Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Bapak darimana pak?

Bapak darimana pak? Dari Betawi.
Bapak bawa apa pak? Bawa lemari.
Kuncinya dimana pak? Ada di Budi.
Budi minta susu pak. Ada di sapi.
Sapi minta rumput pak. Ada di sawah.
Sawah minta air pak. Ada di gunung.
Gunung minta api pak. Ada di kompor.
Kompor minta minyak pak. Ada di warung.
Warung minta duit pak. Ada di bank.
Doing a little throwback to childhood days. One of so many random songs in my era. The dad was back from Betawi (where is that anyway, Setu Babakan?). He brought cupboard and the key was with Budi (how so?). Budi asked for milk but he was told that the milk was in a cow (you can milk it by yourself, Budi. Jiayou!). Lol so random. Do kids these days play that song? Does 'donald bebek mundur tiga langkah' still exist? Or 'mie atas mie bawah'? Ha ha ha ha, our childhood days was full of random songs.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Airport

Singapore Airlines | Boeing 777 | 9V-SYK

I have this complicated feeling toward aviation industry, especially commercial airlines. Seeing them closely, those livery though...

I took my parents to airport yesterday and i felt so giddy. Do you remember when you were a child, you'd be happy when your mom took you grocery shopping? I felt that kind of feeling. I was so happy to see so many aircraft from different airlines but I felt so wrong to be happy. That's not supposed to be a happy occasion because my parents were going to my aunt's funeral and airport is technically not an amusement park like Disney Land (which claimed to be the happiest place on earth) (and airport is not supposed to be that kind of 'happy' place). 'To entertain' is not on airport main function list, right? There are entertainment facilities for the passengers in airport, but those facilities are just complement. And of course, "to see and take photo of aircraft and tarmac" is (sadly) not on the (provided) entertainment list. And unfortunately, that's the only point on my airport entertainment list.

Airport is a gate of journey to new destination with different kind of people swarming there everyday. Those people have different business and feel different emotions. Workers, visitors, passengers. People hug and bid goodbyes with different feelings. One person can be so happy because he/she is going abroad for holiday, one person can be so frustrated because he/she is rushing for work in another city, one other can be so tired and can't wait to be at home, and one other person can be so sad because he/she is going to visit a very sick love one. All of them can board the same flight to same destination, piloted by same people, and served by same flight attendants. That kinda hit me when I was happily seeing aircraft taking off. That aircraft which you are happily looking at from far away actually have different state of people. That's one of the reasons why I like civil aviation industry (besides the multiple beauties of aircraft body, of course). The heart of airline industry is not just delivering people like cargo, but also providing service for them in their journey and wishing them the best things in the destination. That's also a happy-kind-of feeling, right? All of workers in airport (airport staffs and airlines staffs) work together to bring happiness to people whatever the situation is.

For some people airport is just a terminal that connect cities, for some other people airport is their work place, for some other people airport is their 2nd home because they used to go anywhere by plane, for some other people airport is a special place or maybe traumatic place, etc. We have different perspective and experience of everything in life. What's airport for you??

Well, it's an awesome place for me. There are people come and go from different side of the world by a steel bird and people who maintains safety of the steel bird's journey. Just few miles of runway can bring you everywhere, isn't that awesome?

In the end, the only thing we wish for is "have a safe flight, good day."

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Unpopular Opinions Book Tag



Nobody tagged me to do this, but this unpopular opinions book tag seems so fun to do. I am going to do mine, though some unpopular opinions might be popular.

1. A popular book or series that you didn’t like
- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowel: I didn’t really enjoy that book. I set high expectation for that book since a lot of people praised it but my reaction was not that good. This book is overrated.
- Critical Eleven by Ika Natasha: An Indonesian metropop that got strong praising from readers. But I don’t like it. I don’t like the main character despite a really good writing style. I can’t stand Anya and that’s it. I bought it because I thought it’s about life in aviation industry or something like that. Turned out it’s about marriage life. Surprise~
- Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard: Boring, typical YA fantasy with so many plot holes. Maybe my high school self would love this, or not?

2. A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love
Kinda ashamed to say this but my 16 years old self liked Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. Haven’t reread it since then because I don’t want to change my feeling about that book, but I don’t have strong opinion why I liked that book so much back then. Do I still like it?

3. A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with (warn people for spoilers) OR an OTP that you don’t like
*spoiler: The Maze Runner*
Thomas and Brenda from The Maze Runner series. Absurd couple, they just got together out of nowhere like they didn’t see Teresa sacrificed herself for Thomas with all her heart and soul. What? What? I prefer that book ended with no romance.

4. A popular book genre that you hardly reach for
YA Contemporary, teen lit, chick lit, anything normal, mainstream love life kinda books (especially high school love life). I don’t like reading a story that doesn’t have strong idea, good description, good world building, and good character development. I am a picky reader yet I am not a good writer.

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like
I have nobody in my mind. A character built with a purpose, nobody can have all their favorite characters in the story. Popular or beloved character usually developed well by the author. If I like the book, I also like the characters.

6. A popular author that you can’t seem to get into
Rainbow Rowel, John Green. It’s like everyone loves their writing, but not me.

7. A popular book trope that you are tired of seeing (examples “lost princess”, corrupt ruler, love triangles, etc)
- Insta-Love. Can you decide that you love someone whom you just met 300 pages back and that’s like…. yesterday? :|
- Ordinary turns to extraordinary strong female heroine x not so strong male that knows nothing and remain clueless about this game that they played together. I am okay with one or two things like that but it seems dystopian / post apocalyptic books with female as main character are everywhere.

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading
Laskar Pelangi, Negeri 5 Menara, Divergent (only read the first book), etc etc etc. They are soooooo popular but I haven’t read all of them, and have no interest in reading them. I don’t know why, don’t ask.

9. The saying goes “The book is always better than the movie”, but what movie or TV show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?
The Maze Runner series. The 2nd movie is definitely 100% better than the book. The second movie (The Scorch Trials) beat the book in a strong way with major different plot. I like the first book and the first movie. They are somewhat equal with their own plus minus. But I don’t like The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure books. Traumatic reading experience for me because the nonsense plot, nonsense storyline, lack of character development, endless unanswered questions. Don’t make me start.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Book Review: Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer



BOOK INFORMATION


Title                    : Fairest
Author                : Marissa Meyer
Page                    : 220 pages
Language            : English
Series                  : The Lunar Chronicles #3.5
Rating                 : 5/5


Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?


MY REVIEW


FAIREST is about the evil queen; Queen Levana in the Lunar Chronicles Series. A bridge book between Cress and Winter. I suggest you not to read this if you haven’t read the book until the third installment. This book tells history of Levana’s life. Why and how she became such evil and manipulated following her troubled childhood and adolescent days before she met Cinder and Prince Kai. A dedicated book for evil character, that’s new.

The young Levana is…. pathetic, pitiful, and so sick at mind. A complete psychopath.
"Levana had not seen the bodies, but she had seen the bedrooms the next morning, and her first thought was that all that blood would make for a very pretty rouge on her lips."
That's her parents' blood by the way.

She was that kind of psycho who didn’t have friend when she was a child and went crazily delusional as she grew up because she was so lonely. I actually like the idea of how Levana became a twisted lunatic and so evil because of mental illness, it makes sense since her family was troubled too. I kind of liked her at first, but as the story goes on she looked more hopeless and disgusting. She had been given many chances to spare herself, to save herself from herself but in the end her pride won so her pitiful life cycle didn’t end. In the end she put herself so low to manipulate people and gain power. She could have better life if she wasn’t that delusional. I can relate her lonely and dark childhood days, but understanding her lonely childhood doesn’t mean that manipulating people is right. Reading the whole story made me shudder in fear. Moral story: please don’t make people feel lonely and bullied them their whole life or they will turn into psychopath.

This book is so well written, hands down to Marissa Meyer. Her descriptions and chosen words are on point. After reading the book… I hate and fear Levana to the core of my cells. Not because she was the evil queen, but because of her life decisions that made her so evil. I love how Meyer made this book so creepy, dark, and chilling. So much different than the main series yet it completes the background story as well. We got to see Channary, little Princess Selene, little Princess Winter, and little Jacin Clay.

This book is too short for me, I read it in one seating. I love Meyer’s writing style here but I don’t want to stay around Levana any longer, it’s so uncomfortable and not fun at all. It’s like the story burns you slowly LOL. You know how painful memory burns you more than happy memory? That's the feeling.

You can read the main series without reading Fairest as this is just a side story. But if you want to understand the whole story even more and you have so many questions about how the disaster begin and the relation of Cinder's past, you have to read this book! But this book has mild disturbing scenes and the creepiness of Levana’s mind is beyond kids’ level though so maybe kids under 15 should stay away.

Still can’t believe that this story came from a writer who made Cress’ innocent character and Thorne’s goofy character but nevertheless this is a very good story. Full marks for Fairest!

Monday, October 19, 2015

Jakarta - Lombok - Bali Flight with Lion Air



Dear pihak-pihak terkait Lion Air dan Angkasa Pura 2, tulisan ini hanya review dari pengalaman saya. Jangan baper ya, he he he.

Beberapa hari yang lalu saya terbang Jakarta-Lombok-Bali menggunakan Lion Air, dan bisa dibilang itu adalah pengalaman yang kurang menyenangkan. Memang sudah banyak sekali cerita mengenai betapa buruknya manajemen maskapai penerbangan tersebut, saya sampai heran sendiri. Berhubung saya belum pernah naik Lion Air sebelumnya, saya hanya bisa mempersiapkan mental sebelum berangkat. Agak sedikit mengeluh ketika tiket sudah di tangan, namun mau apa lagi? Hanya Lion Air maskapai penerbangan dengan harga murah-meriah (sudah termasuk bagasi) yang terbang langsung ke Lombok (dan tujuan lain di Indonesia) dengan jadwal yang bervariasi. Karena itulah para pelanggan masih bertahan dengan maskapai tersebut walaupun dalam hati sudah dongkol setengah mati.

Jam 7 pagi saya sudah berada di bandara Soekarno Hatta terminal 1A. Agak dibuat berdecak “kagum” oleh maskapai singa terbang satu ini dari keberangkatan (CGK) sampai kedatangan (LOP).

1. Security Staff
Saya berangkat lewat gate A8. Di dalam boarding room hanya ada dua staf yang berjaga, itu pun mereka hanya duduk dan mengobrol. WOW. Tidak ada pengecekan KTP sama sekali, tidak ada staf yang berjaga di gate. DOUBLE WOW. Being an avgeek who got a chance to take loads of pictures of apron and tarmac, saya bebas bolak-balik masuk ke gate tanpa ada yang menegur. Seriously, nobody was there!! Kalau ada penumpang iseng turun lewat tangga dan masuk ke apron kan bahaya. Sampai sekitar 30 menit kemudian ada petugas yang lewat, lalu saya disuruh masuk he he. Itu pun dia hanya lewat sebentar, tidak lama setelah itu dia sudah menghilang dari pandangan. Hmm, jadi ini kelalaian Angkasa Pura 2 atau Lion Air?

2. Delayed Flight
Obviously, as expected from JT; raJa Telat. Or LION: Late is Our Nature. Ada yang bilang, “dari dulu kalau saya pegang tiket Lion Air kayaknya gak pernah on time.” Boarding time dijadwalkan pukul 08.35 WIB, tapi sampai jam 08.50 WIB masih belum ada panggilan untuk boarding. Pada jam 09.00 WIB diumumkan kalau pesawat delay karena alasan operasional. Tadinya saya mau tanya soal kompensasi, eh petugas yang berjaga menghilang dari kursi mereka. Yasudah, toh saya sudah sarapan (memang ini agak egois). Kira-kira pukul 10.00 WIB kami meninggalkan Jakarta menuju Lombok, sampai di sana pukul 13.00 WITA dan lapar sudah melanda. Terbang dengan maskapai ini sangat tidak disarankan untuk kepentingan bisnis. Untuk kompensasi, berikut ini hak para penumpang jika pesawat delayed. Jangan lupa ditagih, ini hak penumpang lho.

credit: http://chirpstory.com/li/252920

3. Double Seat
Saya sudah sering mendengar cerita tentang nomor seat yang sama di boarding pass yang berbeda untuk pesawat Lion Air. Kali ini saya melihat sendiri kalau cerita tersebut bukanlah rumor belaka. Wow, bahkan nomor kursi bioskop tidak pernah diprint dua kali. Mbak pramugarinya agak bingung sebentar, lalu menyuruh si bapak untuk duduk di tempat lain. Alhamdulillah tidak disuruh turun ya pak. Alhamdulillah tidak kena semprot si bapak ya mbak. Wajah mbak pramugarinya kira-kira mengekspresikan, “hampiiiir aja gue kena masalah.” Well, kind of. Saya hanya senyum-senyum sendiri melihat wajah mbak itu. Sorry mbak, I suggest you to learn acting.

4. Cabin Condition
Fleet Lion Air kebanyakan Boeing 737-900 ER. Saya masih ingat launching-nya dulu di salah satu stasiun televisi swasta ketika saya masih duduk di bangku SMP. Kursinya sih menurut saya lebih nyaman daripada A320 yang entah kenapa selalu membuat leher saya pegal. Leg room-nya sedikit lebih sempit dari A320, but I have no problem with that selama leher saya bersandar dengan nyaman. Saya dapat kursi window seat (yayy for that!!). Belum lama saya berbahagia menengok ke luar jendela, saya melihat permen karet menempel di tempat yang lumayan tersembunyi sebelah kursi saya (kode registrasi pesawatnya PK-LGL, seat 15F). Sampah plastik bisa diambil, tapi kalau sampah permen karet menempel siapa yang mau membersihkan? Please people, keep the board clean (add crying emoticon here).

welcome on board

Lagi-lagi cerita tentang Lion Air benar, kali ini mengenai kondisi kabin yang panas, sumpek, dan pengap. PENGAP BANGET! Saya tidak tahu bagaimana kondisi kabin pesawat lain sebelum take off, tetapi yang satu ini memang panas. Pesawat diparkir di apron yang terletak di belakang proyek sebelah terminal 3, jadi harus naik bus dulu dari gate A8 menuju pesawat. Kondisi di luar sudah sangat panas, tapi begitu masuk pesawat malah bertambah pengap. Saya kira saya bakal sesak nafas kalau masih harus ditunda keberangkatannya. Saya pernah baca alasan dari pihak Lion Air kalau kondisi kabin pesawat yang panas disebabkan oleh cahaya matahari, sama seperti kondisi mobil yang terparkir di luar. Padahal penerbangan malam juga sama sumpeknya. Pesawat sengaja tidak didinginkan dengan alasan menghemat bahan bakar. Di situ saya merasa sangat amat sedih, karena naik pesawat sama panasnya dengan naik mobil tanpa AC. Kondisi kabin membaik ketika sudah berada di ketinggian (IYALAH). Tetapi begitu sudah landing? Ya panas lagi kabin pesawatnya. Apakah Low Cost Carrier juga termasuk memangkas pasokan oksigen para penumpang? Sepertinya harus naik full board dulu baru bisa membandingkan. Mari beri aamiin ramai-ramai supaya ada kesempatan naik Emirates A380 atau Qatar A350 (mangkak).

5. Food & Beverage
Lion Air tidak melakukan penjualan di pesawat baik makanan, minuman, ataupun merchandise. Di kantung kursi hanya ada majalah, petunjuk keselamatan, dan kumpulan doa. Tidak ada katalog penjualan dan tidak ada pramugari yang keliling untuk menawarkan makanan dan minuman. Mungkin anda bisa bawa makanan dan minuman seperlunya kalau penerbangan domestik. Untuk penerbangan internasional tidak boleh membawa cairan jenis apapun (cairan, gel, aerosol) di atas 100ml ke dalam kabin pesawat. Kalau bawa? Ya paling ditahan oleh petugas pada saat screening. He he.

6. Baggage Handling
Saya kurang paham penanganan bagasi dilakukan oleh pihak bandara atau pihak maskapai, tapi yang jelas bagasi merupakan tanggung jawab maskapai mulai dari check in counter sampai ke tangan penumpang di bandara tujuan. Tidak membutuhkan waktu lama untuk menunggu bagasi di conveyor belt, berhubung Lombok International Airport merupakan bandara kecil. Tetapi ada banyak sekali koper yang rusak. Roda yang hilang, koper yang pecah, dan sebagainya. Koper Ibu saya pecah bagian bawahnya. Bagaimana tidak rusak, koper-koper dilempar begitu saja tanpa memikirkan perasaan pemiliknya. Tetapi kita tidak thau koper-koper tersebut hancur di Soekarno Hatta atau di Lombok. Alhamdulillah koper saya strong dan tidak ada barang berharga di dalamnya. Memang disarankan jangan pernah menaruh barang berharga di dalam koper, ada banyak "tikus" bandara yang suka mengambil barang bagasi.

Penerbangan Lombok-Bali pun tidak jauh berbeda. Delay karena pesawat belum datang (kali ini bertanya ke petugas mengenai kompensasi dan Alhamdulillah dapat snack berupa roti, bengbeng, dan air mineral), kondisi kabin yang panas sebelum take off dan setelah landing (dapat row belakang jadi harus antre agak lama untuk keluar dari pesawat sampai keringat mengucur deras padahal saat itu sudah malam). Agak terhibur karena Bandara Ngurah Rai sekarang sudah bagus dan nyaman sekali yayy!! Semoga terawat :D

Kenapa ya Lion Air tidak mau bebenah diri? Padahal maskapai tersebut punya potensi besar jika pelayanannya membaik, walaupun fasilitas yang diberikan tidak banyak. Sampai saat ini kebanyakan orang memilih naik Lion Air karena harga tiketnya relatif murah dan banyak pilihan rute serta jadwal. Tetapi ketika mereka sudah membeli tiket dan terbang dengan Lion Air, yang keluar hanyalah keluhan dan keluhan. Sedangkan pilihan lainnya adalah Garuda Indonesia yang harga tiketnya selangit (full board, jangan ditanya kenapa harga tiketnya mahal). Peluang yang sangat disia-siakan. Lama kelamaan pasti akan tertindas oleh Air Asia dan Citilink yang juga murah, tetapi tidak murahan.

Bali-Jakarta terbang dengan Air Asia, and it's a complete different story.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Losing the Dark



For some people, stargazing might be too mellow for a liking. For some other people, it’s a stress reliever, a hobby, a job!! Stars and the other sky objects may not be that important for some people, because it doesn’t look realistic enough to be taken seriously as future job. Learning about economics sounds more promising than learning about physics, moreover about sky objects (an ordinary people will say that’s a job for a jobless people). But without the physicians, we can’t run the so-called realistic business.

If you are residing in a big city like Jakarta, say goodbye to live show of the lovely stars because of the light polluted night sky. The star light overshadowed by city lamps, making a night sky looks plain and dull. Sad, right? You have to go to the dark place (a real dark area such as mountains, not the dark cemetery near your house) to see (and to take photo of) the milky way. Well, sounds like I am blaming the city light for the losing stars. But no, some people don’t know that losing the dark sky means killing our own resided planet by threaten human sleep patterns, animal migration, etc. To have a dark sky doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice our safety by turning off the lamps, but there are solutions for that such as pointing down the street lights and using a very focused LEDs. Jakarta still in developed mode to focus on that, I guess.

We have an option to see the stars: visit the planetarium and observatory. Jakarta has one, only one with one theater and one projector. But sadly, it’s closed since July 2015 until an undetermined time because part of the projector burned. It’s been a month already without new notification from the internal staff. Out of date website and slow facebook response anger us who wanted to visit planetarium. And now, where do we find a place in this hectic and crowded city to educate people about sky objects? As not important as that sounds, that’s very important. Maybe there will be a future Indonesian astronaut that’s inspired by a show in planetarium? We never know. I hope there will be some technology and human resources upgrades in the future (underline + bold the human resources part).

I don't really mind the broken projector, i kind of expect the slow maintenance tho. But the out of date website and social media anger me. I think there should be an official article or note to explain the detail of the problem so people won't ask again and again. Well, the internal knows the best.

I know, it won’t be easy because to get and give an unforgettable experience needs an unforgettable value of money. Hehehe. I hope planetarium will open again soon. I am tired of malls, i need a (cheap and near) dark night sky!


For now, just enjoy NASA’s various video on YouTube.

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