Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009

New Year

Blue January light, cold, scoured, clear.

From the Sandia foothills looking down

and back to where I came from, and the town

spread out below, then back to the past year,

 

or three or more years carrying this load,

how do I feel unburdened: free and light?

Unanchored, dizzy, my precarious tight-

rope lowered to a mere terrestrial road?

 

The blank new month requires divination.

Sword, wand, ship, sandal: at the Flying Star

(we talk our way along; improvisation),

the cards laid out spell struggle, choice, and pain;

also a white horse champing in a green

meadow; a maiden moving down a long dark stair.

(by Rachel Hadas)

Bon Jovi singing Halleluyah

You've got to watch this.  I have the DVD, but I found it on Youtube also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-yvZygFtIg

I heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the lord
but you don't really care for music do ya
Well it goes like this the fourth the fifth
the minor fall and the major lift
the baffled king composing hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
you saw her bathing on the roof
her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
she tied you to a kitchen chair
she broke your throne and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew the hallelujah.

Hallelujah,hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
You know, I used to live alone before I knew you
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
and love is not a victory march
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah,hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well there was a time when you let me know
what's really going on below
but now you never show that to me do you
but remember when I moved in you
and the holy dove was moving too
and every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well maybe there's a god above
but all I've ever learned from love
was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
it's not somebody who's seen the light
it's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah

Siapa?

ku tak temukan kata tuk ungkapkan kata hati
dan ku tak tahu, siapa yang kan mengingat
siapa aku, siapa yang bicara
siapa?

Halleluyah

Ive just listened to Bon Jovi singing Leonard Cohen's "Halleluyah".  I have to say that the song pull me up from reality.  There is something more up there.  God?  But it just fells so good to sneak out from reality.  Because, you know, sometimes reality is very tiring.  It's not that dark, but it is either boring or unattainable.

Now that I think that some people I know keep coming back to something they feel good but it's not right, maybe it's because of this kind of ecstasy.  Christians keep coming back to their churches because it satisfy them emotionally.  So does Moslem and maybe even me, a Buddhist.  If the temple doesn't give me some emotional push, maybe I won't come in every week.

Humans just need something to hold on to...  whether it is right or wrong, it's another matter.

Halleluyah!  Praise the Lord!

Back from Medan

Back from Medan.  Back from the city where I was born.  It was such an experience that almost magical.  My grandma's house in Medan is not big.  The furniture is all outdated.  The bed, wardrobe, all is old style.  It's almost like returning to the 70's.

There is still a lot to do at home in Medan.  The house is going down.  It is getting older, just like I am.  Someday, all my new possessions now will be old, just like that.  Just be sure that it is as durable as that.  But nowadays it is difficult to find a durable goods.  Technology runs like hell.  Things are more fragile and more expensive.  Friends come and go.  One thing that is good from the old timer is that everything is made to last at that time.  Things made to last.  House made to last.  Friends made to last.  Love made to last.

Everything is made to last.

How I envy them...

What about now?  I can't see a thing that lasts more than five years.  In old-timer, even twenty years seems so short.  TWENTY YEARS!  Can you last your job five years?  I have met someone that have been in his job for twenty years... and even he is not considering himself an expert.

The beauty of old-timer.

Some business can even last more than half a century, where nowadays it is good if you can see a new business last more than five years.  Change is the essence of this changing times.  I know, none of the old-timer can beat us, new-ager in the race in everything.  Not money.  Not power.  Not functions...  But they beat us in this:  emotional fullness.  You feel full when you are with them...  They maybe are simpletons, but they have their own way of doing, that we don't have.  They have that kind of loyalty, that we all lack of these days.

Loyalty to your belongings.  Loyalty to your relatives, friends, community, religion...  Loyalty to your clothes, lover...  Loyalty to what you believe...  Loyalty to your job.  They are these all things in one.  They are old-timer.  They are not changing.  Dinosaurs.  They won't blog nor read blogs.  But I envy them... for their feeling of fullness.  Of feeling enough with what they have, instead of us that are always chasing for something else.

A new thing.  A new friend/network.  A new job.  A new girlfriend/boyfriend.  A new home.  A new book.  New everything.  What is best word in marketing world right now is maybe "NEW!".  What a big change...what a big change...

I maybe not the most sophisticated person in the world.

This is just a reminder.  Sometimes, the old ways of doing things... may last longer than our new ways...  in the long run...  we can't always run.

A sprinter won't win a marathon runner in a marathon.  Life is a marathon.  And from centuries ago, some runners have found the way to win the game.  And it is not by sprinting every time and every day.  Won't you want to learn their ways also???

Second Thought of Elevator

On a second thought, after seeing some more calculations on the ratio of elevator and room, I think it's almost enough, so I hope it won't be of a big problem, except for that peak 5-minutes in the morning and in the evening.  It only that I can't just go up and down whenever my heart likes.

Cukupkah Elevatornya?

Aku baru saja serah terima kunci Apartemen City Park.  Baru inspeksi ke unit, ternyata elevatornya cuma ada dua!  Satu buat penumpang kapasitas 1000 kg (10 orang) sama satu buat barang kapasitas 1600 kg (16 orang).  Apartemen itu satu tower ada 12 lantai.  Unitku di lantai paling atas.  Ada 25-an unit satu lantainya, berarti ada sekitar 300 unit di tower itu.  Taruhlah 250 unit.  Ratio elevator seharusnya 1 : 90.  Jadi, idealnya ada 3 elevator di situ, plus satu service elevator.  Ini cuma setengahnya.

Aku khawatir...

Emang sih, ini rusunami, tapi waktu beli, aku kira elevatornya ada empat.  Aku lihat di gambar denahnya.  Nah, makanya walaupun beli yang awal-awal, aku pilih unit yang paling atas, hampir pojok, karena alasan view, nggak ada debu, lebih tenang, nggak bakalan bocor, dan privacy.  Kalau tahu begini, mungkin aku malah prefer yang di lantai dua sekalian, jadi tidak usah pakai elevator, cuman bakalan agak berisik.

Belum lagi kalau elevator-nya rusak.  Wah, runyam!

Elevatornya dari China gitu.  Dari pengalaman sih, bisa-bisa setelah dua tahun banyak merongrong.  Tampaknya setelah dua tahun dan apartemen ini ramai, aku harus segera cabut nih, over kredit, ciao!  Soalnya, bisa nggak tahan nunggu itu elevator lama-lama.

Tapi kalau masih sepi sih... OK OK aja.  Aku mungkin akan moving in benar-benar mulai tahun depan (2009), walaupun sudah serah terima kunci hari ini.  Targetku 2011 uda dapat rumah jadi apartemen ini bisa aku jual lagi.