A Drummer Who Sang

I listen to oldies more than contemporary songs. I think it's partly due to the sentimental reason that I used to hear them. When I was a kid, my Dad would play the music from his era right after he came home from work. That aside, for the fact that oldies stand the test of time, they must be lyrically and musically good. One definitely can't go wrong with, let's say, songs from Bee Gees, ABBA or John Denver.

As I'm into oldies, it's only natural that I will bring the music to my daughter's life, be it intentional or not. When she was a baby, I sang Love Comes to Everyone by George Harrison as I put her to bed. When she was two, it was Good Night from the Beatles. As he grew older and discovered a Christmas song called Mary's Boy Child, we watched Boney M together (sorry, Harry Belafonte). When her mother bought her an album full of Christian songs, I introduced her to Mahalia Jackson's gospel version of Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. For her rock music education, I showed her the video of Layla, where the intro played by Eric Clapton shocked the bass player, and she loved it so much since then.

Recently, as I was having my dinner, my daughter Linda came to me while humming a tune that was immediately recognized by me. It was Top of the World. She told me that she heard of it at school. Apparently the school showed the video (a version with cartoon drawings and sung by kids) to students and, as it was a catchy song, Linda loved it right away. I was intrigued by this and personally impressed by how the lyrics suddenly sounded so different thanks to its childlike innocence quality when sung by a bunch of kids. We talked about it and I explained to her that it was actually an old song by a band called the Carpenters. Then I showed her the real deal.

As the YouTube video played, we saw Karen, drumming and singing at the same time. It'd been a while since I listened to the Carpenters and, to quote the band itself, it was like yesterday once more. The inimitable voice of Karen Carpenter, the moment you heard it, you'd know for sure it was unmistakably hers. It wasn't exactly high or strong, but the quality was soothing and endearing, it was as if she was at ease by not trying too hard but having some fun while doing that. The joy was infectious.

I told Linda about how special Karen's voice was, not knowing for sure if she actually understood what I was saying. Then we talked about her drumming, which was kind of rare for a girl her to drum, especially during that era, but Karen managed to do that. In fact, she was, by her own admission, a drummer who sang. As we looked at her pictures where she lost weight due to anorexia, I got carried away by talking about how she struggled with her short life and eventually died at a very young age.

I paused for a while afterwards, wondering if I had crossed the line by telling her about death. Sensing that I'd reached the point of no return, I told her that is life. Even though Karen was a star, she wasn't without problems. However, we remember her for the great moments that she had shared with us when she was alive. The world is a better place today because of her talents.

Then we went on with Yesterday Once More. I surely had to introduce my daughter the Carpenters' greatest hit! As I heard Karen singing, I got teary, really. Her voice brought me back to the day when my wife and I took our pre-wedding picture. I remember sitting there on the bridge when the sun was slowly setting. As I looked at my beautiful future wife, the only things that kept replaying in my mind was Close to You and We've Only Just Begun, both from the Carpenters...

We've only just begun...

What The Housewives Said

It's funny how a casual chat will lead you into an uncharted territory sometimes. Here's one thing that I never thought I would write about: the importance of being beautiful. As we all know but seldom acknowledge it, being a housewife is easily one of the most underrated jobs, especially when compared with the more glamorous career woman. It's one hell of a job that is around-the-clock, but yet often overlooked and taken for granted with no appreciation at all. In the midst of the busy activities of being somebody else's wife and mother, here comes the crucial question: is it still relevant to be beautiful?

The all-important question above was explored together with housewives from three different places: Susanti from Ketapang, a small but rapidly developing town; Vivi from Pontianak, the town where Yours Truly came from; and Wiwi from Kota Kemuning, a township just south of Shah Alam, Malaysia. It's interesting to note that, while the interviews were conducted on three separate occasions, the answers were pretty much the same.

First of all, the three interviewees tended to agree that being a housewife is a never ending job that covers from mundane chores like brushing toilet tiles to having concerns such as teaching children the school lessons you barely understand and to be worried sick when the children were ill. While facing the aforementioned pressing matters, some might have neglected the idea of staying pretty. That's where they go wrong, but not our ladies here. According to them, it's good if you stay pretty for your husband, but more than that, to be beautiful is very much a woman's thing. It's like a basic human right. It makes you feel good, it gives you confidence and it's a form of self-respect.

This should be translated in the day-to-day appearance. Of course women shouldn't go over the top for that, but being well-dressed and having a natural make-up is a must. Let's not forget that husbands are diplomatic creatures, so it's normal for them to say, "I love you just the way you are." That's also one way to avoid unnecessary confrontation (haha) or, in Vivi's perspective, that's one of the husband's ways to save money. However, what must be understood is, being beautiful is actually not a selfish act at all. On the contrary, it goes to show that you also love yourself, which is alright and humane. It's always good for women to be radiant and fashionable. Husbands may not directly ask for it, but they'll be definitely happy to come home to an attractive wife.

This eventually leads to the budget one has and this was where the answers varied. There's no right or wrong about it, but it's more of how you make do with the situation you are in. For a start, one can watch out on the diet and work out at home. If you are healthy, big chance you are pretty, too. If budget permits, that's when spa and hair treatment come into play. The logic is, if less important things such as cars go for services once a month, then all the more reason that women also deserve some me time.

Now, apart from being a budget provider, how important is husband's role as a sounding board when it comes to aesthetic aspects? Well, unless the husband is fashionable himself, most of the time he'll stay away from such discussion, because he knows only what he doesn't like when he sees one and rarely has any brilliant ideas about what is good for the wife. In my case, I'll go to autopilot mode of nodding seriously and saying yes or sure while my mind is wandering elsewhere. It's just not my cup of tea, really. Personally, I'm quite relieved to know that ladies barely care about guys' opinions, anyway. Husbands can consider themselves lucky if the wives even give a damn to ask and take the feedback as an extra option.

But it's not like they won't ask at all. Sometimes women can be considerate and courteous enough to ask for their husbands' opinions. This, mind you, is likely to be their way of preempting their husbands if something shocking is coming, for example, the changing from long hair to short hair. More often than not, guys can't prevent that from happening, but since we've been warned, I guess it's for us to suck it up and live with it.

If there's any consolation for husbands, anything that is more radical than eyebrow embroidery is actually not in the list of any decent Indonesian women in their 30s (based on the sampling here, which is three out of three, it's 100% accurate!). It's safe to say that things such as breast enhancement and liposuction are out of the window, at least for now. The thing with women is, unless they are going through a midlife crisis or lack of confidence, none of them is actually crazy enough to go for the extreme.

For all the housewives out there, if you are so haggard-looking to the extent that it's hard for your husband to tell the difference between the wife and the maid, then you may want to get your act together after reading this. There are times when it is unavoidable that you'll look below par, but if you make it as a norm, then it's a disaster waiting to happen. Say all you like about loving your other half till death do you guys part, but it's not going to work unless you work on it.

Make time to love yourself. Women are smart and technology is so advanced these days. It's either you'd like to action on it or not. As Wiwi aptly said it by quoting a Chinese proverb, there is no ugly woman in this world, but there are surely lazy women around (这世界上没有丑女人, 只有懒女人). Hope this helps! Give it a thought, women!

From the left: Wiwi and Vivi

Apa Kata Ibu-Ibu Rumah Tangga?

Berikut ini adalah topik yang tidak pernah terpikirkan untuk ditulis sebelumnya: pentingnya seorang ibu rumah tangga untuk tetap tampil menawan. Seperti yang kita ketahui tapi jarang akui, ibu rumah tangga itu pekerjaan yang paling sering tidak dianggap pekerjaan, apalagi kalau bandingannya adalah wanita karir, padahal sibuknya ibu rumah tangga itu melebihi pekerjaan-pekerjaan lainnya. Ibu rumah tangga itu pekerjaan yang boleh dikatakan tidak ada habisnya, tapi kerap kali tidak mendapatkan apresiasi. Nah, kalau sudah terlampau sibuk dengan kehidupan sebagai seorang istri dan ibu, apakah masih perlu untuk tetap terlihat cantik?

Topik ini lantas dibedah dalam beberapa pertanyaan untuk ditanggapi oleh ibu-ibu dari tiga tempat berbeda: Susanti dari Ketapang, kota kecil yang sedang berkembang pesat; Vivi dari Pontianak, tempat asal Penulis; dan Wiwi dari Kota Kemuning, sebuah kota di selatan Shah Alam, Malaysia. Hasilnya sungguh mencengangkan. Meski interview dilakukan secara terpisah, jawabannya kurang lebih sama. Mari kita lihat.

Pada dasarnya, ibu-ibu yang diwawancarai ini setuju bahwa profesi ibu rumah tangga itu mencakup banyak hal, mulai dari hal-hal rutin seperti menyikat lantai kamar mandi sampai beraneka ragam masalah yang menyita perhatian, misalnya membantu anak mengerjakan PR atau tidur yang tidak nyenyak di kala anak sakit. Ketika menghadapi tantangan seperti itu dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, terkadang seorang ibu bisa lupa memperhatikan dirinya sendiri. Ini ada kekeliruan fatal karena menurut Wiwi dan kawan-kawan, tampil memukau adalah hak dan kodrat seorang wanita. Adalah baik jika seorang wanita berdandan untuk suaminya, namun yang lebih penting lagi adalah bagaimana kecantikan itu membuat seorang merasa lebih baik dan percaya diri.

Prinsip ini wajib diterapkan dalam penampilan sehari-hari. Seorang wanita tidak harus berlebihan dalam penampilan, tetapi perlu untuk terlihat rapi dan menarik. Jangan lupa bahwa suami adalah makhluk sosial yang diplomatis, jadi normal bagi mereka untuk berkata, "saya mencintaimu apa adanya." Ini adalah salah satu trik paling jitu untuk menghindari konflik yang tidak perlu dalam rumah tangga (haha) atau, dalam sudut pandang Vivi, ini adalah satu cara suami untuk menghemat uang. Bagi wanita, sekali lagi perlu untuk dimengerti bahwa upaya untuk terlihat cantik itu bukan sesuatu yang egois. Justru sebaliknya, itu adalah upaya untuk menyayangi diri sendiri, sesuatu yang baik dan manusiawi. Seorang suami tentu saja tidak akan meminta secara langsung, tapi tidak ada suami yang tidak merasa bahagia ketika pulang ke pelukan istrinya yang memikat.

Menjadi cantik tentunya tidak murah dan butuh biaya. Jawaban dari tiga peserta kita pun berbeda di sini, tergantung kondisi masing-masing. Tidak ada jawaban benar dan salah tentunya, sebab yang lebih tepat adalah bagaimana seorang wanita harus menyikapinya. Yang paling mendasar adalah diet dan olahraga, suatu hal yang bisa dilakukan siapa saja. Jika seseorang sehat, maka besar kemungkinan kalau orang itu akan terlihat segar dan menarik. Selanjutnya, jika anggaran rumah tangga memungkinkan, tentu saja seorang wanita boleh pergi ke spa atau salon. Logikanya sederhana saja. Jika mobil saja diservis tiap bulan, maka sudah sepantasnya seorang wanita menikmati waktu santai mereka untuk merawat diri.

Kalau begitu, selain menjadi orang yang menafkahi istri, seperti apa peran seorang suami dalam perihal kecantikan? Seorang suami yang tidak mengerti fashion, hanya tahu apa yang dia tidak sukai dan tidak bisa memberikan masukan berarti sebaiknya menjauh, kecuali kalau diminta pendapatnya. Hasil survei interview ini menunjukkan bahwa para wanita biasanya sudah tahu apa yang mereka mau, jadi pendapat suami biasanya hanyalah sebagai saran yang sebenarnya tidak terlalu diperlukan.

Akan tetapi, berhubung wanita adalah ciptaan Tuhan yang misterius, ada kalanya mereka iseng bertanya. Jangan salah tanggap, sebab itu mungkin cara mereka untuk memberitahukan suami secara tidak langsung tentang sesuatu yang drastis dan tidak terelakkan, misalnya tiba-tiba saja istri mau ganti model dari rambut panjang ke rambut pendek. Kalau istri sudah ada kemauan seperti itu, kecil kemungkinan kita bisa mengubahnya, jadi kita hanya bisa menerima dengan lapang dada.

Jika ada hal yang patut disyukuri kaum suami, itu adalah fakta bahwa sesuatu yang lebih ekstrim dari sulam alis boleh dikatakan tidak ditemukan dalam daftar keinginan wanita Indonesia normal dalam kisaran usia 30an (berdasarkan statistik, tiga dari tiga peserta memberikan jawaban sama, jadi 100% akurat). Cukup aman untuk disimpulkan bahwa hal-hal seperti pembesaran payudara dan sedot lemak tidak termasuk dalam daftar. Intinya para ibu rumah tangga ini tidak cukup gila untuk bertingkah aneh, kecuali jika ia sedang mengalami krisis rumah tangga dan tidak cukup percaya diri untuk menjalaninya.

Untuk ibu-ibu rumah tangga yang membaca artikel ini, bilamana penampilan anda sungguh memprihatinkan sehingga suami pun sulit membedakan antara istri dan pembantu, mungkin sudah saatnya anda melakukan sesuatu. Ya, tentu saja ada saat-saat di mana ibu rumah tangga terlihat lusuh, tapi kalau ini menjadi kebiasaan sehari-hari, itu artinya bencana menunggu di ambang pintu. Janji seperti mencintai seseorang sampai maut memisahkan itu memang terdengar indah, tapi kalau realitanya tidak ada upaya, maka itu hanya kiasan belaka.

Oleh karena itu, luangkan waktu untuk mencintai diri anda sendiri. Wanita zaman sekarang itu pintar-pintar dan teknologi masa kini pun sudah sangat canggih dan mendukung, jadi kembali lagi ke pribadi sendiri, mau berusaha atau tidak. Sebagai penutup, Wiwi mengutip peribahasa Cina kuno yang bunyinya seperti ini: tidak ada wanita yang jelek di dunia ini, tapi yang malas itu banyak. Jadi coba pikirkan kembali. Semoga artikel ini membantu!

Susanti, anggun dalam pose candid
Karya: Endrico Richard 

The ASEAN Tour: Cambodia

Our journey to Cambodia began when our coach departed from Ho Chi Minh City. We exited Vietnam via Mộc Bài and entered Cambodia via Bavet. It was one interesting entrance. Instead of queuing at the border, we were actually ushered to a noodles shop and expected to have our lunch there while waiting for our passports to be stamped. The same shop also sold the Cambodia Riel on its display counter, as if it was selling souvenirs (and the notes, which looked like Monopoly money, certainly made it all the more convincing). The surreal experience was further enhanced by the casino nearby. I mean, the area was quite deserted and suddenly there was this big casino in the middle of nowhere (but perhaps that's the whole idea. The casino was built there to attract people from the other side of the border to come and spend their money).

It took us roughly around 4 hours to reach Phnom Penh from Bavet. Throughout the ride, we could see that Cambodia had a very dry weather. Even the cows on the roadside looked skinny, so life must be hard down there. I remember crossing the river. The ferry was huge and vehicles as big as our coach could fit in there. Prior to that, some of us went to pee, only to be astounded by the fee: it was one USD for each person! We should have bought the Cambodia Riel earlier (it was fixed rate then, where one USD was equal to 4000 KHR) as they didn't give any change once we paid them in USD.

Setia and Endrico (peeping through the hole) on the ferry.

Phnom Penh in 2009 was a city liked no other. It was big, but barely had the charm of a capital city. The poverty that we saw throughout our journey to Phnom Penh certainly didn't help. It was so bad to the extent that it was depressing for those who weren't used to seeing it. I remember wondering how the bread and whatever that were sold on the roadside could be eaten, especially when the cyclone of dust kept engulfing them.

We stayed nearby the riverside (still a work in progress then), a walking distance to the Royal Palace. Once we checked in, we began searching for happy pizza, a delicacy that Endrico read about, something that was supposed to make us really happy. After asking around, we managed to get a tuktuk driver who seemed to know what we were talking about. Despite his confidence, we ended up at a wrong place. He brought us to some pizzeria that sold regular pizzas instead. Judging from the normal families who ate there, the pizzas certainly didn't have any special ingredients that made them unusually happy! We eventually got what we wanted later on. It was sold around the riverside, nearby our guesthouse. The happy pizza tasted bitter and it didn't seem to make us any happier.

Markus and the confident tuktuk driver on our quest for the happy pizza.

When the night came, I went to have a dinner with my girlfriend. Yani stayed at Le President Hotel as she was on business trip. We ordered salted egg crab there, the very first time we ever tried any dishes cooked with salted egg. It was brilliant, simply the best. Perhaps we should go back one day, eh? After that, I went back to meet the boys, but only Markus and Darto that were still awake. The three of us then went out to explore the night life. We had a beer or two at the Pussycat Club, then we explored the surroundings. What we saw was amusing. The Cambodians would gather in front of their houses to do either the slow dancing (two steps forward, one step backward) or rope skipping. They surely knew how to enjoy and cheer themselves up!

The next day, we made our way to Siem Reap, where the famous temple Angkor Wat is located. It was a six hours ride, with a scenery that had become all too familiar for us: dry, dusty and dirty view along the way, and poverty that was so rampant. We stopped for lunch, but the food presentation wasn't exactly tempting thanks to the flies that were aplenty.

Setia, shortly before we began our journey to the floating market via the river behind him. 

We visited the floating market not long after we reached Siem Reap. We took a boat cruising on a brown colored river which eventually led us to some sort of lake. While we were on our way, there were underage vendors that would leap to our boat with stunning accuracy and agility. I mean, the boat was moving fast and these kids just jumped onto it as if it! Anyway, the floating market was apparently a couple of boats that floated nearby each other. Our destination was a restaurant, but I don't recall what we ate there. The memory I had was the crocodiles that they kept on the boat. That was like the weirdest attraction ever! Totally unexpected! We went back to the mainland afterwards, just in time to visit the night market. If I remember correctly, we went to Pub Street afterwards, the lively and touristy area, but Endrico lost his way, so there wasn't any picture taken.

The next day, we went to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise. The temple was... colossal. I went to Borobudur before, but when I pictured it mentally, it was much smaller if compared with Angkor Wat. It took us half a day to walk around before we decided that we had seen enough of it. We went to the next one, the Bayon, the temple of faces and then ended the whole day activity with the visit to the tree temple of Ta Prohm (this was where the movie Tomb Raider was partly filmed). They were great, but it was Markus who made our day. In his valiant effort to pose for good photos, he crossed to a forbidden area where the landmines might still be active and was immediately shouted at by an angry officer, haha.

Posing in front of the Bayon temple.

Overall, Cambodia was alright, a real eye-opener. After what we saw there, I couldn't help thinking Indonesia was actually in a much better shape and we should be thankful instead of complaining endlessly. While it was meant to be a Vietnam-Cambodia trip, there wasn't any doubt that Siem Reap was the highlight of it, thanks to majestic Angkor Wat. From Siem Reap, we flew back to Ho Chi Minh City...

Tur ASEAN: Kamboja

Perjalanan kita ke Kamboja dimulai ketika bis yang kita tumpangi berangkat dari Ho Chi Minh City. Kita keluar dari Vietnam melalui Mộc Bài dan masuk Kamboja lewat Bavet, perbatasan yang cukup menarik untuk dikenang. Di tempat ini kita tidak antri seperti perbatasan lainnya, melainkan disuruh menunggu di toko mie. Kita disarankan untuk makan siang sambil menunggu paspor kita dicap. Toko ini juga menjual riel, mata uang Kamboja, dengan cara ditampilkan di etalase seperti lazimnya orang menjual suvenir. Uang kertasnya yang mirip seperti uang Monopoli membuatnya semakin terlihat seperti oleh-oleh. Yang lebih menakjubkan lagi, tidak jauh dari perbatasan, berdiri sebuah kasino. Ini aneh sekali, sebab Bavet adalah kota kecil yang gersang dan tidak ada apa-apa. Keberadaan kasino ini sangat mencengangkan, tapi mungkin ini disengaja untuk menarik perhatian orang dari Vietnam sehingga mereka datang dan berjudi. 

Dari kiri: Setia, Akiun dan Darto di toko mie di Bavet.

Dari Bavet, kita kembali menempuh perjalanan darat sekitar 4 jam lamanya untuk mencapai Phnom Penh. Sepanjang perjalanan, kita bisa melihat betapa keringnya cuaca di Kamboja. Bahkan sapi di jalan pun terlihat kurus, jadi hidup di sana pastilah susah. Di tengah jalan, kita menyeberangi sungai. Ferinya sangat lapang, bahkan kendaraan sebesar bis kita pun bisa muat di atasnya. Selagi menunggu bongkar-muat kendaraan, beberapa di antara kita pergi ke toilet dan kembali dengan wajah kaget: ongkosnya satu USD per orang! Seharusnya kita membeli riel tadi (waktu kita berada di Kamboja, patokan nilai tukarnya adalah satu USD sama dengan 4000 KHR) karena penjaga toilet tidak memberikan uang kembalian setelah kita bayar dengan USD!

Phnom Penh di tahun 2009 adalah pengalaman yang sungguh berbeda. Kotanya cukup besar, tapi tidak memiliki kharisma ibu kota. Kemiskinan yang kita lihat di sepanjang jalan menuju Phnom Penh jelas memperburuk kesan yang ada. Begitu buruknya kehidupan di sana sehingga terasa menyedihkan bagi yang tidak terbiasa melihatnya. Saya ingat bahwa saya sempat membayangkan, bagaimana caranya memakan roti atau apapun yang dijual di tepi jalan, sebab debu jalanan senantiasa menerpa dagangan mereka. 

Dari kiri: Markus, Hady, Darto, Akiun, Anthony, Setia dan Yani di depan penginapan kita.

Kita tinggal di kawasan tepi sungai yang sedang dibangun ketika itu. Lokasinya tidak jauh dari Royal Palace. Setelah menaruh barang di hotel, kita mulai mencari pizza gembira, sebuah menu lokal yang Endrico baca dan minati. Makanan ini konon bisa membuat kita gembira. Setelah bertanya sana-sini, kita berhasil mendapatkan pengemudi tuktuk yang sepertinya mengerti tentang apa yang kita mau. Kendati begitu, kita justru dibawa ke tempat seperti Pizza Hut. Ini jelas bukan pizza yang kita cari, sebab sejumlah pengunjung restoran di sana adalah keluarga yang membawa anak-anaknya. Mereka jelas tidak mencari pizza dengan bahan istimewa yang membuat mereka gembira! Singkat cerita, kita akhirnya menemukan apa yang kita cari. Tempatnya ternyata tidak jauh dari penginapan kita. Setelah dicicipi, pizza gembira ternyata agak pahit dan tidak membuat kita gembira. 

Ketika malam tiba, saya menjumpai teman wanita saya untuk bersantap malam. Yani tinggal di Le President Hotel karena dia di Kamboja dalam rangka bisnis. Kita memesan kepiting telur asin di sana, pertama kalinya saya mencoba makanan yang dimasak dengan telur asin. Rasanya enak sekali! Mungkin kita harus kembali ke sana lagi suatu hari nanti, haha. Setelah itu, saya kembali ke penginapan. Hanya Markus dan Darto yang belum tidur, jadi kita bertiga pun keluar untuk melihat kehidupan di Phnom Penh setelah malam. Kita minum bir Angkor di Pussycat Club, setelah itu kita berjalan mengelilingi sekitar penginapan. Orang Kamboja ternyata memiliki kebiasaan berkumpul di depan rumah untuk permainan lompat tali atau dansa pelan (dua langkah ke depan, satu langkah ke belakang). Mereka tahu cara sederhana untuk menikmati hidup! 

Hady mencoba cemilan laba-laba sewaktu kita beristirahat sejenak dalam perjalanan kita ke Siem Reap.

Di hari berikutnya, kita pun menuju Siem Reap, tempat kuil terkenal Angkor Wat berada. Perjalanan darat itu ditempuh dalam waktu enam jam dan pemandangannya juga kurang lebih sama dengan yang sudah dilihat sebelumnya: tempat yang gersang, berdebu dan kering serta kemiskinan yang parah. Kita sempat berhenti untuk makan siang, namun tempat makannya tidak mengundang selera karena banyaknya lalat yang beterbangan mengitari makanan. 

Kita juga mengunjungi pasar terapung tidak lama setelah kita tiba di Siem Reap. Kapal yang kita tumpangi menyusuri sungai berair coklat yang mengalir ke sebuah danau. Ketika kita berada dalam kapal yang melaju, ada beberapa bocah yang melompat ke kapal kita sambil menggendong dagangan mereka. Mereka luar biasa lincah dan terampil, bisa melompat begitu saja dan tidak kehilangan keseimbangan! Setelah tiba, yang mereka maksudkan dengan pasar terapung adalah beberapa kapal yang mengapung bersama. Saya tidak ingat apa yang kita makan di sana, tapi yang lebih membekas dalam ingatan saya adalah buaya-buaya yang berkeliaran di dalam kapal. Benar-benar aneh dan tidak terduga. Sesudah makan, kita kembali untuk mengunjungi pasar malam dan lanjut lagi ke Pub Street, tempat yang aktif dan dipadati oleh turis. Akan tetapi Endrico terpisah dari rombongan sehingga tidak ada foto yang sempat diambil selagi kita berada di sana.

Markus tersenyum ketika matahari terbit di Angkor Wat.

Di pagi berikutnya, kita pergi ke Angkor Wat untuk melihat matahari terbit. Kuil ini luar biasa kolosal dan lebih besar Borobudur. Kita membutuhkan setengah hari untuk berkeliling sampai kita merasa puas melihat-lihat. Perjalanan pun berlanjut ke Bayon, kuil beraneka wajah. Kuil terakhir dalam rangkaian acara kita adalah Ta Prohm, kuil yang muncul dalam adegan film Tomb Raider. Kuil-kuil ini mengagumkan, tetapi yang membuat kita lebih kagum lagi adalah Markus. Dalam upayanya untuk berpose, dia menyeberang ke daerah yang masih memiliki ranjau aktif. Alhasil, dia segera diteriaki oleh petugas yang marah, haha.

Secara keseluruhan, saya rasa Kamboja cukup menarik. Setelah apa yang kita lihat di sana, saya jadi berpikir bahwa Indonesia sebenarnya tidak terlalu buruk. Sebagai bagian dari perjalanan ke Vietnam dan Kamboja, tidak diragukan lagi bahwa Siem Reap adalah tujuan yang paling berkesan karena Angkor Wat yang megah. Dari Siem Reap, kita terbang kembali ke Ho Chi Minh City...

Di kuil Ta Prohm.

The Gauls

I always wanted the Smurf in the first place. I remember reading the Black Smurfs at my cousin's house and suddenly the blue creatures that were roughly three apples tall were the coolest thing ever. I asked my Dad to buy me the Smurf comics and he said yes, so imagine my horror when he brought back a comic book with a front cover depicting a shorty and a fatso, both with thick mustache, running away from people who chased them.

How my Dad ended up thinking this was a Smurf comic, I really had no idea. Only God knows if Dad ever understood what Smurf really was. I was pissed and sulking, but eventually decided to flip through the pages. What I saw got me chuckled. Realizing that it wasn't as bad as I originally thought, I read it from the start. It was one hell of a story, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Very wild, very funny. By the time I finished reading, I got a big smile on my face. I knew I wanted more.

That was how I got accidentally introduced to Asterix. The book I described above was Asterix in Britain, the third from the list of Asterix books, Bahasa Indonesia edition. There were around 20 books listed on the back cover, so I made it my mission to hunt them down one by one since then. I lost the whole stack once because a friend who borrowed conveniently forgot to return them. I started collecting Asterix for the second time afterwards, this time up to Asterix and the Secret Weapon, only to lose them all again some time in the future. That was just my luck, I guess!

Anyway, what is more important is the story itself. I was a primary four student when I first read Asterix. With the imagination of a 10-year-old boy, I read the story as it was and laughed at the funny gags: the dynamics between Cetautomatix and Assurancetourix, the ensuing fights among the villagers that were always triggered by the mere mention of the fish, they were hilarious. The brilliant puns that came with the character names were also amusing. As I was reading the Bahasa Indonesia version, while the names maintained its distinct spelling (for example, the Roman names would always have the suffix -us), they were very much localized to Bahasa Indonesia, ie. a Roman centurion called Nasibungkus (which meant a package of rice) or a Norman named Jagojotos (which meant good in fighting). The four below are personal favorites:

The story was always funny, alright, but sometimes there were some parts that I didn't really understand then. For example, when Asterix went to Spain and met a guy who suddenly attacked the windmills for no apparent reason, the scene felt disconnected. Another thing that got me wondering was the inconsistent art (the art work on Asterix the Gladiator, which was released as first book in Indonesia, was much better than the second book, Asterix the Gaul) and the characters that appeared in one book, but not appearing in the next one (the villagers such as Agecanonix and Cetautomatix were featured in Asterix and Caesar's Gift, but not found in Asterix and the Big Fight). I also remember thinking how odd the story was when I read Asterix and the Great Divide. There was something unusual with it and not in a good sense, but I couldn't figure out why at that time.

It was only much later on in life that I realized the book release in Indonesia never followed the original sequence, which explained why the art work could suffer a setback and certain characters would be missing from time to time. Now I also understand those weird scenes that seemed to be disjointed. The guy who attacked the windmills in Asterix in Spain was Don Quixote. Goscinny and Uderzo were smart artists with great attention to details that they would insert some cultural references into the story. For example, back to Asterix in Britain, I eventually noticed that the Beatles also had a cameo role there. As for Asterix and the Great Divide, it was the first story written by Uderzo, who normally played the role of illustrator, after Goscinny died during the production of Asterix in Belgium (hence the pouring rain, a homage from the illustrator to his writer). No wonder the story was rather awkward and wasn't as good.

All those fantastic memories aside, it's worth mentioning that Asterix played an undeniable significant role in expanding my horizon. For the fact that I was growing up in a small town called Pontianak long before internet existed, it was thru Asterix that I became aware of those foreign countries, especially France. Asterix was my window to the world. As a reader, I would follow Asterix throughout his adventures that brought him to as far as America and India. Best learning experience ever!

Those who had gone thru the same experience as mine surely knows what I'm talking about. Asterix was there for us, something that we grew up with. This is the reason why the release of a new Asterix book is always a good news. It's like a blast from the past. The latest one, Asterix and the Chariot Race, just came out on November 2, featuring Monalisa as well as the origin of Venice and pizza. Excited? I'm definitely thrilled, and partially tempted to collect them all again from the scratch. May be third time is a charm!

The latest Asterix - Kindle version.

Orang Galia

Pada awalnya yang saya inginkan adalah Smurf. Saya ingat ketika saya membaca komik berjudul Smurf Hitam di rumah sepupu saya dan sejak itu saya merasa makhluk biru setinggi tiga buah apel ini adalah yang paling saya sukai di kala itu. Saya lantas meminta ayah saya membelikan komik Smurf dan dia menyanggupinya. Saya kira dia tahu apa itu Smurf, jadi bayangkan betapa kagetnya saya ketika dia membawa pulang komik bergambar yang menampilkan pria pendek dan pria gendut berkumis yang berlari menghindari orang-orang yang mengejar mereka. 

Saya gagal paham mengapa yang seperti ini bisa disangka sebagai Smurf oleh ayah saya. Walau agak kesal, saya memutuskan untuk membuka komik tersebut. Apa yang saya lihat membuat saya tergelitik. Ternyata tidak seburuk yang saya sangka, jadi saya mulai membacanya. Cerita komik ini sungguh berbeda, liar dan lucu, dan setelah saya selesai membaca, saya tersenyum sendiri. Saya tahu saya mau membaca kisah berikutnya. 

Itu adalah sepenggal kisah bagaimana saya secara tidak sengaja berkenalan dengan Asterix. Komik yang saya deskripsikan di atas adalah Asterix di Inggris, buku ketiga dalam daftar judul buku Asterix edisi bahasa Indonesia. Ada sekitar dua puluhan judul tertera di belakang buku dan saya tertarik untuk mengumpulkannya. Koleksi saya yang pertama hilang karena tetangga saya lupa mengembalikannya. Saya lalu mengoleksinya untuk kali kedua, kali ini sampai Mawar dan Pedang Bermata Dua, tapi koleksi tersebut hilang lagi! Memang nasib. 

Akan tetapi yang lebih penting untuk dibahas di sini adalah isi ceritanya. Saya duduk di kelas empat SD saya pertama kali membaca Asterix. Dengan imajinasi anak berumur 10 tahun, saya membaca cerita apa adanya dan dibuat tertawa oleh apa yang tampak jelas di depan mata: kocaknya hubungan Assurancetourix dan Cetautomatix, pertarungan antar penghuni desa yang kerap kali dimulai dari ikan Ordralfabetix, semua itu sungguh kocak. Di versi Indonesia yang saya baca, meski nama tokoh-tokohnya masih menggunakan pola tertentu (misalnya orang Romawi selalu memiliki akhiran -us), tapi namanya sudah lokal, misalnya komandan tentara Romawi yang bernama Nasibungkus, orang Normandia yang bernama Jagojotos, orang Jerman yang bernama Pabrik dan masih banyak lagi.

Cerita Asterix selalu lucu, tapi saat saya, masih kecil terkadang ada beberapa bagian yang tidak saya mengerti. Misalnya saja, saat Asterix pergi ke Spanyol dan bertemu dengan orang yang tiba-tiba menyerbu kincir angin tanpa alasan jelas. Bagian tersebut terasa tidak berkaitan dengan cerita. Hal lain yang membuat saya bingung adalah kualitas gambarnya yang tidak konsisten (ilustrasi di Asterix Gladiator, buku pertama yang diterbitkan di Indonesia, lebih bagus dari buku kedua yang berjudul Asterix Prajurit Galia). Selain itu, beberapa karakter, contohnya Agecanonix dan Cetautomatix tampil di Hadiah Dari Caesar, tetapi tidak muncul di Pertarungan Antar Kepala Suku. Saya juga merasa aneh ketika membaca tentang Desa Belah Tengah. Ada sesuatu yang tidak biasa dengan ceritanya, tetapi saya tidak tahu pasti apa sebenarnya yang terasa aneh ini.

Bertahun-tahun kemudian baru saya sadari bahwa buku yang dirilis di Indonesia tidak pernah mengikuti urutan terbit yang benar sehingga gambarnya terlihat mengalami kemunduran dari buku yang satu ke buku yang lain. Sekarang saya juga mengerti beberapa adegan yang dulunya terasa janggal. Pria Spanyol yang menyerang kincir angin itu adalah Don Quixote. Goscinny dan Uderzo adalah pasangan penulis dan ilustrator jenius yang seringkali memasukkan referensi budaya asing ke dalam cerita, misalnya saja the Beatles dalam kisah Asterix di Inggris. Akan halnya Desa Belah Tengah, itu adalah cerita pertama yang ditulis oleh Uderzo setelah Goscinny meninggal saat mereka sedang mengerjakan Asterix di Belgia (dan peristiwa tersebut ditandai dengan hujan di satu pertiga bagian terakhir buku ini). Pantas saja ceritanya terasa aneh dan tidak sebagus biasanya.

Terlepas dari semua kenangan ini, perlu disebutkan juga peran Asterix dalam membuka wawasan saya tentang dunia. Saya tumbuh di kota kecil bernama Pontianak dan jauh sebelum internet ada, saya mengenal negeri-negeri nun jauh di sana, terutama Perancis, lewat Asterix. Sebagai pembaca, saya turut serta bersama Asterix dalam petualangan yang membawanya berkelana sampai sejauh Amerika dan India. Sungguh pengalaman belajar terbaik! 

Sesama penggemar Asterix tentu tahu apa yang saya bicarakan. Asterix adalah bagian dari hidup, oleh karena itu setiap kali edisi terbaru Asterix beredar adalah kabar baik. Yang terbaru, Asterix and the Chariot Race (saya belum tahu apakah ini juga akan dirilis di Indonesia), baru saja diterbitkan tanggal 2 November lalu. Ceritanya lumayan, ada Monalisa, Venesia, pizza dan Pompeii, haha. Terus terang saya jadi tergoda lagi untuk mengoleksi Asterix. Mungkin saya akan lebih beruntung di kali ketiga!

Koleksi Asterix terbaru di Kindle.

Book Review: A Brief History Of Indonesia

I picked up this book when I was at Bandung airport. I never knew what to expect but much to my surprise, this was a great book and an easy reading! It was written chronologically, started from the time the Melanesian and Austronesian came to the Archipelago; the rise and fall of kingdoms such Srivijaya, Majapahit and so many more; the foreign visitors from Ibn Battuta, Zheng He to the likes of Cornelis de Houtman and Raffles; the colonialism, the fight for independence, the birth of a country called Indonesia and what happened afterwards. 

Reading this was a brilliant experience and it was all the more interesting as it was written by a foreigner. It's always good to see our nation's history from another point of view, especially one that doesn't have a reason to be biased. Names of historical characters and places (the writer, Tim Hannigan, did a good job on this as they were pretty accurate) such as Sultan Agung, Diponegoro, Ternate, Mataram and so forth brought back the memories of history lessons that I learnt during school days. 

At the same time, reading such a rich and occasionally bleak history also gives one a perspective of how vast and multicultural Indonesia is. The book does help to show that Indonesia is really a melting pot of cultures, races and religions. It's silly to debate and argue about who are the natives, because what we know today as Javanese, Sundanese, Dayak, etc. were the result of multiple migrations and assimilation. Such process happened from the time the Flores hobbit walked the earth to the arrival of Chinese, Indians and Arab. We had Hinduism and Buddhism flourishing in the form of empires such as Srivijaya and Majapahit, then they gave way to Islam that came later on. We have the cultures that were built upon the cultures from the years gone by. We had different races and religions co-existed for centuries. Through the peace and fighting periods, we learnt the need for tolerance. It's a shame that we seem to forget it these days, when one tries to be louder than another.

My favorite part is when Soekarno appeared. The Archipelago had gone through its fair share of ups and downs when the man himself finally arrived on the scene, paid his dues and proclaimed our independence. It was a simple and short announcement, but it changed the course of our history. Our independence was not given. We seized the moment and Soekarno was at the center of it. Say what you like, but despite the mistakes that he made, he's still our Founding Father and I have only the utmost respect for him! (Long before Duterte, here was the only leader in Southeast Asia who dared to tell the United States to, "go to hell with your aid!" While the statement actually wasn't an achievement for us Indonesians to be proud of, it still never fails to make me smile).

The subsequent pages were bittersweet, describing how the British was puzzled by the unseen red white flags when they came back to the Archipelago. It only goes to show how young our Republic was, with Soekarno and team facing the impossible tasks of getting things in order. Thank God that with a little or no clue at all, they still did a pretty decent job! The downfall and transition was sad and painful, though. The particular chapter in our country's history is rather murky, actually. There's no single source of truth about the coup that happened in 1965, and after the bloody massacres that happened throughout the country (an event that was totally eliminated from the history lessons at school) Soekarno was ousted and left to live the rest of his life under house arrest.

Next, the book tells us about the tale of the Smiling General, Soeharto, and his New Order. Come to think of it, the man was the president for the first 18 years of my life and indeed he always smiled. Younger generations like me, who studied history lessons rewritten towards his advantage, wouldn't suspect that he was behind all that went wrong during the New Order. I mean, he looked like a kind-hearted old man! It was only much later on, after he was toppled, that we got to learn what sort of man he was. In hindsight, given the fact that he did what he could to build the country that was in a mess after Soekarno, let's just say that he stayed too long in power that he was eventually corrupted by the power itself.

Finally, the last few chapters were rushed to bring us up to speed about the successions that happened after Soeharto, from Habibie to Joko Widodo. It ends right there, with the phrase Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity) to remind us again who we are as a nation. Overall, a very good book!

The book and its review.

Ulasan Buku: Sejarah Singkat Indonesia

Saya membeli buku ini ketika saya berada di bandara Bandung. Awalnya saya hanya sekedar ingin memiliki sesuatu untuk dibaca sambil menunggu waktu keberangkatan, namun buku ini ternyata menarik dan gampang dibaca. Ditulis secara kronologis, buku ini mengupas Indonesia dari saat orang-orang Melanesia dan Austronesia datang ke bumi nusantara. Cerita lantas berlanjut dengan bangun dan jatuhnya kerajaan-kerajaan seperti Sriwijaya, Majapahit, dan masih banyak lagi. Kemudian masih ada lagi kisah para pengunjung asing ke Indonesia, mulai dari Ibnu Batuta, Cheng Ho dan Cornelis de Houtman serta Raffles. Setelah penjajah tiba, mulailah era kolonialisme, perjuangan mencapai kemerdekaan dan lahirnya negara bernama Indonesia. 

Membaca sejarah bangsa adalah sebuah pengalaman yang seru dan menambah pengetahuan. Penting untuk melihat sejarah bangsa kita dari sudut pandang orang asing, sebab penulisnya tentu tidak memiliki alasan untuk bias. Nama-nama tempat dan pelaku sejarah seperti Ternate, Mataram, Sultan Agung, Diponegoro dan lainnya sungguh membuat saya terbawa kembali ke masa sekolah, ketika saya duduk dan mendengarkan pelajaran Sejarah. Sang penulis, Tim Hannigan, bersungguh-sungguh dalam penelitiannya dan nama-nama yang ditulisnya sangat akurat. 

Membaca sejarah yang begitu kaya dan cenderung kelam memberikan perspektif tentang luasnya Indonesia yang mencakup beragam budaya. Buku ini memberikan gambaran bahwa Indonesia benar-benar merupakan tempat bertemunya berbagai budaya, ras dan agama. Rasanya konyol untuk berdebat tentang siapa sesungguhnya pribumi di Indonesia, sebab suku-suku yang kita kenal sekarang, misalnya Jawa, Sunda, Dayak dan lain-lain, adalah hasil dari migrasi dan asimilasi yang terjadi secara berulang selama ratusan tahun. Proses ini dimulai dari sejak era manusia kerdil di Flores sampai dengan tibanya orang Cina, Indian dan Arab. Hindu dan Buddha berkembang pesat di zaman Sriwijaya dan Majapahit, kemudian digantikan dengan Islam yang datang belakangan. Budaya kita dibangun dari budaya-budaya yang datang silih berganti. Kita memiliki beraneka suku dan agama yang hidup berdampingan selama berabad-abad lamanya. Lewat masa damai dan perang, kita belajar tentang pentingnya toleransi. 

Bagian favorit saya adalah ketika Soekarno muncul. Nusantara sudah melalui begitu banyak kesusahan di masa penjajahan ketika sang proklamator lahir. Setelah dipenjara dan diasingkan karena perjuangannya, Soekarno akhirnya membacakan proklamasi kemerdekaan. Saat bersejarah itu berlangsung singkat dan sederhana, tapi mengubah sejarah bangsa kita. Perlu diingat bahwa kemerdekaan bangsa kita tidak diberikan seperti halnya negara-negara tetangga, melainkan diperjuangkan dan diraih ketika tepat saatnya. Soekarno adalah sosok di balik kemerdekaan kita. Anda bisa mencibir dan berkomentar sesuka hati tentang Soekarno, tapi dia tetap merupakan Bapak Bangsa kita dan saya sangat menghormatinya. Jauh sebelum Duterte, dia adalah satu-satunya pemimpin di Asia Tenggara yang berani berkata kepada Amerika Serikat, "persetan dengan segala bantuanmu!" Meski kalimat tersebut bukan hal yang sepatutnya dibanggakan, tapi saya selalu tersenyum karenanya. Presiden kita jelas menjaga kedaulatan dan kehormatan bangsa.

Lembaran halaman setelah kisah kemerdekaan terasa menyentuh dan penuh nostalgia. Inggris kembali ke Indonesia dan merasa bingung saat melihat bendera merah putih yang berkisar di mana-mana. Hal ini mengingatkan saya kembali, betapa mudanya bangsa kita saat itu dan betapa pemerintahan Soekarno menghadapi tugas yang nyaris tidak masuk akal dalam memulai kehidupan berbangsa dan bernegara. Tanpa petunjuk dan rambu yang jelas, boleh dikatakan mereka masih terhitung sukses dalam menyelenggarakan pemerintahan. Namun jatuhnya Soekarno dan transisi pemerintahan yang terjadi saat itu sangat pedih dan menyedihkan. Ini adalah salah satu sisi sejarah bangsa kita yang tidak begitu jelas kebenarannya. Tidak ada satu sumber benar-benar bisa dipercaya tentang kudeta yang terjadi di tahun 1965. Setelah pembantaian yang terjadi ketika pemberontakan PKI diatasi (dan bagian ini tidak pernah diajarkan di sekolah), Soekarno digulingkan dan menjalani sisa hidupnya sebagai tahanan rumah. 

Bagian berikutnya adalah tentang Orde Baru dan Soeharto, sang Jenderal yang selalu tersenyum. Kalau dipikirkan lagi, orang ini menjabat sebagai presiden dalam 18 tahun pertama hidup saya. Sebagai generasi muda yang belajar sejarah yang telah ditulis ulang demi kepentingannya, saya tidak pernah menyangka bahwa Soeharto adalah biang dari berbagai permasalahan yang terjadi di era Orde Baru. Bagi saya, Soeharto terlihat seperti orang tua yang baik dan selalu tersenyum! Setelah dia jatuh dari tampuk kekuasaan, barulah boroknya terbongkar. Kalau dilihat kembali, negara sesungguhnya dalam keadaan kacau saat Soeharto mengambil-alih kekuasaan. Setelah pembangunan yang ia lakukan, saya rasa Soeharto bertahta terlalu lama sehingga ia sendiri pun menjadi korup karena terjerumus oleh kekuasaan itu sendiri.  

Bagian akhir terdiri dari beberapa bab yang membawa kita ke peralihan yang terjadi setelah Soeharto, mulai dari Habibie sampai pada masa Joko Widodo. Setelah itu, kisah tentang Indonesia ini ditutup dengan semboyan Bhinneka Tunggal Ika yang mengingatkan kita kembali tentang identitas kita sebagai bangsa Indonesia. Secara keseluruhan, buku yang pantas dibaca!

The Time Capsules

I've lived long enough to see that desktop computers aren't always what we know today. Back in the 80s, one actually had to boot up the computer using 5¼-inch floppy disk. This was the first disk storage I'd ever seen, very impractical, small in capacity and fragile. The next generation, still in the form of floppy disk, came in the size of 3½-inch, sporting the capacity of 1.44MB. This was in the 90s, when I was in high school. Unlike the predecessor, the smaller size diskette was solid looking and some even came with plastic casings. By the way, it was also around this time that hard disk became an integral component of a computer.

The dawn of CD was a game changer, giving a new meaning to the word burn. Suddenly we could burn a 700MB worth of data into a CD! The capability was to be amplified by DVD many years later. At the same time, the arrival of USB also was also revolutionary, heralding the birth of flash drive and, later on, the external hard disk. With its plug and play ability, data transfer couldn't get more practical than this. It was a stroke of genius and is able to stand the test of time so far. The arrival of the Cloud does change the way we keep our data, but it can't totally replace flash drive yet.

The only gripe I had about external hard disk was the idea of plugging the USB every time we needed to use it. That was the reason why I looked around for alternatives in 2012. I'd been using MacBook for a while then, so I naturally looked no further. That was when I found the Time Capsule at the Apple catalogs. I liked the idea that it was a combination of wifi and and external hard disk with the size of 2TB that was always wirelessly connected to my MacBook. That meant I could do away the wifi and the existing external drive without any worries of running out space. 2TB was definitely enough for the whole family. It also worked well with Time Machine feature on MacBook. It could do advanced stuff, too, such as reserving certain IP to a specific MAC address. Furthermore, this being an Apple product, the initial setup was unbelievable easy and user-friendly.

The thing one gotta watch out with electronic product is the life span. Just because you still can power on the hardware today, there's no guarantee that it'll still be alive tomorrow. Having said that, after using it for few years (or almost five years, in the case of my Time Capsule), it's wiser to get it replaced. This is all the more important and relevant when it comes to a data storage, because you certainly don't want to lose your data. This was why I eventually replaced my Time Capsule with... another Time Capsule, haha!

I agree that there should be plenty of options out there nowadays, but why bother changing into something else when the existing technology still serves its purpose? On top of that, when I was expecting some problems setting up the new hardware, once again Apple did it all for me. It's as good as clicking next button and the original configuration was transferred to the new Time Capsule, relegating the old Time Capsule as and extended wifi and secondary hard drive. It was quite a brilliant experience, I must say. If you have a similar situation, perhaps you can try it out, too!

From the left: the new and the old.

Time Capsule

Saya sudah hidup cukup lama untuk menjadi saksi bahwa komputer tidak senantiasa berbentuk seperti apa yang kita lihat hari ini. Di tahun 80an, komputer memerlukan disket 5¼ inci saat dihidupkan supaya sistem operasinya bekerja. Disket ini adalah sarana penyimpanan data yang pertama saya lihat. Kecil kapasitasnya dan rapuh bentuknya. Generasi berikutnya, masih dalam bentuk disket, berukuran 3½ inci dan berkapasitas 1.44MB. Ini adalah era 90an, ketika saya sudah SMA. Berbeda dengan pendahulunya, disket ini kelihatan lebih tahan banting dan datang dengan kotak plastik. Di saat yang sama, hard disk menjadi komponen penting dari sebuah komputer. 

Munculnya CD membawa perubahan dan memperkenalkan arti baru bagi kata burn. Tiba-tiba kita bisa membakar data sebesar 700MB ke dalam CD! Kapasitas data yang bisa disimpan kian berlipat ganda ketika DVD muncul beberapa tahun kemudian. Setelah itu, teknologi USB melahirkan flash disk dan juga external hard disk. Dengan konsep plug and play (secara harafiah, tancap dan mainkan), cara penyimpanan data menjadi semakin praktis. Ini adalah teknologi yang luar biasa dan populer hingga saat ini, bahkan belum sepenuhnya tergantikan oleh teknologi Cloud yang menyimpan data lewat internet.

Satu-satunya hal yang tidak saya sukai dengan metode external hard disk adalah bagaimana kita harus mengeluarkan dan mencolokkannya ke USB bilamana hendak kita pakai. Ini alasannya kenapa saya mencari alternatif lain di tahun 2012. Saat itu saya sudah menggunakan MacBook, jadi tentunya saya juga melihat-lihat, apa lagi yang ditawarkan oleh Apple. Di saat itulah saya menemukan Time Capsule. Saya suka teknologinya yang menggabungkan wifi dan external hard disk dengan kapasitas 2TB sehingga selalu terhubung dengan komputer saya. Selain itu, kapasitasnya luar biasa besar dan cukup bagi seluruh keluarga untuk menyimpan foto dan data lainnya. Time Capsule juga dirancang untuk fitur Time Machine di MacBook dan juga memiliki beberapa fitur lain seperti mengalokasikan alamat MAC tertentu dengan IP tertentu. Yang terpenting, karena ini adalah produk Apple, jadi cara pemasangannya sangat sederhana dan ramah pengguna. 

Satu hal yang perlu diperhatikan tentang perangkat elektronik adalah usia produk. Hanya karena hari ini masih berfungsi, tidak ada jaminan bahwa perangkatnya masih menyala besok. Konsep ini semakin wajib untuk diterapkan untuk peranti penyimpanan data karena anda tentunya tidak ingin kehilangan data yang telah terkumpul selama bertahun-tahun. Oleh karena itu, setelah menggunakan Time Capsule selama lima tahun, saya pun menggantikannya dengan... Time Capsule yang baru, haha. 

Saya setuju bahwa ada banyak pilihan lain sekarang, tetapi kenapa saya harus mengganti teknologi yang masih relevan untuk saya? Yang lebih menakjubkan lagi, ketika saya berpikir bahwa saya mungkin menemukan kendala saat berpindah dari peranti yang lama ke yang baru, sekali lagi Apple memudahkan prosesnya untuk saya. Cukup dengan menekan tombol Next beberapa kali, konfigurasinya pun berpindah. Betapa praktisnya! Nah, jika anda memiliki masalah dalam penyimpanan data, mungkin anda ingin mencoba produk ini!

The Ten Percent

Roughly a year ago, I found myself sitting at the coffee shop with my church-going friend, talked about many things about a Christian life, including tithing. Now, before we get into what we were discussing, let me share with you some backgrounds first. I was into Christianity as the church cared to explain about what was going then, ie. what life was like in Israel at that time, which helped to put things in perspective. This actually helped me to understand why Jesus said this or did that. The church I am attending is also shepherded by a pastor who knows how to preach in an engaging way, so it is great. You see, sermons are like physics, and I failed physics because it was boring. I'm more receptive when things are entertaining and our pastor is good at that. As for why tithing, well, I've always wanted to write about this topic from a layman's point of view since I first heard of it. 

Anyway, back to the coffee shop, tithing was the only the topic that had a lasting impression in my mind. It was a strange concept that was difficult to explain. The idea of giving something as real and concrete as cash to God, whom is nowhere to be seen but yet omnipresent, is kind of mind-boggling. Furthermore, God is supposed to be almighty, so what's the use of cash for our Father in heaven? At the same time, as we can't give it to God directly, the tithe actually goes to church. Who's to say that it's not going to be misused?

My friend managed to come to a conclusion that God always provides. He quoted his own life experience that, since he had given what belonged to God, he was assisted in the time of need (you'd notice that the stark difference between a believer or non-believer is, the former would simply call it lucky while the latter would say it was by God's grace that he made it through the hard time). Given the complexity of the subject, a more satisfying explanation came much later on, when the pastor preached about it for the second time (I seem to recall that he also talked about the same thing with a different approach last year). Here's the video of it (quite long, but pretty enjoyable, so sit back and relax):

The First Things First sermon by Pastor Jeff © Hope Church Singapore

Eventually, I learnt that it's not a matter of questioning the use of money for God, but it's more of giving back what is rightfully His to begin with. I don't see the point of doubting the church, because tithing is almost the same as donating: we give because we trust what our heart is telling us do and we stop there, because we've done our parts. If the institution or the church still misuses it, it's their problems, really, so why worry about something that is beyond our control? Karma will get them, anyway, if they don't do it right.

Now, back to the coffee shop again, the reason why the conversation we had lingers on my mind is, in its simplest form where you don't call it tithing, the act of giving can be seen a form of exercising mind control. I always fancy the idea that it's good to have money, alright, but it's bad when we get too clingy on it. You'll miss much of what's going on in life if you're too focus on money. Give it away, especially when the portion is not yours. It can be challenging because the amount will grow as one continues to earn more in life, but that's the fun part of it, because it makes you human. You'll come to a point of asking yourself whether you are the master or the slave of the money you have. Once we put back the original intention of tithing, it's good that we don't shortchange what belongs to the Almighty above. By the end of the day, in the material world we're living in, a clear conscience is the moral compass that we need to move forward in life...