Where I Live

99 Problems

Another hat tip is required - just can't figure whom to!

Link.

A Kite with a Broken String

[...] he appeared tearful at times when the subject turned to his family and he described seeing their shoes when he returned to his Beijing flat for the first time on Tuesday.

"I completely lost control of my emotions, because to me these are the three dearest people in the world and now, we're like a kite with a broken string," he told AP.

The Big Durian

I read this and it struck a chord. There is something about landing back in Jakarta. A feeling. A fantastic feeling.

Nevertheless, I can understand a few of this Australian travel blogger's points!

I remember three pals and I went to Bogor in October. We ended up eating at an outdoor stall - and embarrassingly for me, all I could do was think of the hour long train ride back and the possibility of getting the runs. What a whimp!

If you plan to visit Jakarta you need to be sometimes brave, sometimes inquisitive and most of all open minded!

I Wish I Learned this...

...while I was a little younger!

God v Satan

God is bad ass!!

[Btw, not 100% sure where I got this link from - hat tip is in the post...]

The Devil's in the Detail

While on the topic of food, in Bukittinggi Delvi and I had lunch at a Sunda restaurant.

I love Sunda food - I reckon it would go down a storm with hip westerners - it's such a fresh smorgasbord of a cuisine.

In any case Delvi told me how the local Minangkabau never really got Sunda food and the restaurant was mostly empty.

I chuckled to myself. West Java and West Sumatra seem so similar to this person that lives on the other side of the planet. It reminds me of my Korean pal who told me (straight-faced) that Ireland and Germany were pretty much the same.

Minang Asli

I went to a restaurant called Minang Asli in Queens last weekend.

I surprised myself at how excited I was to eat Indonesian food.

My date and I had...

1) Pempek Palembang. Is there any other type of Pempek?

2) Sate kambing. Which was translated as lamb satay. I am not sure whether it was a translation error or whether they were trying to fool the Westerners - or maybe they were trying to fool the Indonesians (suspect goat meat is hard to find in NYC).

3) Nasi goreng with ikan asin - fried rice with small salty fish.

It was all delish and I was so happy. So much better than the last time i went to an Indonesian restaurant in Queens - Upi Jaya. Although I should really go back to Upi Jaya and make sure it's not as good. Then I'll also go to Minang Asli to be doubley sure which is best : )

Eleven Years of Erlang

Nice article about my fave programming language.

Century Bank Fallout Article

SBY smelling of roses?

Wild and Whacky Stuff in Indonesia

When people ask me about Indonesia I want to tell them about the bizarro, whacky mind altering stuff (at least to the average Westerner) that happens over there.

So the list could include something about how the Minangkabau is a matriarchal society - I need to learn more about Minangkabau culture!!

How the Timorese rever chickens (at least I think they do).

Or how everything can be eaten with a chocolate and cheese topping.

Any ideas?

Doing a Bono

Every so often my pals and I argue about Bono.

The question is should you dislike him or like him for his promotion of causes. Are Bono and the like vainly trying to prove their worth and greedily self promoting themselves? or are Bono's efforts a net positive?

In any case a pal of mine asked me to promote her charity a little after I made my yearly donation. Why not eh? But to avoid any risk of doing a Bono, I am gonna dredge up some embarrassing story as a confessional ying and yang thing.

Over the past few years I have been supporting POTA. Lieke runs the charity. It's a Christian charity and although I like to think of myself as a strictly kosher atheist - Lieke is deeply passionate about helping the less fortunate in Indonesia.

She has lots of stories. When you hear these stories they draw you in and you feel part of the story.

They're better if you hear them from Lieke in person, but one of them was about a Christmas party they gave to some poor kids. KFC donated all the food. Everything was going well. Lots of fried chicken (Indonesians love fried chicken!!) and good times had by all. Thing was Lieke noticed one boy (or was it a girl?) that wasn't eating his KFC. She was sort of dumbfounded as all the other kids were eating away.

Lieke went over to the boy and asked him why he wasn't eating. He told her that he wanted to save his KFC so he could bring it back to his siblings back home and share it with them.

~~

In New York we don't do KFC we do fried chicken from trendy brunch places and cool divey bars.

~~

Now for the yang.

Last night I got hammered. Made a lot of lewd jokes. Then went on to interrogate this girl (with whom I am semi obsessed) about her ex.

That is too fresh. Let me dredge up something else.

How about the time when we were coming under huge pressure from a hedge fund client of ours. These guys are huge. Their risk was out of whack. I was newly arrived in New York, and was getting phone calls from big wigs.

So anyway, it was getting late and I was trying to figure this out and I had to call up our tech support people. The guy who was supposed to be on duty went home early. I got onto him on his Blackberry and went through him, I was fuming.

A week later it turned out his kid was diagnosed with cancer.

Moon Cake

I was Chinatown this morning.

I ate three quarters of a moon cake - apparently you are only ever supposed to eat one quarter at any one time.

Stomach troubled ensued - lesson learned!

An Indonesian Prisoner

I proposed to an Indonesian girl before. It didn't work out.

However paying $50k to the Indonesian government to marry an Indonesian is a bit steep.

Breathing

I have finally realised how much breathing correctly can help you when you're working out.

Not sure what the mechanics are, but it seems to help a lot!

Probably the most Xenophobic Country in the World(?)

Is Japan the most xenophobic developed country in the world?

Judging by the number of refugees they allow in every year they probably are.

Mirror of Pride and Pain

I heard this great quote about how countries teach history:

"It's a mirror of pride and pain"

It's true, and not all that encouraging eh?

School's Out / In

I remember the number one reason for getting off school in primary school was frozen pipes, leading to a lack of water and probably heating.

That and a sprinkling of snow - Ireland rarely gets much, so everything comes to a standstill when we get a smidgen!

It looks like these students are a hardier bunch.

Reaffirmation

When I tell people that I love Indonesia people often look at me as if I have two heads.

I like seeing Indonesia getting a bit of good press.

If nothing else it means I am not stark raving mad.

New Year's Resolutions

I am giving up beer and the Beatles for 2010. It's gonna be one hell of a year!