The Last Adventure

Dabin : Whoa, God is smiling at us, Bang!

Me : I don't believe in God, Bin.

Dabin : Whoa, Whatever-it-is-up-there is smiling at us, Bang!

Me : HaHaHa...

The night was coming, the time was little, and Smashie's back tire was worrying. I was heading to Cemara Asri in a late afternoon via crowded Sutomo Ujung, one bad choice of road. It was the last adventure Dabin and I would be having around the city, for he was about to leave this town in two days.

By the time I was riding Smashie, I'd known that something was wrong. The tire was a little loose of air, probably punctured from previous days of traveling. But yet, I didn't get it checked because I was in a hurry meeting Dabin.

Dabin wanted to go to Sun Plaza, for the last time this year, since he had to buy preparations for him to carry to Canada later. I accompanied him, but we made a quick visit to Comic Garden before that, to return several comics and rent some more. Hehe... At 7.30, we're already eating in Sun Plaza's foodcourt, meeting Budi Sentosa out of coincidence. I had western food, Dabin had chinese food. It's our last dinner. Then, chased by the time, we went to the Hypermart. We spent half an hour there, and we were rushing on going back to Cemas at 9.

Or at least that was our plan.

When we encountered Smashie again, we found out that her back tire was indeed punctured. Smashie had a flat tire. And we're standing inside the hot parking lot, with hundreds of other bikes around us. I swore, "Oh, Shit!" or something like that. Dabin asked, "So, what will we do, Bang?" or something like that.

I knew at that time, that I had no choice but to drag my Smashie out of that parking lot, up to the upper level, out of the building, and find a workshop. I couldn't get on Smashie, and neither could Dabin. I've had flat-tire incidents many times before, but never inside Sun. It was a new experience for me to drag Smashie out of a mall, with Dabin by my side.

The ascending path was exhausting. I was sweating all over my body, desperate to find fresh air that seemed like miles away from me. Dabin was carrying his heavy things, and we were laughing all the way, and saying how unexpected this was. I was murmuring things like "I should have checked the tire first before but it would have cost us more time", or "so much for our plan to go home at nine o'clock".

Dabin was saying things like "We shall still can make it home by nine thirty", or "How long would it take to tamper a tire?"

I told him, "around half an hour"

and he said, "Woot!"

Haha.. he always said that.

So eventually we made it outside Sun Plaza, and I was tired and needed a break, but I pushed it. Dabin followed me. There were pedicab drivers noticing us and telling us to go over there while pointing at some directions. I wouldn't have to listen to them, I knew a place.

So I crossed the street in quick steps that almost felt like a run. Dabin was still following us. He was saying that the Indonesian people there were nice, for giving us help of directions. I told him, yes, they could become helpful, unlike fellow Hokkien people with cars who would mind their own business and help us only when we're asking for it. I also told Dabin that perhaps it was because the pedicab drivers knew the pain of puncture tires incidents since they must have experienced those pretty often.

When I found a workshop, an Indian man was working on Smashie. I sat on a bench facing the glorious and colourful Sun Plaza, glad to have wind blowing my face. Dabin was having a flat-tire motorcycle for the first time, with me, as I was, with him.

Instead of worrying about our messed up schedule, we're enjoying that moment, in front of Sun's building, saying that this night couldn't be better than this, despite the unfortunate incident.

So we ended up taking pictures to eternalize the moment.

Dabin took my picture with the glorious dancing light Sunplaza on my background. It was a nice moment, actually. Priceless. I was sweating, so I had no time to be looking good. But I think the picture was OK. It was not a forced pose. It was a spontaneous take.

Here :



OK, on second opinion, I looked ugly. But that wasn't the point, right? Hehe.

I also took Dabin's picture. He was wearing his backpack filled with food and spices, and comics too. Hehe...

That's Dabin. In this picture, he was wearing his brand new glasses. And it was just like mine, same color, same Oakley brand. The only difference was mine didn't have the lower frame, and his did.

He looked cool, huh? Not Nerdy, unlike some people might say. :D

When we got to the bottom of the problem, we found out that it was a small severed nail which had caused us this night. I was torn in confusion between the choice of tearing and snapping it in two or saving it as a memorial for that night. But in the end, I threw it away. What's there to keep? Hehehe...

This was it :



And Smashie was on the right, getting tampered with.

There's also a video. You might hear Dabin's and my voice there.



Can you hear what I said to Dabin?

Hehe..

It would have been an OK night if we carried on our plan successfully. But it's just that. OK. Not extraordinary. Not spectacular. It would have been boring. But to tell you the truth, if given the choice before, I would have chosen a flat tire Smashie, or something else unexpected to happen, and so would Dabin, because it would mean that there would be a great unforgettable night for us, for our last adventure, for Dabin's last adventure in Medan this year.

Like tonight.

So I think that little incident was great. Hehe.. Does it make me weird?

Finally I reached my home at ten thirty.

The next day, that was August 30th, 2008, I met Dabin again, for the last time before he went back to Canada on August 31th. We didn't have time to go anywhere, like we did several times before, all those times from NAV Karaoke, to Bakoel Ubud, to Paladium, to Starbucks, to Comic Garden, to Double 7, and to many more places.

We plan to meet again in 2014, perhaps. Or perhaps sooner. You never know. But the sooner the better.

Today, Dabin is already in Jakarta. It's probably nothing, but as far as friendship goes, farewell sucks. I was feeling a bit lonely when I woke up today. It's like telling myself that everything will be the same again. No more crazy adventures to Cemas or Pancing or far far away. It will be work. The current usual jobs, karaokes and bowlings.

I guess I'm just too glad to see an old friend, a good old friend. After all, he's one of the el_se7en. He's one of my best friends. And the six of them always make me adventurous.

Goodbye, Dabin. I'll see you again next time! This entry is dedicated to you, I know how cheesy that sounds, but whatever! Hahaha... Oh yeah, that song : Fuck you gently, or whatever the title is, is awesome, man! The DVDs were all also incredible, Bin! And thank you for that! Hahaha.. Remember "Jelek Kali Namanya", "Miaw", and "The Story". Hahaha... And the two you recommended! Hahaha...

Hahaha.. Don't forget our promise to be better the next time we meet! Hahaha..

Cya.

A Night @ the Comic Garden

Dabin and I were traveling all around Medan to find cool places with WiFi connections and cute girls. It's not that hard a job, since there were a few nominee. Starbucks is a great place to start. The internet is pretty fast, we're downloading movie files with speed up to 103kbps.

Then there's QQ, a place to drink bubbledrinks. The internet was pretty slow, so we headed for another place.

I recommended a small little place called The Comic Garden, located far away from Sun Plaza, on Jalan Percut near the Madong Lubis intersection, it's a place to eat, where you can read comics freely and connect to internet with reasonable speed for free also. The cafe's design is pretty cool, too. The food is OK.

Here're some pictures from that place :

Oh yeah, have I mentioned I've bought a new pair of glasses? Hehehe...

Below is Dabin Sutoso, reading "Rainbow"

This awful picture shows my new titanium Oakley.

Below was Dabin's Martabak Mesir...


And his cold Milo.


The environment...

Yeah.. those are artificial wooden pillars.

The Comic Bookselves.

It's a great time! Hehe.. I think I'll come here pretty often seeing I've created a Membership card for this place. Hehe...

And you know what, for the first time an entry is posted "live", right in this precise moment! Haha, yes, I'm still in this cafe right now. Dabin is beside me, reading more comics.. lolz...

See ya in the next post! Good night.

Long Night

It's the kind of feeling you wouldn't experience everyday, waking up at early hours, going to work all day until the sun was down, meeting friends at Starbucks, meeting more friends at Sun Plaza's third floor, having dinner at Bakoel Ubud for the first time, karaoke-ing at NAV 'til the night dropped, or 'til your jaw did, and then staying over night in your friend's house, trespassing at Midnight...

All of them you went through with a big stomach ache and a huge urge to poop. Except you couldn't. And the emergent poop was stuck in your colon for thirty hours straight.

OK, let me rewind... (DJ Music screeching)


Hello again!


Whoa!!!

Three posts in one day. That never happened before. I thought I wouldn't have the time to upload all the photos and edit them and write this entry today, but hey! Turns out I can.

It's all because Dabin said he couldn't make it to the GoKart tonight, since his mum is in town and he has to be there with her. It's totally cool. I was not in the mood of driving anyway, I felt more like blogging, which is one of the few things I love to do.

So here I am, blogging again, for the third time today. And tonight, I'm gonna bring me back to last Friday when Jimmy was still in Medan with his coworkers, BJ and Merry.

Like I said, we met at Sun Plaza, for it was like the only good place in Medan to hang around. We were having dinner at Bakoel Ubud, first time for me there, since I never really fond of Indonesian Traditional but Elite Cafe. But that time was exceptional, since there were funny people with me.

I also met Suyanto, a drug-specialist from UK whose ambition that night was to find beautiful girls and ask them out. Dabin was on a strange state himself. We ran in to Sephei, his ex, moments before we had our dinner. He hadn't met her in five long years. And a lot had changed. I'd better not divulge here. It's not my place.

Jimmy and BJ were still the same. I've met BJ before, on the first time he went to Medan with Jimmy. He is cool. And he was wearing such a seductive shirt that said "You can only read this if you're sitting on my face" or something like that. Cool! You can see it from the pictures above.

The food at Bakoel was great, no wonder there are lots of Indonesian Celebrity there from time to time. Though it was expensive dishes, we ordered quite a lot and were pretty satisfied.

There was a big screen playing Tom and Jerry in the Cafe, and Jimmy couldn't get his eyes away from that show. I'd never thought that Jimmy was a fan of Tom and Jerry. Hahaha...

The dinner was great. We ate and talked. We noticed girls too. But at all times, my stomach was scowling and growling, not because I was hungry, and not in a good way. I was fighting the urge to poop. Oh dear...

But I was not the only one. Dabin was also in need of a toilet too. Hahaha.. But we shunned that idea away from our heads, since we were planning on going to NAV Karaoke later after the dinner.

Merry is Jimmy's other coworker. She was from Medan, and she was with us in the Bakoel, though she sat separately since her friends were there too. But they all joined us in the Karaoke session that night.

Suyanto drove us to NAV, with my direction. All of them, except me, didn't know the roads of Medan. I went there first on my own, reserving a room.

This is a big one :

From Left : BJ, Dabin, Me, Suyanto, and Jimmy

Here are the pictures from the Karaoke at NAV.

From Left to Right : BJ, Suyanto, Jimmy, Me, Nova, Nova again, and Merry with the glasses.


The Karaoke was really really fun. I've never had one that's more hilarious actually. The first few songs were all rap songs and rock songs, from Linkin Park to The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Man! I'd lost my voice as soon as Your Guardian Angel song ended. Jimmy was the great one. He could scream and pull his voice flawlessly. Amazing!



All the time, we're laughing until we dropped. Applause and Cheers never left the room.

I think Suyanto was about to hug someone. Jimmy, perhaps?



Oh, no. It was Merry. He was trying to hug her. :D


Those people were insane. They made me insane too. Even Dabin, who was really reluctant to sing usually, was singing at the top of his lung! If you know him, then you'd know that it says something.


There were lots of time when we're not shy to dance it out! This picture below was from the Bataknese song "Situmorang". Dance! Yeah! Hahaha.


And when we're singing a Hokkien song "Sui Ca Bo", or when we're lamenting the infamous "I will survive", all of us were singing, mike or no mike.


This is Dabin Sutoso. The man! Hohohoho.


At last, the night seemed to end too fast.




I, had a superb time.

But I still gotta poop! :P

Have a Nice Song, Write a Nice Poem

Ugh! I still fail to upload pictures of Jimmy Cs here. Damn computer! I have to wait until tonight to be able to transfer the data. But Never mind that, I just have to be patient. I will post them eventually, preferably tomorrow.

But now, I'm putting a couple of pictures from my second last Karaoke gathering. It's an usual night at K2, Multatuli with CiaCia, Michael, Yuvina, and Yenni. It's been a while since the last time we sang there.

The Girls : Yenni, Yuvina, and CiaCia.


The always hot Michael


Three Girls and One Man.


Funny thing, I just found out about CiaCia's real name, and it surprised me. I've known her for over a year, and I didn't know her actual name. Hahaha.. How often something like that occurs to me? I am not going to post her real name here, because she would be really mad at me. But it's nice to know more about her. She's a great friend to hang around with.

I am planning to play GoKart with Dabin tonight. He's still staying for a week in Medan before returning to Canada. I just wish he has more time. Time. Time. It all goes so fast.

Also, I'm in a funny state right now. Lately, I've been writing poems on my own. I am thinking of creating a new blog for a specific place to save my poetries. Like How it Goes, where I store my short stories. So a new blog is coming! Is it weird that I'm this guy who writes poems and short stories?

I am a guy with vast imagination. I like day dreaming, and then putting my thoughts on a blog, or a piece of paper. I think it's why I blog. I have written stories since I was in junior high, when I wrote several novels of my own. The story sucked very much. I was still laughing whenever I remember the stories. I wrote stories called "Kenangan Manis*", "Kenangan Manis 2", "Kenangan Manis 3" (Oh yes, there were sequels lolz), and "Menunggu Mentari Terbit dari Barat**".

*Sweet Memories
**Waiting the sun to rise from the West

Huahahaha...

And when I was in highschool, my short stories were often published in the school walls, or in the school website. It excited me, that kind of things.

And if you search thru my harddisk, you'll find a lot of Microsoft Word files that contain unfinished stories and novels.

And now I'm writing poems.

I think....

Hahahaaha...

I probably think too much.

Ok. I'm out!

Will update with bunch of pictures!

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Brand New Layout

So I've just changed my blog layout into this.



What do you think?

For me, changing the html codes was a lot of work, but by the time I finished, it was all worth it. I was really glad, relieved, and excited to have a brand new look on my blog, that is now Black and Blue, and still has the gloomy and dark atmosphere.

The new layout also makes it easy for me to organize most of my blog accessories, the scripts are becoming easier to handle, and I can add anything without worrying so much about the html codes like I used to before.

All in all, it's a good thing for me to renew my blog's appearance. It's like starting over. The lay out will be updated with new scripts or gadgets from time to time.

And for you who always check back to this blog, what do you think?

...(`_^)V...

When el_lightz Shed Some Light

Hye...

Pheeww!

What a week!

I've been so tired, and not because of my job, at least entirely. I've been wandering and meeting my old friends. Dabin, he's still in Medan, still Rocking. Still the same man I know.

It's safe to say that he's one of my bestest mate. I'm very grateful to have a friend like him. I wonder why he's still single. Girls just haven't seen him, I guess, because he's the kind of guy that is good. And nowadays, the number of good guys in Medan decreases like crazy.

But I don't worry about him getting girls. Right now, as I speak, even, he's out there with his mate Suyanto, out there to hunt girls. Hohohoho...

Oh shit! He'll kill me when he knows I'm writing about him inmy blog over here, but I guess I'd have to take my chances. He rarely reads this anyway, not if there are a lot of pictures posted.

But this entry will have a lot of pictures posted. () _ ()

OK. here we go :

In the middle of the night, in the middle of the road.

He's eating omelet in a Cafe recommended by me.
He also ate some Fried Cap Cai. He ate a lot of things actually. He must have been very hungry.
And He's eating another omelette...

OK, OK... it's not his. It's mine. I ate that. Hm.. delicious. Makes me hungry now. Hahahaha...

Yeah, I'm not posting the picture hugely, I had a spot on my nose. It was freaking annoying, really. It's a big relief it's gone now.
What Can I say huh?

But then we went to Star Bucks the next day, just hang out in there, watching for cute girls and surreptitiously taking their pictures.

I've become a master at photographing other girls without them knowing. It's creepy I know. But it's just a silly thing for us to do, nothing more. Hehehe... Here's an example for the hidden shoot.

The white girl is pretty and cute. I sure hope she never finds out about this blog :D
Hoho... I think the black shirted girl next to her might have noticed me, but i doubt it. I was pretty sly before.

After that, we just went to Hypermart to purchase some things and went straight home. We had a long journey back.

There's more of the photos, of course. But I think Dabin will really kill me if I posted every one of them. No, I think he'll torture me first, mutilate and dismember, and then kill me. Hahaha.. I'm kidding again lah... (or am I?)

To close this entry, I want to tell you that actually I was planning on posting a Mixed Entry entitled "Six Days", with photos for each days, telling about the last six days of my life. But it didn't work out since I failed to transfer the photographs from last night's tiring but exciting journey with Dabin, Jimmy, BJ, and so many other friends. It was a technical thing right here on this stupid Cyber Cafe. I need to do that somewhere else....

I promise to post it later, though. I won't rest until I do that. Hehehe... So keep checking this blog for several days to come.



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Twenty Three

Hello...

Not so much to blog at this time... actually... I have too many things to blog about, too many pictures to share and post here.. but I just don't have the time.

Last night was my birthday... yeah yeah I know... It was OK.

I was trying, I admit, yeah... I was trying a little to make it a great day... since I'd never done that. I mean I've never celebrated my own birthday, made a party or invite people.. but I thought I'd try to make a dinner with my close friends, seeing they're in town, a unique opportunity. I was planning to invite Dabin, Jimmy and BJ to have a dinner in Sun Plaza, just a small dinner and hopefully a great time.

But Jimmy and BJ couldn't make it since they had to work... the first day in Medan was a torture for both of them. I totally understand that. So instead of having a planned dinner, I just went to Starbucks Coffee with Dabin, spent time there downloading many many many things and just... hang out.

It turned out to be a great time after all. It's not a dinner, and we ended up NOT having a dinner at all. Hahahaha..

I mean, birthday isn't supposed to drive us crazy... it isn't supposed to depress us or force us to think of something great. It seems like another holiday. But to me, it's only a random normal day. So I was born 23 years ago, so what?

Oh shit! I'm 23 years old already. When did that happen? 23... the number Jim Carrey feared of. 23... maybe will be the number of my wives. Lolz :D

I have some pictures from last night, but I don't have the time to upload them yet... they're still in my Memory Card. I'll do that another day, huh? Maybe tomorrow?

Anyway, I downloaded a song last night, a Malaysian Classic Slow Rock song from the 90's I think. It is a song that I loved when I was a kid, and now, after a long search and research, I got it!

I also found the YouTube link.

It's called "Mencari Alasan" by Exist.

I like it too much. I have it singing on my cellphone everyday. Hahaha..



I think I'll stop here for now. I'm going to Karaoke again tonight. It's been weeks since the last time I did that.

I think I'll sing this Exist song.. Hahaha.. Definitely!

CaO.

Top Ten Places I'd Like To Go Before I Die

Yap! This is me, blogging more seriously! Hehe... This is the list of my favourite places around the world, the ones I have not been in, where I will be someday when "my ship comes in". Let's start from number ten, shall we?

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10. The City of Aspen, Colorado, USA

This is a place where mountains are everywhere you look. I've been wanting to be there and experience the coldness first hand ever since I saw the movie Dumb and Dumber, back when I was in Junior High. It'll be a vacation of a lifetime, especially in winter. So beautiful and cold. I love ski resort. I love snow. :D

Aspen Downtown :

Aspen Ski Resort :D :

9. The Statue of Liberty, New York

I've always loved America and its cities. New York would be the top of my list of their most-wanted-for-visit big cities. I also love Manhattan, very like to see a lot of things, from Wall Street, Central Park, Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Battery Park, Midtown, Long Island, Hudson River, until The Statue of Liberty. I want to go up the statue, either to take pictures there, or to jump off and kill myself.

Heh, Kidding!

Manhattan buildings seen from Hoboken :


Manhattan, from above :


New York viewed from South :

8. The World Archipelago, Dubai

The World is a man-made archipelago of 300 islands constructed in the shape of a world map and located 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It's one of the great achievements of mankind, making their own artificial islands from all around the world. It's under construction though, but I'd like to see that later. If possible, I want to buy some islands too.. Hahaha....

Model :

That's "Palm Island", on the left and right, also in Dubai :

Current development :

7. Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo. Of course you know Tokyo. And of course I want to go to Tokyo. The reasons are : their technology, their cultures, their pretty girls and all of their lifestyles. In some ways, it interests me enough to want to see it in person. Besides, it's the origin of great works like Naruto, Detective Conan, One Piece, Death Note, and others.

Pictures from Tokyo:

The People and their lifestyles :


The Infrastructures :

6. Switzerland

No specific places, I just wish to see the country. And seeing how this place ranks at number six, this must be a really cool places from what I've heard.

Back to snowy places. This country is in Western Europe. So far away from Indonesia. I always mention Switzerland whenever a friend asks me what country I'd rather go beside America. So, here are the pictures :

Ohh.. beautiful :

Oh, have I mentioned that Switzerland is one of my happy places?

5. NASA, and the chance to see Earth from space.

I don't need to explain any further on this. Ever since I watched movies like The Contact or Armageddon, I really want to have a chance, someday, to visit this marvelous US Agency, to learn a lot about space, and to experience it first hand.

Want to see their activities :

Want to go up there in their satellite :

I want to see Earth from a place like this :

Want to experience Zero Gravity :

4. Jules Verne Restaurant at Eiffel Tower, Paris.

It's a restaurant located under the Eiffel Tower itself. We can go up in an elevator and dine in the Tower. Wouldn't it be nice, huh? I researched some pictures of it. Take a look :D

As for the tower itself, I find it very beautiful!

3. The Telectroscope, London and New York City

The Telectroscope is a piece of installation art with a visual high speed broadband link between London and New York City constructed by Paul St George in May 2008. It's like a giant telescope that enables you to see what happens in the other side, one in London and one in New York City. See the pictures and tell me how cool is that! That's why this piece of art makes its way to number 3 of my list.

The Telectroscope in New York :

The Telectroscope in London :

New Yorkers at the Brooklyn Bridge seen through the telectroscope :

The Drill used to make its way to the other continent :

How the telectroscope works :

The Link between the two apertures :

2. The Harry Potter Theme Park in the Universal's Islands of Adventure, Orlando Florida.

Universal's Islands of Adventure is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida.The park's overall theme is that of a journey of exploration, where guests depart from a main port on an "inland sea" to visit five "islands," each having its own distinct theme, but all emphasizing fun and adventure. A planned sixth island, to open in late 2009, will be based on the popular Harry Potter franchise. The twenty-acre island will feature attractions, shops and restaurants set inside such locations as the Forbidden Forest, Hogsmeade Village and the iconic Hogwarts castle. Ground breaking began in 2007, with completion of the expansion planned for 2010.

I love Harry Potter, so like hell I'll miss this park. I love Orlando, since it's Backstreet Boys' hometown. This is probably the place I will visit first. But hey! This theme park is only at number two! What's on number one? ^-^

The Logo and The Entrance Tower :

The Model Theme Park of Hogwarts :

The Model for Hogsmeade :

Harry Potter Shop :

The Under Construction Site :

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And now, for the number one place I'd like to go :











1. The Millau Viaduct, The Tallest Bridge in the World

The Millau Viaduct is a large cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. It is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one mast's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft) — slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower.

This bridge is featured in Mr. Bean's Holiday movie. I am totally fascinated by the length, the height, and the massiveness of it. It will be a fantastic experience just to ride there with my friends and loved ones, having the wind stroke my face, seeing the fantastic panoramas or even touching the clouds. Yeah! It's so high that clouds cover the bridge from time to time.

See it below!

While it's under construction :




Crossing the Bridge Video :

So, That's it!

Ten Amazing places I want to be... What do you think? Tell me!

Hm.. Someday I'll see it! Someday... Someday... ^_^v

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