My sanity has reached the end of its ropes

For a nonbeliever like myself, the supernatural is a bit of a joke. However, this holiday—while bringing its own share of surprises—definitely brought the biggest one thus far: I saw a fucking ghost. You can laugh—and you probably should—but it seemed pretty goddamn real when it happened. Now, I’m going to go ahead and put it out there that I’d drunk a few beers before sleeping. However, I don’t think that a few cold ones spread out over a few hours and then about six hours of sleep would cause this.

Anyway, I was sleeping and having a rather vivid dream. I awoke, turned to the right, turned back the left and there the fucker was. It looked like a small man bent down praying. To top it off, he was flashing. I blinked my eyes a few times, turned away, looked back and he was still there. I then blinked again, rubbed my eyes, looked again and there he was still hanging about.

At this point, I raised myself up and he appeared to turn away and walk off. I did the logical thing, which was to reach out and grab him. In turn, I smashed my hand into the wardrobe and that was the end of it. My travel partner rolled around a bit and made a noise or two but that was all. I then took a shower, got dressed and went down to the lobby as it wasn’t even 05.00 yet.

Now, was this all a bit strange? Yes. Did it shake me up a bit? Yes. Do I think it was really a ghost? No. Am I most likely fucked up, crazy and insane? Yes. Do I hope it happens again? I’m not sure.

You’ve just got to love these fucked up holidays.

Pretend know-it-alls

You’ve got to love them really. Nothing gets me harder than a fucking know-it-all. I’ve got to say, Indonesia is full of them and I don’t mean that in a good way. I’ve been yanked around so goddamn much in the nearly three years I’ve been here than ever before. What’s worse is how transparent the whole ruse really is. It’s not cunning at all. In reality it’s just foolish and stupid. Oh, and really funny.

I’ve had it all, man. It runs the gamut from pretend doctors, pretend travel agents, pretend mosquito sprayers, pretend hard-asses, pretend bus owners, pretend taxi drivers, people pretending to have a job and the latest and greatest: the pretend insurance expert. Man, the dogshit just keeps getting deeper. I don’t know where the lies end and reality begins any more.

Anyway, this is a short rant. My disgust has been summed up rather eloquently—and concisely—in two paragraphs. There’s just no need to keep the machine running.

We’re killing our planet and we don’t even care

Every time I fly into Jakarta I realize—well really remember would be a better way to word it—how strikingly bad the level of pollution and environmental damage there is in this country. I don’t notice it so much when I’m in Surabaya to be honest. I mean, Surabaya is polluted as well but not on the scale of Jakarta. I dare say Surabaya is clean compared to the capital but as with many things, clean is relative.

I was here just last week and when I landed, the air was somewhat clear. You could see the buildings clearly and the infamous yellow cloud of who-knows-what wasn’t wrapped around the landscape. The time before was just atrocious. The whole place was just covered in pollution. There are really no other words to describe what it was like.

Today it was back to business as usual. I thought we were flying into a storm but then there was no rain. I then thought that must be smoke due to the color but when we got closer there were no fires. I then thought that maybe, and I mean just maybe, that is fog and haze but no, it was just nasty, polluted, discolored air. Disgusting really but it’s an everyday affair I’m afraid.

Honestly though, it really hammers home just how much damage we’re doing to Earth—our planet, our home—and I just can’t imagine this will somehow fix and reverse course naturally. Nothing can handle being constantly abused and misused and I believe our planet is the same. Yeah, you can now bust my balls for flying since that’s a huge contributor but I do the best I can otherwise. At least I’m trying. I can’t say the same for a large proportion of people here.

I know it isn’t just Indonesia but there are some rather bad things going on here. You’ve got rampant deforestation with a big percentage done by simply burning it down, dubious environmental practices, non-existent waste management, a whole host of other things and corruption as bad as you could ever imagine keeping the whole system rolling right along. It’s fucked beyond all belief but that’s the state of affairs as well as the status quo.

Not too many people seem to really give a damn either and that’s the worst part. It’s the whole “it’s not mine so I’ll turn a blind eye” attitude that really just boils down to pure fucking sloth. Layabouts don’t do much of anything except lay about. I guess trying to get them to toss their garbage in a bin is about like getting them to stop lying about—impossible.

Anyway, I digress. I’ll never change one culture let alone the entire fucking world. I hate to say it but I do actually give a damn. I didn’t use to care all that much but that’s changing. I guess living around people so lazy they can’t be bothered to toss their candy wrapper in a bin will do that to you. The list goes on and on but surely you get the point. “Sparkling Surabaya” and “Keep Surabaya Clean”: words not to live by really.