Playing Match-Maker

Remember when I told you that my aunt was trying to fix-me-up with my distant cousin Astrid?? Well, I gotta do something about it. Not that Astrid isn't beautiful, but she's my cousin yo. We may be distant cousins, but I don't think I'm the "keep it in the family" kinda guy. So I had to think fast.

I decided to fix-up a date between my cousin Astrid and my friend and business partner Aher. But for some reason, Astrid wanted Rifa to come along, and Aher wanted me to come along. What??!?!??

So, we met up at Kelapa Gading Mall for dinner and a movie. I stayed as much away from Astrid and Aher as much as possible, that means doing things with Rifa like going to the Time Zone arcade with her, buying ice creams, etc, so those two would have some privacy.

How will it turn out? Who knows.

Last day teaching

Not only is this the last graphic design course I'm teaching this year, this is also the last time I'm teaching for a while. Andika and Rheina are my last two students, and I'm not taking anymore until... don't know when.
I enjoy teaching a lot, but I have some plans that I would like to start next year. With Aher's proposal to start a company with my best friend Arief, I really think I need a bit more space to get things going before I go back to teaching again.
Wish me luck!

Finally

Lowe IMC is sold to Draft USA for an insanely huge ammount of money.
My part is done.

Lagi lagi terjadi...

Setelah 3 hari (termasuk weekend) gak pulang ngerjain GUI buat software, hari ini gue dah siap koprol ke tempat tidur dan smack down tuh guling empuk dikamar. Eh pas buka pintu ada surat nyelip di bawah pintu kamar gue. Dari tante ku di Solo. Wah, gue dah ill feel duluan, dan bener...

tuetiew... tante gue pengen ngejodohin gue ama anak temennya. Katanya: "Ayo dong ndra, anak temen tante ini gadis baik kok, manis dan, pokoknya gadis solo sejati yang lembut".

Pertama, cantik itu relatif. Dia memang cantik rupawan, tapi jelas bukan cantik yang gue cari. Kedua, saya teh ngga' cari gadis solo yang manis, baik dan lembut. Saya mencari yang galak, otoriter dan dengan sepenuh hati siap memperkosa saya kapan pun dan dimanapun.

if you fit that description, please apply. SnM and punk rock girls do apply. :D

To the Gym with Maya

After a long week, I went to the Gym again with Maya today. Had abut 3 hours of work out, mostly cardio work outs for 2 hours and finally a little tae-bo to top it off. Man that hurt my crotch.

I've been spending a bit too much time with Maya lately. I don't know where it's going, but Maya has been clinging close with me in the past few months, ever since I broke off with Amy. It's like high school again when I broke off with Sheila, Maya was spending a lot of time with me but nothing happened. Mostly because I never let things happen, since she is a friend I've known since I was 6, my best friend's little sister whom I've been treating like my own sister, and the fact that she also dated my brother once.

I think I should just back away slowly, I really don't want to lose her as a friend.

...still up, more coffee and need a shave

Man.... had to finish my proposal for an ERP project, pick up my laundry, answered some emails, called back some students who needed councelling (if they only knew I was sleepy....), and then went to the office and finished the GUI. Busy.. busy... busy.... Where is that office boy with the coffee???!?

Trio Jomblo

These are my distant cousins: Astrid and Rifa. Since we came from a decendance of a Javanese Nobleman, we do have a family Clan that is very-very big. A family reunion would need a building that would fit over 3000 people, and those are just the families that keep in touch.

Ok, these two are my closest friends at family reunions, since the three of us are at similar age groups. We hang out together for one main reason, so that we can avoid people catching one of us alone and asking: "So, when are you going to get married??"

Yup, the three of us are "Jomblo", the Indonesian term for those whom are single. So we are very sought after in family gatherings and reunions, since most of them want to match us up with their friends or other cousins.

One of the bad thing about this is that Astrid mom recently told my mother how well we got along together... Aww shit, I think they're going to try and match us together. I think I need to find Astrid a date soon. Either that or I should stop coming to the family gatherings for a while.

Up late and caffeinated

One of my programmers had an accident 2 days ago, leaving a huge hole in the software scheduling. I had Arief pull double shifts and I helped as much as I could. We stayed at the studio and almost had no sleep at all for over 2 straight days. My body is in hyperspeed due to too much coffee...

The Jakarta Jam

Oh, this would be a night people in Jakarta will be talking about for a while. An ice breaker, a topic, it's just something people won't forget anytime soon. If you have been reading my moblogs, you'd know that traffic jam is a big deal for me, I hate em! and today is the mother of all Jams. Cars all over Jakarta are in traffic jams. It rained since 17.00 today and didn't stop until around 23.00, so after the nice get together at Sederhana, I was stuck in traffic on the way home, and get this: For 5 hours!!! the main cause, some streets are flooded with water. It was all over the radio, everybody around Jakarta are stuck in traffic. It was a good thing I was driving the BMW today, the automatic transmission at least eased my suffering. I think we should change or recall the Governor.

Unexpected reunion

Ok, after being alone for almost a year now, I think I'm ready to start a new relationship. The thing is I don't know where to start. So I was thinking, maybe a good muslim girl would be a great choice.

Last month I wrote about and old friend I met, well since then, I've been in touch with her a lot, and I thought to myself: "She's a nice girl, why not?". I did asked a few times... well kinda sneaked in actually, trying to find out if she had a boyfriend or not (you know me, I like them single and unattached). The thing is she never replied with a straight answer, its more on the "I'm single", so I decided to go ahead.

Wow, that was a long intro. Anyway, I called her up and asked if she would like to break the fast with me this evening. She said she'd love to, and asked to meet at this Padang restaurant in Menteng. I agreed.

When I got there, I was surprised. There was a reunion going on, its friends from her Junior highschool. Good thing I know all of the people there, but it was just unexpected. Oh well, might as well enjoy it.

A weird, yet fun day

Maya called me today and asked if I'd join her for a movie at TIM after lunch. Although I had much to be done at the office, I eventually crumbled and agreed to accompany her. After buying tickets, we had lunch nearby. She was talking funny, as if she wanted to say or tell me something about, but then changed her mind, then wanted to again, but changed her mind.


After the movie, we went book hunting.We went to this traditional little bookstore in Cikini. It's an interesting store, they sell old books, new books, magazine, vintage LPs, classic Indo VCDs (Benyamin, Jojon, etc. Even found G30s PKI movie that TVRI no longor shows on September 30th). They sell T-Shirts made by design students at nearby Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ). If you have time, check it out.

Upon the old books I sift through, I found this old screen play for the classic Indonesian Movie "Janur Kuning: Merdeka Tanahku, Merdeka Negeriku". It's a bit worn out, but nothing a lamination cover won't heal. Has that old book stink, but it'll make a good birthday present for Indra (Maya's brother). He's a movie buff, so he'll love this, and the best thing is, it only cost me about $5. Yes, I'm a cheapskate, hehehehe :)

Old acquaintance

I was at Plasa Senayan this evening for lunch and that Oakley sun glasses I've been wanting since August. Surprise-surprise, I met an old friend of mine from Junior school: Ulya. She said she was shopping with her mom, and we talked a bit before exchanging phone numbers and went our sperate ways.

I've known Ulya since we were 6, but we weren't that close. She was the star pupil at my school, and I always thought she would grow up someday to be a rocket scientist. Sad to say that she became an accountant like most people I knew.

We got to know each other well when we were in the Scouts during 8th grade (SMP kelas 2) where we met up at the Jamboree (we were diffrent schools), then met up again when I joined Paskibraka, where we were coupled as a team during hell week (TC).

I remember one of our task at hell week was to wonder Jakarta in search of an address. We each had our own, the rule is I have to accompany her first to find her address which turned out to be in Depok. I had to take her there first before I could do mine. I told her that I could do it alone, but she insisted that she wanted to come and helped me. The places were way apart that we ended up finished at 1AM, and when I took her home, I remembered her aunt yelling at me for bringing her home so late (she was living with her aunt at that time). I havent seen her since highschool I guess. Good times.

A long workout, A great sandwich, New Shoes

I went to the gym last Thursday. As usual, Maya tagged along since we do go to the same Gym at the ExPlasa. I had a really good workout, spent a solid 30 minutes on the treadmill and 2 hours on the running bike (I don't know what you call it, you run but your running is like pedaling... beats me), and 20 minutes on the fitness mat. I was tired. Maya greciously offered to give me a massage (that's not like her, but I'lll take anything).

After gym, I noticed that one of my shoe's sole is breaking up. Luckly the mall is just below, and luckly I had maya around with her infinite information of shops with "SALE" signs at malls. She took me to sport station that actually is having a 60% off sale. I bought a pair of Reebok shoes for $30. Yay!

Well, to thank Maya for her infinite wisdom of finding me great bargains, I treat her for a nice sandwich at O'Brian's sandwich hut. It's fat free, but that picture of Gissele Bundchen makes you want to eat more... Cheers.

Between me and Yuslihayanti

A lot of people say that we're perfect for each other. Each time someone says that, we both laugh out loud. There's no way that that would be possible, for we know each other too well. Besides, so what if I have a girl for a bestfriend. I've known her for like almost 13 years now, so we know each other's bad sides.

Besides, why ruin a good friendship. I don't want to go out and find another friend that I can trust just to tell about my intimate stories with.

So lets make this clear for all of you reading my blog: Iyus and I are not dating, we're good friends.

If we end up together, it would be like beauty and the beast, what will the world say. I don't think her adoring fans would like that either, hehehehehe.
Anyway, we're happy being just friends.

Top Secret Work

Mas Tony called me to his office today. I was wondering why, since I did good work on both Unilever campaigns we just finished. He gave me a big portfolio document.
"More work?", I asked. I did apply for a few days off before this weekend.
"Yeah, a lot of big work he said"
"Great, I'll start work on it!" I said.
"It's not that simple", he said. "I just talked to the board upstairs, and I need you to resign by the end of this month", he added.

I was shocked.

"Are you firing me? Did I do a bad job or something?", I asked whilst in my confusion.
"Its the opposite, you are doing so good that the board wants you to handle this next job. But you have to resign first to do it", he answered whilst giving me more questions mark than what the Riddler gives out to Batman.
"It's an internal job, but we need it from a 3rd person perspective. You can't do that if you are an employee of this company", mas Tony added. "In fact no one in the company other than some people may know about it"
"Yeah, still that means after the job is finished, I'd still be jobless wouldn't I?"
"It's an 8 figure job Chan, I think with that much reward you can afford to stay jobless for 5 years"
"So, where do I sign boss?"


Wow, I actually worked and left 3 fortune 500 companies in one year. Should I be on the Guiness books of records or something?

Highschool Reunion

Has it been 9 years already?
Seems just like yesterday I graduated highschool. Yeah, yesterday and 10kg less weight. Anyway, the reunion wasn't as I expected. There were a lot of people from the later classes (1971 to 1993), but from my own class was only 4 of us: Shinta, Vico, and that other guy (forgot his name). Oh well, at least it was fun.

Do I look like Siti Nurbaya?

First, I apologise for the extremely blurry picture, I had to make it so since there is just way too much info there. Second, let me tell you a brief story about Siti Nubaya. It tells the story of a girl who was wed outside her will by her parent's match makings. To know the ending of this story, get the book! The thing is, since my brother got married 2 years ago, my parents, and other relatives have been trying to set me up with some other girl, even the ones from outside Jakarta... everyone keeps asking that same stupid question:

"when are you gonna get married?"

I recently received this letter in the mail from my cousin, where the content was a less than one sentece word and two pictures of this girl he wants me to meet, to top it off, he wrote the letter like something official.

Jeeezzzz..... somebody help me! Pleaseeeee stop doing this!!!! AAAARghh!!!!!!

New Gym

It's my first day at a new fitness club. Most of my friends recommend it, so I moved from my old club (which was very old, I mean every equiptment was old, you're affraid to run on the tradmill).
It isn't so bad. Too glamour for me, but at least I get a good work out. I've been trying to lose weight, but so far all I achieved is only not to gain weight. At least I'm healthy!

Drunk?? You Betcha!

A friend of mine launched his new product last Saturday, and he invited me to the launching party. Since I had no one to go with since Amy left me for New York, I was planning on not to show up. But then he called a few days before that and made me come to his party... shit.



Since I didn't feel like going alone (Diane will be there, if I came alone, she'd probably try to introduce me to her "girl" friends, no thanks), I had to find a date quick.

I called my cousin Astrid, she was in Bali. I called Ratna, she's going on a date with a new guy on that day. I called Mira (what?? are you nuts?), luckly she wasn't home. I called Rina, she had to meet Robby's parents that weekend (they're getting married). I called Angel, her colleague said she's not in a good mood. I called Maya, and she said "I'd love to".

Great, well almost. They served champagne at the party see, and although I can hold my liquor, it seems my date couldn't, even just one glass. Took this picture for memory sake, hope to laugh over it when we're older and sober. Hahahahahaha

A call from a friend

Tony Siahaan has been a mentor for me. I met him back in 1998 when I was working at GDA, he was a freelance copywriter at that time. Yesterday he called me and asked about my leaving Ogilvy.
"Silvia told me you left Ogilvy for no reasons. why?", he asked.
"It wasn't working out. Its the way their AE works", I answered. Next I told him the whole story. Sorry, I can't tell you why. But it's a normal practice that's done in most advertising agencies.

"When the hell did you become saint? That's common man!", he said to me.
"Well, not all agencies do it. I think I would rather work somewhere I don't need to witness those things"
"What are you gonna do now?" mas Tony asked.
"I accepted a teaching position at Trisakti for this next semester"
"No no no! You come here to Lowe tomorrow morning. I want you on my team!", he told me."I need you for an IMC project!"

So, it seems I'll be going to Lowe tomorrow.

Last days at Ogilvy

It has been two months since I passed my three month trial, and this is my fifth month at Ogilvy Interactive. As you can seen, I've been busy, I haven't updated my blog lately. I actually got what I wanted: my own room, my own secretary, my own team. Did I mention how awesome our work have been. I even got a letter from their head office in the US about my last work.

Sadly, I really hate how the company do their business (sorry, I can't tell you what. But tehy sai its common practice of advertising agencies). It's just not something I can tolerate. I want to be able to go home and go to sleep at night without having to think how wrong it is. Its not kosher for me, either I do something about it or I leave.

I don't think I can do something about it, so when Sylvia handed me the permanent position contract to me, I declined. I'm thinking of becoming a freelancer instead and take that teaching postion at Trisakti and at MWI.

So, I'm finishing up this last web project for "Indosat" I'm on, then I'll be leaving next Monday. It was fun while it lasted, but I do need a healthy conscience.

Dino's Wedding

Adiansyah or also known as Dino, got married. This is a guy I knew from my old days at the dotcom era, back when I was working at indo.com (does that company still exist?). We were inseperable back then, from work to partying at News Cafe just to watch our favorite band: Second Born. Ayib! Ayib Ayib!!

Oh well, he's married now, another reminder that I should be too. The thought of Amy comes to mind... Man do I need a new girlfriend. Gotta get my mind off Amy.

Congrats Dino and Bebi. May you have many offsprings that would dominate this earth.

Dinner at Hanamasa

After resigning from my office this morning, I decided that I would treat my two best friends: Iyus and Edo at Hanamasa in BlokM. Edo was the former captain of my Paskibra squad, and Iyus is my friend in both Paskibra and Paskibraka. The three of us suffered the same hardship together back then, good friends in time of need and happyness.

I'm treating them today because I was offered an Art Director position at Ogilvy last week, and they are so wiling to have me on-board that they are offering to triple my current salary at Lintas. :D

The other reason is that I haven't seen these two in a while. Edo is still studying to become a fisherman at IPB, and Iyus is now busy hosting an infotainment program at RCTI. Yeah, I miss hanging around with these two.

I do miss her..

Yeah, I gotta admit. I do miss her.

Can you blame me? I mean, I thought she was the love of my life. We had the same taste in everything, from culture, music, to movies and books. Love the same foods, even have the same tenacity and devotion towards each of our own careers. It was like I found my soulmate. The month she left was the month that I had planned to ask her to marry me.

Well, her love for her work seems to outweigh her love for me. She left me for her dream of working in New York. It's not something I can protest to (we're not married or anything) and I probably would do the same if I was in her shoes. Oh god I miss her...

New Year at the Embassy

I met three girls whom I don't remember their names right outside Hard Rock Cafe. Two of them was Japanese, and one was a Malaysian. I think they were from an Asian student association club or something.

We ended up going to this new club (not so new, but its my first time here) since one of them had a VIP invitation, and had an awesome party there. Somehow, our posse just got bigger, we ended up with 7 or 9 people that hung together until new year. As they say, the more the merrier, and of course the more pitchers.

The music was great, the DJ was awesome, the dancers was fresh, and the crowd was loud. A perfect new year party. The count down to midnight was as I expect from this club. I had a really great time.

But with all this commotion, fun and laughter, I never felt so alone. This is my first new year as a single after... I don't know, 2 years? The thing is, although I had fun, I just felt that this life isn't for me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm not turning into a monk overnight, and not like I'm going to marry anyone any time soon, but I do feel like I need a new change in life. I just don't feel the bachelor freedom I once did. I think that would be my new year resolution.

Oh yeag, almost forgot. Happy New Year Everyone. This is the start of my new blog also.