The Number 23

Have you ever watched or heard of a movie titled “The Number 23” ?  I missed a movie like “The Number 23”. It’s a Jim Carrey movie. It’s not a comedy…or at least not the conventional kind of comedy. It’s kinda dark. It’s about a person who did something wrong, got away with it successfully, but then voluntarily face the consequence of his past crime. I rarely seen a movie like that. He’s not a kind of some loveable bad guy that escaped with his loot and now lives happily in some tropical paradise. He’s not a villain that a hero kicked to jail. He’s a man. A man who bravely faces his responsibility like he’s supposed to.

We rarely seen that.

“But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.” ~Numbers 32:23

Pinnacle of My Rebellion

 

I’m officially employed!

Yeah, and what does it has to do with the picture and the post title?

That gorgeous disposal manager is a symbol of my rebellion. My parents refused to buy that kind of “high-spec” trash bin and have rebuffed my request for it over and over again. But I’m no longer shackled. I’m employed! I use my first paycheck to buy that beauty.

So, yeah, and…Hi, dear visitor of my world!

El presidente is back!

not for a while I hope…

What If “Yes, You Can!” is True

I watched Elysium this afternoon and the curing machine was interesting for me, though probably not an original idea; many fiction stories have things similar like it. Then, this evening I browsed some reviews about Elysium and what idea the writer tried to convey to the audience, and, hey, I stumbled upon an interesting term: transhumanism, after some clicks, it lead me to a page titled “The World’s Most Dangerous Ideas”.

What is it actually? To put it in a simple way, transhumanism is an idea with an appealing goal: to greatly enhance humans. Francis Fukuyama, in his writing about transhumanism for FB even put it as “to liberate the human race from its biological constraints”. When I heard it, I imagined a cure for cancer, for every kind of illness (maybe not psychological ones), and even aging process. You don’t have to die. Your families, your friends, they don’t have to die or sick or get old. And it can also mean you can change everything about your body, parts you don’t like, blemishes, birthmarks, and deformities. Furthermore, you can be smarter, nicer, all desirable traits are yours to choose.

Wikipedia put this picture on the page about transhumanism. Very amusing, right?!

It sound wonderful, isn’t it? But it’s also scary for me. Call me weird, but I think limitations are necessary. Limitations are what make humans human. A very irrational and fundamentally weak argument, I must admit, but I think this is where I stand right now. I’m not perfect and that makes me feel good. “No, you can’t!” is a lot more comfortable for someone like me.

What do you think? Share you thought!

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.”

– A popular Serenity Prayer

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A Hero Once

Hey, how’s your Christmas and New Year celebrations? Fun? My friend told me she’s going to get drunk with her boyfriend for New Year celebration. I myself spent my 31st replaying ES: Skyrim and watching Korean movies: Marine Boy and Quiz King.

Anyway, I suddenly had a flashback about my time in high school. I was a junior high school boy and it was on a sport session. The class was divided into teams and we were going to have a basketball match. I was put in a team with “unfit” members; outcast, nerds, favorite bullying victim. No, I’m sorry for giving a prejudicial label on my team mates. I merely trying to describe the condition of my team. I was not different, I was an “unfit” as well. And there was this particular bully who laughed at us as soon as the teams were decided, calling us names, telling us we’re going to lose as soon as we get into the match. My team mates, I remembered, looked up to me that time. I don’t know if my memory is tampered, but, I’m telling you the way I remember it. I was like an elected captain in my team, my team mates asked me what we should do, what strategy we should employ, etc. I felt great, but that was not the best feeling that day. Remember that bully I mentioned earlier? My team beat his team. It was sublime. I felt like a protagonist of a conventional good vs evil story; where the hero fought against great and powerful evil forces with thin chance of victory but the hero prevailed anyway against all odds. I don’t remember ever feeling that way anymore since that day.

I was a hero once, and it felt great.

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,300 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 38 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

On The Good Side?

Jedi-s?

I encountered an interesting event this afternoon. I was walking back to my lodging on the 2nd floor when I saw a fight between three kids, probably 4 years old, and a cat. One of the kids held a kitten on his hand and another kid was trying to pull a kitten from the cat’s mouth. I asked one of the kid what were they doing and he replied that they were trying to save the kittens from being eaten by a cat. That cat, however, is the mother of those kittens and I’m quite sure about it; I encountered that cat when she was pregnant and I watched her sleeping with those kittens once. So, I think that cat was trying to take her kittens away from those kids by picking her kittens with her mouth and these kids thought she was trying to eat those kittens. Seemed like a big misunderstanding.

But the point of the story is about thinking carefully about righteousness-motivated action. Those kids thought they were on the good side by trying to protect the lives of the kittens from a cannibalistic feline; that cat thought she’s trying to protect her children from three giant carnivores.

Does it sound familiar? Big examples are big nations going to war to help, to promote democracy, to preserve stability, et cetera. But aren’t we all do something like that in our life? Think about it!

“I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire!”
―Darth Vader

Update 12 September 2013

Hi, it’s me again. A 21 years old, still single, last year student of a well-known university, a disgraced caretaker of a particular religion fellowship, a despised head of an organization. I’ve successfully accumulated quite a significant amount of acquaintances and fewer, compared to the former, but a lot more loyal to their cause, foes. I’m quite good at hurting people’s feelings and making trouble has always been my habit. It might sound cocky, but I’m quite popular now, not in a good way though; people greet me at public places but viciously defame me in whispers to each other when I’m not around. It’s not comfortable, but it’s alright. I’ve come unappreciated, blamed for almost everything, and vilified, but I’m still here, with tears I may not show, I refused to quit. If these people need a Hitler to crucify, then let me fill that role. I’ve taken a burden nobody desired, and I’m living each day enduring the pain. I might sound excessively grim, but that’s how I feel, and this is my world, so I kinda have this kind of prerogative. I’ve been trying my whole life living in a standard the society put, heeding their not-to-cross-lines, trying to look though and strong, so please give me a rest from those kind of you’re-too-melodramatic critique, at least this one time, let me be as “drama queen” as I want.

People I’ve helped yesterday are my bitter enemies today, and my bitter enemies yesterday are my loyal friends today; funny human; weird life. I realized that I trust those I interact less with, or those kind of people who I think will just be around for a while in my life; I trust more secret to a person whom I’ve physically met less than five times than a “religious sibling” who’d sworn to keep my secret secret and I’ve met routinely for years; I trust smokers, slackers, and outcasts more than those righteous people. Something is wrong with me. I love being around people who don’t really ask about my life and just want to be around me to have fun; they make me feel safe in a funny way. A particular clique of mine is going to a BFF mode, and it creeps me out; I’m not even sure I want to be around them forever, heck, I’m not even sure I want to be around any single life form forever.

I was once an avid reader, now I’m just a miniature of that person; I can’t read for long; and I don’t write much anymore. My vocabulary is declining. However, this I assure you, no matter how long the hiatus will be, I will not shut down this world of mine, unless the Supreme Being has something else in mind.

So, keep checking in once in a while, mein Volk!

Anton World 2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

My First Election

Yup, this is my first time to vote in a formal election for somebody in the governmental position. Quite a festive event for me to finally be able to join the democratic fiesta!

There were some memorable cases of this day.

The first of all, there was an sms at 00:40 WIB from an unknown number suggesting me to vote for a particular governor candidate. It was probably meant as a “Serangan Fajar”, but they forgot one crucial thing, they didn’t send me the money. What did they expect? I will do as they say for the sleep deprivation they gave me?!  Obviously, they are oblivious how inept they are at this kind of job.

Then, the paint, that purple paint on the tip of my pinkie, every Jakarta citizen pinkie. When I dipped my pinkie in, it was green colored, an odd green. I looked at the cartridge and it was purple. Bizarre! I have no idea why it was green on my pinkie, and apparently many of friends encounter the same occurrence. Of course, it doesn’t stay for long, it changed to purple after I tried to wash it. It was an interesting topic to discuss that day. Anyway, the paint was very hard to wash and it stick everywhere. Troublesome it was.

The last was about the political view. I had a different candidate in mind from my family or my friends. I didn’t like the way they explicitly discredit the candidate in my mind and endorse the candidate they support. I mean, c’mon, it’s not like you’re in the right side. These candidates were not purely good or purely evil and all they could give was promise, “words” the way the Bee Gees put it. Anyway, I shares the same candidate in mind with an Ojek, who’s the grassroots champion now, huh?!

Nice guide for this looooong holiday!

pretonero

I read this article “50 + 1 yang Seru dan Asyik dari Jakarta” on Rider’s Digest Indonesia, June 2008 edition. Bought it for IDR 20.000 (about US$ 2,20) only. It’s less expensive that the US version (US$ 2,99) which I bought in Cairo – Egypt for EG£ 34 or about IDR 60.000!

It’s not the price that I’m going to talk about, but the city or even cities! There were cities where I’ve been to, and absolutely many more that I’m going to visit. Each of my trips had its own mission. This time, I’ve just spent two whole weeks in Cairo with the same mission: taking my chances in love. Mission accomplishment: failed. It’s just like my “30 days of love seeking in Europe”: failed. Believe me, I’d fly thousands miles just to see the man I fall in love with, to take my chances.

Anyway, I’m not going…

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