and that Pecel uses rempeyek (peanut crackers) rather than the normal crackers or Emping used in Gado Gado.

The lady also had a unique style in the way she carried her items. She would put all the vegetables and peanut sauce on a wide bamboo basket which was then carried on top of her head! On her back, she would carry the rempeyek can just like what you saw in young ladies selling jamu gendong.

We would then choose the vegetables that we wanted, which she'd put on a banana leaf and pour peanut sauce on top of it. If you like it, you could also put rempeyek on top of the veggie before she poured the sauce. That's my preference, really. I could probably finish the whole can of rempeyek soaked in peanut sauce. Getting sore throat afterward is just the problem for another day.

The last food and my most favourite from them all was sun pan. It was a traditional Chinese snack made of steamed sago flour with minced pork & bean, or bamboo shoots. It might be similar with the Teochew version of choi pan, but sun pan's skin was smoother and more transparent. Not to mention much better :)

In my whole life, there's only one sun pan seller ever. The same guy keeps going around selling sun pan from when I was small until now. Some of my childhood friends also swear that they only know him when it comes to sun pan.

Recently, I asked my Mom to bring some sun pan for me when I came to Jakarta. She called me that she couldn't find the seller. Then, several minutes later, she texted me saying that I was damn lucky because after she hung up on me, she saw the sun pan guy on the sidewalk!

What's more amazing was that this guy told my Mom that he didn't work for his old boss anymore. However, he now works for a new boss and this boss also produces sun pan! It's like the guy is born to sell sun pan for life. If that's not dedication or destiny, then I don't know what else it is.

Sadly after all these years, I still don't know his name. I just call him "Bang". So, abang Sun Pan, wherever you are, this post is for you. To honor your dedication, and to thank you for the unlimited joy that you've brought me whenever you called to announce that you've arrived...

"Suuun Paaan"