You want to see my art gallery?

Yeah, probably not but I’ll have a laugh at your expense. However, I’ve got to give it to these geezers here in Yogya—damn they are determined and resolute. In all honesty, I quite like it and all that jazz but the annoying—and albeit slightly creepy—old scrubbers that roam the streets flogging absolute garbage put me off a bit. It’s not that I can’t deal with it but I can’t turn every moment of my life into a piss take, right? Or then again, maybe I can.

Anyway, as I’ve been eating my way through Central Java, I’ve come across some rather interesting characters as well as some lovely food. Yogya definitely hasn’t lost its reputation for being cheaper than cheap. Yeah, the food is on the sweet side but more or less, it’s good and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. The best deal so far has been the ‘gado-gado’-esque dish plus beer for 35.000IDR. That’s about what I normally pay for a beer in Surabaya depending on how low I want to go in my choice of the watering hole. So as you can see, Yogya is light on the budget.

Yesterday as well I managed to have the best ‘gudeg’ I’ve ever eaten. It was a bit expensive in comparison to everything else here but the quality was just outstanding. I didn’t even go in to eat. I was only looking for a place to sit down and have some real coffee instead of the shit they call coffee in a sachet. Anyway, it was rock n’ roll and really just reinforced what the hell it’s all about and that’s having a hole in the wall joint that serves up better food than you could get in the nicest restaurant here. That’s just the way it is full stop.

Em, aside from the usual culinary adventures and trying not to get killed, I actually have managed to do some useful things. I did the ‘kraton’ tour and even went back to Prambanan yesterday since the last time I was there a big chunk of the temples were still under renovation. Aside from the usual hordes of culturally and historically ignorant buffoons, it was a success. The weather was spot on and thanks to my company I wasn’t bothered by anyone except for some snooty twats whom I would’ve indulged had they not interrupted me when I was talking. Why do people do that and then wonder why I don’t want to give them the time of day?

The plan today is to head out to Borobudur so I can get a second look at it and hopefully a new, better, fresher and clearer perspective this time around. The weather is absolutely beyond fabulous again today. It’s a crisp, clear and—by Indonesian standards anyway—cool 25°C which is just about perfect for anything really. So yeah, I’m going to get my lazy ass out there and enjoy it is what I’m trying to say!

Aside from this rather long holiday in which I had no plan to do anything at all, things are great overall. I’ve managed to finally free myself of the hooks, anchors and quite frankly bullshit that used to run me as well as ruin me. I’m moving on and it feels good to finally be free of the endless stream of lies, deception, deceit and just general horseshit coming out of the mouths of some people. I can honestly say—and with honesty I also mean conviction—that I’m about as happy as I’ve been in a long, long time. Yeah and with that statement I’m going to cut this short to avoid rambling on about nothing at all and ruining a rather productive writing session this morning.

Take care, roll up your shacking trousers, put some cheesy—but fantastic—80’s era KISS on the stereo and eat some dodgy food. “To the hilt” fuckers!!!

\m/

Indonesia—metal to the max!

It sounds like a contradiction in terms I know, but it’s so fucking true. Basically, if you’re not living your life with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth and sitting around doing nothing with a Mortician hat on, you should just kill yourself now cause you’re a fucking loser. If your little 100cc motorbike doesn’t have a blood red Suffocation sticker on the fender, why wake up and greet the day? By the time you’re a 15 year-old girl, if you don’t sport a Dead Squad hoodie to walk down the street, get fucked! And you thought it was all jilbabs and conservatism—well, it’s not! In a land of extremes, it seems that metal still wins out. It’s not shocking—to me anyway—that it always does.

Apparently somebody cares

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/apnewsbreak-senator-calls-hearing-on-nfl-bounties-will-invite-nhl-mlb-nba-ncaa-to-testify/2012/03/22/gIQAR4VwTS_story.html

First, I guess it should be said that I'm not much of a sports fan and definitely not a fan of American football. I mean, really, it's a bit of a joke. Anyway, the fact that these overweight, uneducated goons go out on a field, put on pads and bang around on each other for an hour—which actually takes a lot longer than that for some nonsensical reason—is proof enough that they aren't so smart. However, what really worries me more—although I guess I shouldn't be shocked—is that politicians in this warped country want to spend time, money and effort on something that should be left to sports news and Internet forums for morons with nothing better to do. Is this really happening? Yes, it is.

This whole Congress hearing sham brings me back to the steroid hearings baseball had back whenever the hell that was. Now, I used to actually like baseball. Actually, I used to really, really like baseball. I used to be somewhat of a sports fan when I was a kid. Now however, I just don't care. These goons are nothing but whiny, chemically juiced, overpaid, uneducated scumbags who in the real world probably couldn't keep a job scrubbing pans at your local greasy spoon or rounding up carts at Wal-Mart. Truth be told, a good portion of them would probably be in jail, hooked on drugs and mixed in with the rest of the riffraff where they belong.

Anyway, I guess that what I'm getting at is that, once again, this shameful and embarrassing country is wasting what little resources it has left on something so trivial, unimportant and banal as some beefed up goons who want to hurt each other for money that it's lost sight of important matters—again. These days, I couldn't be any more ashamed.

Back to the old days

Discriminatory? Probably but who cares! It's all about looks in Indonesia.

I was just wasting time one day and came upon this job advert for a flight attendant. Now, this brings to mind every impression you had of a flight attendant in say the 70's or 80's. Can you imagine how many lawsuits would be filed, women's rights groups up in arms and crummy news stations (i.e. US news) would just jump all over this? It makes for a great ride if you fly Lion Air that's for sure. It also explains why I had two annoying, overweight men and the ugliest women you could ever imagine serving me shit the last time I flew an American airline. One had a mustache and the other a Jersey accent—ugh!

P.S. I just realized that photo is a bit small and hard to read but you can view it full-sized here.

What's with the weather?

Seriously, what the hell is going on? Two weeks ago it was -10, slicing wind and just grey, bleak and grim. Then it suddenly turns sunny, the temperature jumps up to 22, everyone thinks it's spring or early summer and I've got the windows open enjoying the calm and rather pleasant weather. Not only that but we also got massive thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes that ripped the place apart. Last night it goes back down to 0 and today I wake up to snow flurries with snow and sub-zero temperatures forecast again. Huh? I'm just as confused as everyone else is at this point. I'm almost ready to go back to Indonesia for weather reasons alone. At least I know what to expect every day: hot; humid; might rain; might flood; smog and pollution. Seems simpler that way to me.

Yes, I'm still alive.

It's been quite some time since I posted any kind of an update but it's not for lack of material. Honestly, it's more a lack of motivation. I haven't written anything in months. I don't know if it's writer's block or not because I haven't even tried to write anything. The inspiration and desire just hasn't been there. Anyway, I can slowly feel it creeping back so all isn't lost I guess.

So, what's been happening lately? Well, I've been back in my beloved homeland since the very end of November. I didn't do much of anything for a month except for sleep, drink, download anything and everything I didn't have, drive my mother around and go out with my father. Now, I know it doesn't sound like much fun, but it wasn't so bad either. Anyway, I seem to be coming back into some sort of normal existence and it's rather nice. I'm back on a regular exercise regime, eating healthily, going a few days at a time without smoking, drinking much less and just generally living a better life. My body and spirits have been better for it as well.

With that being said though, not everything is rosy. Every time I go out to eat here, I'm generally disgusted by what I find as well as the people there. I've sworn off chain restaurants and vow to never eat anywhere else again except for independent cafes and bars/pubs. For the record, we don't have street food—thanks to our mental laws and regulations—or that would be an option as well. No one seems to understand that hot tea is a normal drink, you don't have to dump ice in my water (or even bring me water at all if I don't ask for it), if I want to eat something I'll actually order it and that by being annoying, pushy and generally a twat won't earn you a larger tip—or a tip at all for that matter.

Why people feel the need to talk to me—or are they talking at me?—constantly is baffling. If I don't know you, don't engage you first or you aren't a female that is remotely attractive, I don't want to hear your mouth. I can clearly see that it's cloudy, rainy, cold, hot, snowing, etc. outside without you telling me. If I buy twelve beers, maybe I'll drink them all myself, maybe I'm stocking up or maybe I'm going to share them with friends. Either way, it's none of your fucking business.

Oh, and while we're speaking of beers, I'm about sick of being insulted by my ID being requested all the time. Seriously, do I really look younger than twenty-one? For that matter, the last time I bought a pack of cigarettes I got carded! It's mildly flattering the first time but after that it's just annoying and insulting. I always use my passport since the photo resembles me now and I'm used to carrying it everywhere. I'm baffled by how many people have asked me where I'm from when it clearly states that the document is a US passport and was issued in the USA. Maybe it's the multiple languages? Who knows.

The general pettiness of people has been getting me down as well. I couldn't tell you how many times it's been too hot, too cold, too loud, too late, too early, too spicy, too bland, too smoky, too dirty or something that is generally meaningless and just another example of how spoiled and pampered a lot of the people here are. I'm just happy to have a place to stay, clothes to wear, food to eat, drinks to drink and a generally comfortable, safe existence. That's more than most people can say so why can't the majority of the populace here appreciate that?

Eh, I guess I'm drifting toward negativity now so I'm going to wrap things up. The job search is ramping itself up quite a bit and hopefully I won't have to endure this much longer. I'm burning to get back on the road, off in another country and having fun again. This mundane, day-to-day existence just isn't for me.

So Blind

http://dailysocial.net/en/2011/09/08/indonesian-government-threatens-rim-with-additional-taxes-over-malaysia-decision/

http://theunspunblog.com/ (see: 'Introspection, not revenge...)

Oh, poor Indonesia. Griping and whining again because Malaysia managed to snag RIM (BlackBerry) from them. It's no small wonder when you live here and get first-hand knowledge of just what Indonesia asks and has asked of RIM to do. Take a read for yourself and it will all make sense. It's so sad because other companies that want to invest here are going to look at this and think, "Why invest there when we can invest and build somewhere civilized and reasonable?" If only the government could pull its head out of its ass and see clearly.