2009 resolution

Resolutions!

Anyway. I'm gonna keep this short. The resolutions, not the post. The post. Hmm.. It can be lengthy. At least that's what I have in mind.

I'm only gonna keep 2009 resolution to under 10 things. Right now, I'm aiming for five things only. Because what is more important is not the resolution itself, but the follow up. So, let's start.

Oh, before the reveal, I will tell you that in order to achieve these resolutions I will use the work of some people that have been inspiring me throughout occasions in 2008. So, here it is.

One: Decluttering.
Model: Michael, Peter Walsh.
Michael has shown me how decluttering can be useful as well as a drag in your life. But I know I need it. I need to master it. That's when Peter Walsh, a professional organizer walks in. In 2009, I'll learn and master decluttering imminently. There is no 'wait' in the dictionary.
First things first: Decluttering my bedroom and playroom.

Two: A more intelligent approach in exercising.
Model: Craig Ballantyne.
So far, I am proud to say that my exercising habit has been good. However, there is still a department that I need to improve. Strength. Craig Ballantyne has kept me excited in exercising through his innovatively crafted, interestingly thought, and challenging routines. It's entertaining to see his videos in youtube. And no, not because of his abs or his cute Canadian accent.
First things first: Combining Yoga and strength training to do handstand.

Three: A comprehensive knowledge of knowledge management in the web.
Model: Brad and the people behind ALA.
Web 2.0 has grown further than what I have anticipated, learned, and experienced. I need to get back on track and experiment and absorb and practice as many technology as possible. Earlier this year, Brad introduced me to Firebug, a Firefox extension that will, in his own words, "Change your life." He was right.
First things first: Buy a web hosting plan. I'm thinking in masterwebnet.com. And then put an online portfolio.

Four: Get some education on money.
Model: Suze Orman.
The timestamp on a book I owned titled, 'Save or Sorry: Kesejahteraan Finansial Sepenuhnya di Tangan Anda,' is 2003. But only five years later I really want to put the things I read and learned in practice. So thank God for Suze Orman. 'People first, Then money. Then things,' will be one of my mantras in 2009.
First things first: Create an expense tracking system.

Five: Read books.
Model: Nick Hornby.
You know what is one of my biggest fears? Knowing the statistic of unread books currently on my book shelves. Yes. Shelves. So, this year, I will read and read and read like a fiend, just because I wanted to live up to the image I've been struggling with for all my life: a book reader. Yes, I read. But I think I haven't read as many (and as interesting) as I want. I mean, have you read Nick Hornby's 'The Pollysyllabic Spree'? Yeah, me neither.
First things first: Finish reading 'English Writing' and move on to 'Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant.'

Six: Better in catching up with people.
Model: Michael and Geget.
Just ask these two awesome friends of mine about how awful I am in keeping up with my friendships or any other forms of relationships (like with relatives and stuff). On the contrary, they are two of the BEST people in terms of keeping theirs afloat. I wish I have a quarter of their energy to do that. I'll dig that in me in 2009.

So there you go. Six. Of course there is the sixth, seventh, and eighth ones, but revealing them means revealing a perfecter, better, and groovier side of me.

Let's leave it like this.

Happy New Year!

I did not voluntarily put down 'negative' as my weakness for no reason

I just got back from a trip outta town, bringing back some delicacies, which is a very rare custom of mine. This dialogue happened when I giddily announced that I had something for everybody (like seven minutes ago).

Me: So, I got four packs of these. I only want this one. So you can have these two, and the last one is for her (Mrs. XYZ).

Not me: Oh, Mrs. XYZ won't like this (with a smile implying, 'You don't know her?'). She said it was too sweet.

Me: ...

Yoga breathing, yoga breathing, yoga breathing.

compulsive not eating

See I knew it.

Two days ago, on one cloudy Saturday, after a BodyBalance class, I randomly had the urge to weigh myself. It's been three months (or even more) since I weighed myself the last time, and at that time I still remember how I looked down to see the numbers and heaved a sigh replacing the words I supposed to say, "See? It's still 64."

So two days ago, at the gym I decided to step back on to the scale again, with full awareness that they might have messed with the scale in order to make people look weigh a little more so that they will renew their membership.

OR, they might have messed the scale up by making people look weigh less so that they will think that the gym does bring some results.

In conclusion, I stepped on the scale, only confided a tiny little bit in it.

I weighed 66 kgs. 66! SIXTY SIX! I have never, I mean, NEVER reached somewhere over 65 before. So this is good news right? Right? But wait. This is the gym scale. Not my own scale. My regular scale. People have messed this thing up. So I stepped down, went to the shower thinking, ah well, at least I am within the range.

Yesterday, after my 4th meal (a banana and a scoop of peanut butter. Yum!), I decided to weigh myself. Out of the blue. So I walked to my bathroom, put my feet on the scale, and looked down.

It was 66 kg.

So, yay! It WAS really 66.

BUT guess what happened today. Today, I don't feel like eating. As always. Like what The Beatles say, "When I'm sixty-four." Gah. So, I skipped my second and fourth meal.

I know.

PS: I still don't know how many percent of that 66 was fat, but I believe and safely assume that it was somewhere below twenty. Hahahaha.

PS2: I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that I checked my weight a couple of days ago. Maybe I should stop checking my weight after all.

what about dooce?

Today, I had to sit for 8 hours in a training room to take part in a thing they called Integrated Project Management In-house Training. It was OK, until I saw the form which we had to fill stating what are the things that we expect from the sessions etc., which I believe was conceived at least 20 years ago.

Under which media you read, I had to choose between:
Newspaper: Kompas, Media Indonesia, gibberish1, gibberish2, gibberish3
Magazine: Gatra, Tempo, SWA (what?!), gibberish4, gibberish5.

Yeah. Men's Health is not an option.

Others:

So, I filled out 'Others' more with media that have a 'dot' in the name. kottke.org. boingboing.net. newyorktimes.com.

In my mind, there are some others that I don't need to divulge here. And they all think that the Internet is for Porn.

O Pacote: Highlight of the Week

This week was full of things going on. But between returning from Seram island with a bunch of pictures and stories to tell, the bowling game with a good friend from college, the Halloween party where I courageously dressed up as a pirate, the wonderful Saturday when I shamelessly slept for about 10 hours during the day, the highlight of the week actually came Thursday when a package, much bigger than I thought, less heavier than I assumed, and much much more interesting that I could have ever anticipated, came to my hand.

On the top of the package is a pack Dr. Who figurines, from one of its monumental episode: Daleks in Manhattan. The episode was so good, for combining Dr. Who and Broadway, adventure and love story, new and old.

And a stack of cleverly chosen magazines and a tabloid, including, in the words of my hangout buddy, ".. a really good design magazine. I never thought that he is into 'Wallpaper' kind of thing." That hangout buddy needs to learn more about the awesome guy who sent me the package, especially regarding his good eyes when it comes to design.

A gargantuan pin of Danny from NKOTB 2. Love it! I knew that "Who's your favorite New Kid" would mean more than just a question. The pin is huge. The diameter is about 12 cm.

A gorgeous watch. It's a little loose, so I might need to take off one or two chains. Or eat more so that my wrist would bloat to fill the chain up. But that's not a wise option, I think.

After only like 15 minutes, the Dalek from the Dr. Who package already invaded the room. Hammo was so afraid, he surrendered.

There are four other things in there, but will talk about it later, perhaps.

Thanks, dude!

men's Yoga

So, how excited I am to learn that now menshealth.com has a section dedicated to Yoga called their Yoga Center?

Too EXCITED!!

Yeah, the first sentence on the splash page on their homepage is somewhat true and too general, though. Even so, it has been probably used by some guys, who are now sporting lady's purse around Jakarta malls. She knows what I'm talking about.

Enjoy browsing the section. I know I will!

this is not what I signed up for

Three days ago, as a part of my gaining-back-the-weight program, I subscribed to a bunch of newsletters including ones from Men's Health.

I never thought that the title would be so similar to the ones I got in my Spam folder.

I mean, really.. Compare it with the snapshot from my spam folder.

Anyway, hopefully everyone (in Indonesia) is enjoying their holiday!

Josh Groban at the Emmys

So, how cooler can this guy be?



PS: I do 0:59-1:11 only like daily. Haha..

to not be lost in translation

To a dear friend of mine.

I think, to not be lost in translation in communicating with an American, we have to force ourselves watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We really need to start getting his jokes before we can get what our fellow Americans mean when they respond "in his way".

PS: And yeah, this is kinda inspired by a fellow American's current über-infatuation with the show.

par up to Maya Angelou

Please don't hit me on the head with a stick. But until yesterday, I absolutely didn't know who Maya Angelou was, except that she was mentioned in La Vie Boheme from Rent.

To hand-crafted beers made in local breweries
To yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese
To leather, to dildos, To curry Vindaloo
To Huevos Rancheros and Maya Angelou

So at least she was referenced in the same verse with my most favorite thing in the world. And NO, it's not dildo. I'm talking about yoga. Gosh. People. *rollingeyes*

So, a couple of days ago, Maya Angelou was picked up by kottke.org showing on what she had learned in life, highlighting this passage:

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

People start to rate them regarding these three things, and I think..

1. A rainy day. On the days I have uncancelable plans to go out, 5/10. I will grumble all the way to the venue. Seriously. On the days I have no plans, 8/10.

2. Lost luggage. Never experienced it. But since I value my clothes *ahem* so much, since each and one of them meant a lot to me and I need a fight to get them all and they are all hard-to-finds [I'm exaggerating, of course], 4/10.

3. Tangled Christmas tree lights. Conceited factor aside, 10/10. Oh, don't ask me. Ask Mr. [In my opinion] 2/10. :)

How would you rate yourself?

back by popular demand

Yeah, the title sounds pompous. However, from the five (or so) of my readers, I think four of them told me that subtly or frontally, directly or Y!Mly, commently or e-mailly.

Anyway. Updates.

I blogged less because ..

1. I fell for a trap called employment.

I am now neither freelancing nor freeprancing, but I work 8 (EIGHT!) to 5, have my own station complete with a telephone unit, 17-inch flat screen, name card stack that says my name and position and e-mail address and.. GAH! It stressed me just to think about it.

My work also introduced me to a work chair, also known as, based on that article on a recent Men's Health that I read, "The Number One Enemy for Your Spine". Every time I put my butt on my chair, I vividly recall that article and the horrifying picture of X-rayed messed-up vertebras, and one of my Yoga instructor's routine chants, "Take care of your spine.. You only have one of it.. You can not replace it like an old tire of your car.. Ohmm.." So when I called my employment a trap, that's an understatement.

2. I am no longer angry. I am now happy.

And who would want to write when they're happy? You might want to run on top of a hill, spread your hands, whisk through the grass, and sing, "The hills are alive.." But writing? I don't think so.

Ask that dude who won an Oscar or Emmy or other statuettes named after something given to angry people who write cool things and vent their anger in words that said, "Thanks for anyone who made me an angry bitter man, hence a better writer."

I mean, I am so filled with the intentions to do other stuff besides writing now. Having people to do those stuff doesn't help either. Talk to a friend of mine, and ask him about that farm that I raised and that city that I helped thriving.

But anyway, the reason I rewrite today, not because I am angry again. But, after seeing Juno, I know now that non-angry people could, or probably, should write too.

And my boss isn't around for two days.

top 5

I think it's much more fun to see these 5 kids than seeing this year Idol's top 5.

But I do believe that last week's "Think of Me" was one of the most perfectly arranged songs in Idol ever. The mumbly part by David Archuleta when he forgot his words just made it so much better.

Guess, who's back? Back again.

today's one liner

I know it's a LOT late to say this, but after unseeded players consistently beating seeded ones in various tournaments, I'll say it's gonna be an interesting year in Tennis.

dueling idols - American Idol top 24

"We're gonna lose half of these guys before we're moving on to the final stage!", Ryan Seacrest shouted to our dearest ears on the first semi final show of American Idol 7. Well, if he wasn't shouting it, it just feels like it, because during Idol season, I really can't get away from shouting Ryan.

Each time before every top 24 show, I always try to really take it in that half of these talented kids will not be there for the finals. Usually, the realization comes after some bad performances. Not naming names, here. But check the contestant without any last names. Oops.

But just because I want the finals to be as diverse as possible, here's how I saw last night's show.

1. Chikezie vs David Archuleta

The first David and Goliath showdown for David. This is the classic duel between the best and the worst. I love how energetic David's performance was. With that duality of personality while performing and doing interviews with Ryan, I really think he is the 17-year-old white male version of Melinda Doolittle. On the other spectrum, orange and all, oomph is what is missing in Chikezie's performance.

Winner: David Archuleta

2. Robbie Carrico vs Michael Johns

Robbie and Michael is two of the I-do-not-know-how-much rockers this year. What sets them apart is Robbie keeps telling us, "I'm a rocker! ROCKER!! I sport all this mandana and beanie and berets and meticulously grown and kept facial and chest and head hair and talk in a rocker kinda way, so of course, I am a real rocker!" Right. On the other hand, Michael just went there, manscaped, and sang. And we can vividly see that he totally rocked that stage. I mean, really.

Winner: Michael Johns

3. Jason Castro vs Danny Noriega

This round was appropriately themed the 60's. Jason and Danny were the only two that was true 100% to the theme. They were the last night's hippies. It is so easy to say that Jason is much hippier than Danny, since he has a long Bob-Marley-influenced kinda hair, performed with a guitar, but Jason misses Danny's hip thrusts and hipster pants. So, Danny scored two points for being the hippiest here. Plus he reminds me of Jake Shears. That's a HUGE compliment.

Winner: Call me crazy and hate my guts, but Danny Noriega - eventhough I also want Jason Castro in the finals

4. David Cook vs David Hernandez

Yep. I paired them simply because of their first names. Performance wise, I like David H better. I don't know why, but it's very rare to find male singers like David H in the finals of Idol. I don't think he is as bad as what Simon said and yeah, why don't we give a singer like David H more chance. On the other corner, David C, really? Another rocker?

Winner: David Hernandez

5. Luke Menard vs Jason Yeager

Idol is usually crowded with soulful, powerhouse, rangy vocalists. Because of that, I would like to see a safe, kindly calming, ballad-friendly vocals also make it to the finals this year. It can be easily from one of these two. I lean towards Luke more. I like the KennyLogginsy of his voice (Kenny Loggins is one of my favorite performers because of his safe, kindly calming, ballad-friendly vocal). Oh, and they are paired because they have the most daddy quality in them. Err, no. Non-sexually speaking.

Winner: Luke Menard

6. Colton Berry vs Garrett Hayley

These are the two contestants that I least care about.

Winner: See sentence above.

Will be updated later with the girls. (Did anyone notice that Carly Smithson was nowhere to be seen yesterday?)

rockin idol

Unlike listening to Avenue Q at least once a day, voicing my infatuation towards one contestant to another before I saw them performing on the top 24 stage is not really my habit. But in this seventh installment of International American Idol, I can't help of noticing some stand-outs from the preliminary rounds. See, I still won't take sides at this point, I just have some judgments. Now, not big judgments like who to hire or who to buy newspapers from.

Most Internationally Recognized

It's a tie between Carly Smithson and Michael Johns. Smithson is Irish, while Johns speaks with an Australian accent. I think they're cool. Hopefully, internationaldom won't hurt their chances.

Most Likely to be the Most Successful David

Funnily, we have three (THREE!) Davids this year. If this is Indonesian Idol, the producers will have problems making the SMS vote code. I mean would you like to hear, "Kirim 'IDOL spasi DAVIDA' ke 9889". I mean, who's Davida? But on that note, 16-year-old David Archuleta can easily garner votes from one of the biggest blocks in Idol: the teenie girls. Besides he will be the one to make the headline "David vs Goliath" or its puns work.

Most Entertaining to Watch

Two words: Danny Noriega. Also two words: Love him. Not really two words: I can't believe he sang "When I Need You" with those daring movements touching his carefully groomed hair in a better way than how the likes of Christina Aguilera or Beyoncé does it. Dayum. And oh, yeah, I had watched those 30-second youtube clips for like three hundred times already.

Most Likely to be My Favorite

When I first saw Joanne Burgella, I thought she would be an upgraded registered version of Mandisa with a prettier face, better outfit, and more user friendly (*coughlesshomophobiacough*). But soon as I heard Burgella sing, her voice is so not Mandisa, and deserves to be one of my finger-countable CDs. You know, screechy and screamy. Love her.

Most Likely to Pull a Nadia Turner

Nadia Turner was a favorite during the first weeks of Idol 4 finals, only to find on the next week that she was far to "unique" for Idol. This year, the motorcycle chick nurse, Amanda Overmyer might fall on the same category. What is it with motorcycle chicks this year? After Sweet P, we have Amanda now?

First to Hear the Word "Forgettable"

I have a hard time to name this category. But I seriously wonder what's so special about Syesha I-cant-even-remember-her-last-name.

Most Likely to Rock the Idol Stage

I honestly don't know. There's just too many of them already.

The Pimpette

Oh, come on. If by now you haven't heard of Carly Smithson already, you shouldn't call yourself an Idol freak, you freak. Even the controversy surrounding her this past few days made her a pimpette a little too much.

best news I've heard so far in 2008

Found it in Boing Boing.

Neil Gaiman has decided to donate a book to be freely (as in costless) available online to celebrate his blog's birthday.

Yay!

He said,

Which book, though...? Ah, that's up to you.

What I want you to do is think -- not about which of the books below is your favourite, but if you were giving one away to a friend who had never read anything of mine, what would it be? Where would you want them to start?

I voted for the you-will-not-see-London-the-same-way-again "Neverwhere". So, come on! Help us all read "Neverwhere" for free! It's only down a couple of votes from "American Gods".

PS: To be totally honest, though, I haven't read ALL of Neil's books.
PPS: Yeah, I still don't actively celebrate my birthdays.

I guess my stalker successfully recruited five members, then

Yikes! This is by far, the creepiest birthday wish that I have ever got.

At least some of them are cute.

news from the down under

Let's start this with a more neutral news; I really like it how everything turned out in Australia Open. For the female part, that is. Reigning champion Serena Williams is ousted, world's number 1 Justine Henin is also ousted. Second seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova is already ousted. It's gonna be an interesting semi-final.

In the men's part, however, why is God so nice to Nadal in this opening of the year? Lucky bastard.

In a more devastating news, actor famous for his portrayal of closeted gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain", Heath Ledger, is found dead in his apartment yesterday (that's this morning to us all in Indonesia) at approximately 15:30 PM EST. He will be terribly missed. I like his work since I watched that Shakespearean "10 Things I Hate About You" (and yes, I even reviewed the movie and sent it to my classmates who thought I was a freak, of course) and was thrilled that he was cast as Joker before he was Jack Nicholson-y. No guy can fit to that role more perfect than he can.

May he rest in peace.

mr. right

He is absolutely right. American Gangster is no fun to watch. Yawn!

PS: Also somewhat Mr. Right on a more non-personal thing is Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber. Gratuliere, mann!

thanks for noticing mine, I know I'm proud of it

Dear Honey [clearly this is not her real name since I have to obscure it to spare her feelings],

first of all, thank you very much for your message on Friendster. I really appreciate it. I don't really get it though as why I should feel sorry for myself. What's that? That's a catchphrase? Well, I don't really get that catchphrase as a pick up line since I heard it the last time well back in 2002. Perhaps six years does make a difference. I need to go out more.

Besides, I don't adopt that many catchphrases. Especially when it is conceived by Indonesians who think that the catchphrases they're making are cool but they're really not. And they think themselves as funny but they're really not. Really funny Indonesians are such a gem you know that?

So anyway, thanks for writing. I don't think we can make a great (if not perfect) combo anyway. So, take care and good luck.

Best,
Zakky

PS: Oh, and next time. Just a small tip. Calling a dude offensive names in your message Subject when you want to know him more? Not the greatest idea. Unless you want to talk about yours, I think you really should not have used that word. Cheers to that.

oh my dear F-ing God! (Ease out guys, F stands for Facebook)

Alrighty, who did this?

today's one liner

I just changed my desktop wallpaper yesterday until I saw yesterday's last entry from The Sartorialist.

PS: Damn.

New Year's Eve's Resolution Update

So. It's been a year since I observed my iTunes behaviour. There is nothing to it, really, except perhaps since I don't really have a current favorite bands (yeah, bye bye bye, NSync), or singer (why is your third album boring, Joshie?), I just want to know which music I listen to most actually. Here goes..

Top 25.

What took me by surprise is the fact that "Way Back Into Love" is ranked that high (#23), and "Popular" is ranked that low (#15).

"Way Back Into Love", a conclusive song from the movie Music and Lyrics, is a feel-good pop perfect for a happy ending movie. I remember being afterglowed by the movie and being smitten by the song from the piano intro up to the faded out ending. I guess I was just practicing Hugh Grant's hip thrusts in that movie once too many then.

I honestly thought that I had ad-libbed listened to "Popular" much more than just a mere 116 times this year. Besides the fact that this song fits my range perfectly, highly challenges my enunciation and voice production, "Popular" was also featured in "Ugly Betty" season 2 episode 6, justifying too many occurences for this song to be in the top 10. Ah, well.

Sidenote: 8 out of 10 of those songs are from a musical.

Top 10

Number 12 "Here We Are", sung by Gloria Estefan, is a sentimental song that I love to sing. I still remember this song being dubbed by Rick Dees (and the weekly top foooorrrr-tyyyy!!) as one of the saddest break-up song of all time. By of all time, of course he meant early 90s. But as a clarification, no, I didn't have 129 break-ups this year.

"Purpose" is the song that I am deeply in love from the musical "Avenue Q". It's one of the songs in the musical that is (almost) clear from a bad word. Purpose is a hero song, sung by the lead actor in a more somber mood, gradually escalating to a more confident gesture. More or less like "Something's Coming" in "West Side Story". Hmm, perhaps that's why this song has a line that says, "Something's coming, something good."

"Find Your Grail" is a purposeful song in the musical "Spamalot". Sung mostly by Sara Ramirez (Dr. Callie Torres in Grey's Anatomy, FYI) featuring Tim Curry (title character of Stephen King's It, FYI) in the second half of Act One of the musical. What is so fun about this song is how Sara mimics (or parodies) Whitney Houston throughout the song. And she did a helluva wonderful job.

Simply Red's "You Make Me Feel Like Brand New" is my favorite ballad of all time. That and the fact that the version in this list is a perfect rendition by Shayne Ward during his The X Factor days, made this song ranked this high. Who can resist the innocent voice of Shayne and his falsetto, anyway?

Sidenote: Notice the two Dreamgirls songs? I will not comment on that.

Top 5

Just like its title, "Diva's Lament (Whatever Happened to My Part?)", is a diva-sung number from "Spamalot", destined to be the actress's showstopper of this musical. Also performed by Sara Ramirez, "Diva's" is a demanding song, not only vocally, but also because of the performer must be irate and funny at the same time. Oh, and the song breaks down the fourth wall.

Tied in the third place are a teen pop number from "Hairspray" called "Without Love" and "Dreamgirls" showstopper and tear-jerker "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" by Jennifer Hudson. While Without Love was pushed heavily by me in the last quarter of the year, I have hinted earlier last year that "And I Am Telling You" can be one of the tops.

"Defying Gravity" has always been my favorite. The showstopper from the musical Wicked is screamy, thrilling, composed incredibly, and has a variety of mood involved. Perfect.

"Listen". Until that day at the karaoke comes, "Listen" from the movie "Dreamgirls" will still be played over and over and over again in my iTunes.