My Take On (500) Days of Summer

 

Emotionally, the movie surpassed my expectation in the way it brings out laughter and tears simultaneously in a course of a one-and-half-an-hour rollercoaster ride, literally. If you think about it, Tom started his early ride with Summer cheerfully expectant. Those romantic flowery days is like going up up and up in a rollercoaster, you believe everything is gonna be a fun ride since you’re with the person you love the most, not knowing that halfway through the ride, she start screaming her way out of the relationship, and before you know it, it already crushes you so much that it faints you and wobble your days, only to find at the end of the ride, you are back at square one. Zip. None. Nothing. No love. No us.

I remember I tweet this right after watching the movie: “reality has never been so real and honestly presented in a movie”. So real, that there’s a point in the movie where I believe I am Tom Hansen. No kidding, I can relate in so many ways with the character. The out-of-the-universe (stratosphere level of out-of-the-blue) breakup. The fact that Summer has made Tom’s days amazingly beautiful while at the same time managed to keep it ‘casual’. This is the agony. Tom is merely an option for Summer, while Summer is simply everything to him. I guess we’ve all done our share of ‘dumped’. Also, I guess part of the reason why it feels real to me is the anonymity of the cast. Both, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are perfect for the part. I don’t know them before this movie. That allows me to see this is as everyday ordinary guy meets everyday extraordinary girl.

And this just came to me, the whole movie is presented from Tom’s angle of the story. I would really really like to see sort-of the counterpart of the movie, where the story unfolds from Summer’s point of view. That would be interesting. I’d like to know what’s in her head, what rushes through her heart while they were spending those delightful times together, the happy times you know, and what made her so easy to bring it to an end with the vaguest reason. I guess that would be appropriately titled (500) Days of Fling. I sound very subjective, aren’t I? No offense. Haha. And this what I meant vague.

All in all, this is an awesomely written movie. The way it rolled out, jumping from one days to another, the honesty, and of course the message it brings. Tom learned the hard way about relationship, breakup, and eventually moving forward. I vote this to be one of the top movie in 2009. And personally, I put this numero uno in top movies about breakup, preceding John Cusack’s High Fidelity and Jim Carrey's Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind.

To close, here’s one of my favorite quote from the movie:

“I guess you’re only looking at the good stuff, make you sure you don’t miss the bad ones next time you look back”.

From that point forward, a new Tom find his revelation, learned to let go, and finally open up for brand new love. IMDB gave it 8.1. Rottentomato gave it 86%. I gave it FOUR AWESOME THUMBS. Very recommended.

Smile on, Shine on!

Love / Lust. (Strictly Boys Only)

[Post is in Indonesian Bahasa. English readers, you can skip this]

Perhatikan percakapan di bawah ini yang g comot dari sebuah DVD berjudul French Film yang disutradarai oleh Jackie Oudney. Film ini mengambil tokoh Grimandi sebagai sosok pusat yang menjadi pimpinan alur cerita dan membawa intrik-intrik ke dalam disfungsi percintaan antara dua tokoh yang menurut saya cukup menarik dan kalau ditilik dari .. (lah eeee, kok jadi review film? #)$*) Hoheaoha. Mari kita lanjutkan. Lagi-lagi g tekankan, cowo yang paling cocok sama post ini, tapi terserah si kalau kalian lovely-ladies juga mau baca. Tapi jangan komplain kalau tulisan ini ‘offensive' atau bokep. Buat g sih ini kocak. 

 ---

Marcus: It was her

Jed: Who?

Marcus: Kate! The one I mentioned the other day. I was in love once when I was a kid. Remember? Its her.

Jed: The kid?

Marcus: Yeah. She's not a kid now obviously.

Jed: No, but you just met the girl you were in love with in here. Just now? The kid?

Marcus: Yeah, after 20 years.

Jed: How old were you?

Marcus: Seventeen.

Jed: That wasn't love! That was erectile-tissue. Let's get a coffee.

 ---

Baiklah, g tidak mau post ini terlalu panjang, biar kebijaksanaan dan pola-pikir lo yang mengarahkan lo ke konklusi selanjutnya.

Tapi g ulang lagi deh quote’nya:

That wasn’t love! That was erectile-tissue! atau terjemahan Sunda-nya "Itu bukan cinta, jek! Itu k***ol lo ngaceng!"

Saran g sebagai sesama lelaki kali berikutnya anda merasa ‘fell in love’ sama cewe, coba jangan cek hati lo ajah, itu udah pasti berbunga-bunga, konfirmasi juga sama ‘si adik’ di bawah. Huahahaha. Kalau dia mengacungkan ‘yak!’, yah berhati-hatilah, ‘adik’-mu yang memimpin, bukan hati lo, apalagi akal-sehat lo.  =P. Pilih yang benar, belanja aja kadang ga bisa dituker kembali, apalagi hari-hari lo yang disiasiakan sama nafsu.

Disclaimer: (1) G gak sok pinter, karena emang g bukan yang paling pinter, tapi g tau karena g cowo. Itu ajah sih.(2) Ini postingan g yang paling nyantai sepertinya, karena emang g lagi mau suasananya nyantai aja bos. G nganggepnya si itu percakapan lumayan as a joke. Tapi menurut g ada benernya walau cuma sebentuk bibit pikiran. G ga pengen love-life g yang malah jadi joke. (3) Iya sori lah terjemahannya explicit content, cuman perlu biar nangkep. Kayak NKJV ditranslate ke Message, lebih nampol kan?

In the end, take it as a fun-humorous-reminder. Hehe. Akhir kata, akan g tutup seperti biasanya g tutup.

Guys, Tersenyumlah, Bersinarlah!

Everything is Amazing & Nobody is Happy!

This video below is how Louis CK tells it, everything is amazing, yet nobody is happy. I somehow feel it’s true to a certain extent. Just spare 4 minutes of your time to watch the hilarious video. For a teaser, this is a glitch of the conversation with Conan O’Brian:

Conan: Do you feel that we now in the 21^st century, we take technology for granted?

Louis: Yeah! Cause see, we’re now living in an amazing amazing world and its wasted on the crappiest generation on just spoiled idiots that don’t care. Cause this is people are right now. They grab their phone, and they’re just (look impatient waiting for it to load) ‘uhhh, it wont work..’. Well, give it a second! GIVE IT! MAN IT’S GOING TO SPACE! Can you give it a second to get back from space?

http://www.youtube.com/v/UN0MpBQG3-E&hl=en&fs=1

So, how do you like it? I know you have your opinion on this, feel free to leave your comments below.

As for me, I kinda agree with Louis, I get pissed off by small things, my Blackberry messenger stopped working for an hour and I’m just like what? I paid a lot for their services, and I start complaining. Well, if I think about it, I was fine before with my old cellphone. No Blackberry messenger, no Twitter, and whatnots. If it’s important, and your BB messenger is not working, then friggin pick up the phone, dial your friend's number, that’s it! (I’m yelling to myself, not you, so you're good) =p.

These Feet Aren't Mine

It came from a simple thought. I am here not on my own will, I exist not accidentally, but for a purpose. There's a greater being who breathe life into everyone of us. And in that perspective, what I have is not mine, including these feet, they will go wherever He directs me to.

So these pictures are not just me showing off my Converse shoes. It represent faith, walking on the path presented forward upon me. It never came across my mind to have the opportunity to study in one of the most spectacular places in the world. I am thankful. I am humbled. And the point that I am now show how great He was, He is, and He is to come.

See if you recognize these spots taken around Paris, Tours, Brussels, and Amsterdam.

Smile on, Shine on!

Rubs.

See the full gallery on posterous

Apology Doesn't Stop at Sorry.

I’m the kind of person who could catch a glitch of details from a movie, a word from a dictionary, or a bit of experience and got inspired. This time I discover, well not eureka-kind-of-discovery, let’s say I encountered a recurring pattern about relationship as it pertains to fights and apologies.

I’m a huge fan of Friends series and I dare you to play on any episode, you will pretty much always find arguments, fights, and quarrels although it varies in size and intensity. I can relate with these clash between people. We got into stupid argument with our loved ones over silly things. We banged the door when our parents accused us of something we ‘feel’ we didn’t do. Its just life and we can’t avoid it.

Now, what gets interesting is that how these characters respond to these fights. Obviously when a fight happens, somebody felt wronged, somebody felt they shouldn’t be blamed for all of the mistakes. See, logically, there should be one person ‘actually’ making the mistake. But in a fight, ego is on play. And eventually, if you really want the fight to be over, somebody has got to apologize, right? But now that you want to, you find it hard to find the words to say. This point forward I’ll try to present you the recurring pattern I mentioned above. Not that it’s a perfect formula for an apology. Not that it guarantees (it definitely not if you don’t say it from your heart). But often times, we only get one chance to apologize and you don’t want to screw it up after you screwed up in the first place right?

Watch this conversation. Its how Monica apologize to Chandler. They promised to make something for each other as Valentine’s present. Well, some might not get it, but for couples you do know this stuff matters. Monica forgot to get the present, and don’t mention about making it herself, so she took a bunny-socks made by Phoebe and use it as present instead. Chandler on the other hand got her a mixtape of romantic songs. See if you get what I meant by the title of this post.

 

Monica:

Okay okay, I didn't make it. I'm sorry, I forgot about tonight and that we're supposed to make the presents. (Admit your mistake, how you wronged the other person, how your mistake has made serious repercussion in others feelings)

You're incredible.

You went through all this time and effort to make this mix-tape. (Lift of the blame from the other person, acknowledge it’s yours. Show your appreciation to other person, and his/her effort)

You know, I'll make this up to you.

I am going to cook you anything you want in there (pointing at the kitchen) and I'm going to do anything you want in there (pointing at the bedroom).

(Take the initiative to ask the person if you could make up for your mistake, mean it, and do it)

 

So there they are. Its not rocket science, though it’s not as simple as well. See the pattern? Apology doesn’t stop at the word ‘sorry’.

Also, it takes honesty to say those words; you can’t simply make up beautiful words. Especially if you guys apologizing to a girl. Man, they know when you cooking up s**t.  So, if it ever comes to you, that one single chance to make up for your mistake, don’t miss it, be sincere, let it comes from your heart, say what you mean and mean what you say. Depending on the intensity, a ‘sorry’ might be enough, but for big-scale cases (i personally think all offenses in any size are big scale), apology doesn’t stop at sorry. And when you’re forgiven, remember you still have homework to do.

So, this is life, we deal with relationship everyday. We can’t avoid clashes, but don’t escape when it happens. We fight, we make up. That’s friendship. That’s love.

Smile on, shine on.

Battles & War

It came to me through Kings Of Convenience's song "Winning a Battle, Losing The War", you can see life in the viewpoint of battles and war. Not the content of the song that inspire me though, just plainly the title.

Sun Tzu, said to be one of the greatest strategist wrote the book Art of War. And yeah, you don't need to read the whole thousand-pages thick book, I'll just spill the essence here. One of the greatest quote I learn from him is:

If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

Or in a more condensed version:

If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can come out of hundreds of battles without danger.

And I begin to think. Contemplate. Isn't it what happen in our life? Day in day out we face battles.

Battles in all kind of size. Battle of waking up early in the morning. Battle of patience on a fookin traffic (yeas i use the f-word, i'm not trying to be fookin holy or something. see i just use it again. haha). Battle of meeting deadlines, whatever deadlines it is. Project deadlines? Thesis deadlines? Credit card deadlines? Battle of letting go? Et cetera.

And the answer is lying there all along: Know yourself, know your enemy!

Knowing yourself, your strength, your talents, also your weaknesses is vital to surviving these battles. In your job, learn the demands of your customers. Expand your knowledge. Know your enemies is as vital as knowing yourself. Competition? It will always be there. So learn where you stand over others. Have you been a procrastinator? Know why you did that in the first place, is it because you're stuck taking passion-less major in university surrounded by passion-less people? The thing is take action! It's not always that hard to fight over battle, some time is just a matter of willing or not. And I believe we are born to be the head, we are here to overcome battles! So rise up! I've faced it myself, and its proven, once you take action, one good thing will lead to another.

Now I'm speaking more specifically to battles over whatever habits that you've been fighting for years. Get to know yourself, and your enemy. The devil itself and how it works. How it condemns. How it misled. How it create contradiction in your mind. And once you master yourself and your enemy, be reminded that each of us has one God that's greater that all our battles combined. Instead of falling to devil's deception over and over again, take charge when the battle arrive!

Lastly, but not least, be aware that winning one battle surely take you one step closer to winning the war, however losing one battle doesn't necessarily means losing your chance to win the war.

KEEP FIGHTING! SMILE ON, SHINE ON PEOPLE!

-- originally written June 2008

~ ivd.

when i lay down and my eyes refuse to shut
that's when your images rushing out
seemingly friendly, they caught me off guard
tick tock tick tock tickly tick ... tock
it tickles my heart
one scene to another i grow on tears
where did we start, how did we end up here?
one scene to the last i cry them tears

one distance to another we grow apart
when i lay down and my heart refuse to part
that's when i know that was love
love love love
love ?
in my pursuit there were us
in our chapters there were laughs
flowery flowery blissful heart
at the best i know that was my part

when i lay down and finally close my eyes
i wish i can keep this dream aside
that it was not goodbye
that i'd have my fair chance to make you the happiest alive

i lied
i wish i can keep that dream for a long while.

Lagu Tehbotol =)

   (255 KB)
Listen on posterous

Hai teman-teman jagalah kesehatan, jangan lupa gosok gigi dengan komodo. Eh, kok jadi nyanyi dan beriklan. Maap, jayus karena panas-yang-tak-bertuan-di-hari-senin-sore. Ya, saya mengerti jam-jam ini adalah jam-jam jahanam. Untuk itu izinkanlah saya oleh ridho Yang Maha Kuasa menghibur saudara-saudari semua lewat sebuah lagu singkat yang saya rekam dari salah satu pengamen unggulan saya di kawasan Muara Karang, tepatnya sepanjang soto Bang Mamat. Judul tembang ini adalah Lagu Tehbotol. Namun bukan sembarang teh saudara-saudara. Teh apa itu, silahkan anda simak di bawah. Semoga menghibur yeee. Kalo engga yee maap maap sodare sodare. Hehe

(Untuk kenikmatan maksimal, maksimalkan pula volume laptop anda atau gunakan headphone =)

The Marshmallow Test (Patience Has Its Reward)

Dr. Walter Mischel from Stanford University conducted an extensive research on psychology more than forty years ago. In one of the study, a researcher came into a room with a four-year-old kid, presented him/her a marshmallow and tell him/her this “you can have the marshmallow now, or you can wait for fifteen minutes while I run some errands and when I come back, you can have two instead.”

As expected, some of the kids ate the marshmallow at the very second the guy left the room, some of them waited for a while then ate them. However, there are also a group of kids that waited for the whole fifteen minutes. They distract themselves by closing their eyes, singing a song, or even tried sleeping. Eventually the researcher came back and they can have two. You can have a look at the replicated study in the five-minute video below:

http://www.youtube.com/v/amsqeYOk--w&hl=en&fs=1

The study did not end there. About fourteen years after, Dr. Walter Mischel made another study on the group of kids that patiently waited for two marshmallows. The result was astoundingly shocking as these kids generally grew up to be better adjusted, more popular, adventurous, confident and dependable teenagers. And not only that, on another further test, they scored an average of 210 points higher in their SAT compared to the other group of kids.

The marshmallow experiment is a simple reminder to not get distracted with things that are tempting but not important.

It also displays patience (aside from many other lessons). In life, how often we fall for the temptation of raising up our voice, pulling out the harsh-demeaning words, and forgoing the chance to cultivate a long-term fruitful relationship. We easily curse on people, our subordinates, or partner simply to shout out our superiority, our pride, but how long does the superiority and the pride stands? It quickly vanished the moment that person left the room. When we show patience, we acknowledged everyone is imperfect, and at the same time we give room for progress.

To sum up, in Gary Chapman’s words “…when we love authentically, our attitude reflects on our ability to focus on what is most important at the moment and patiently wait when necessary”. What is more important might means the project that you are working with your colleague, or the constructive relationship you can have with your partner or your spouse. So, when the temptation arise, know that patience has its reward.

Smile on, shine on. = )

(DON'T) JUST DO IT!

MAY2006
75KG. Overweight alarm! Muffin belly. Double chin. Hit the gym. Lost total of 7-8 KG after 3 months. More exercises since then.

OCTOBER2009
MRI Result: diagnosed with a pinched nerve on the fifth lumbar. In short = terrible backpain.

LESSONSLEARNED
Don't just do it. You might get the results like I did. I did lost the weight I wanted, but who knows that apparently some of my heavylifting activities (I might have lifted more weight than I supposed to or simply used a wrong lifting stance) has now cost me my backbone and future physical fitness. The fact is I didn't have trainer, I simply asked a friend who's been practicing for a while to assist me. I'm glad with the fact that I overcame that overweight phase, but then again, I might have lost the same weight by doing any other less-dangerous sports. Now, after three years the backpain is what I got. As for now, I still can't do much strenuous work. I'm not allowed to carry heavy stuff (not even my own laptop), I've been sleeping on bed topped with flat-wood for weeks (yeap I feel Japanese already and their tatami). I can’t sit longer than one hour. I have to walk twice slower than I used to. And don’t mention the hurtful acupuncture session.

If you ever going to push yourself into leaving your comfort zone and pursue a goal, whatever it is, I’m sure it’s for your good, don’t just simply do it. But do it right. It is much more important to step back a while and learn and know how to do it right rather than rushing it and having the regrettable after-effect some time after.

APPLIES TO

Many things. The closest that come to my mind is starting a relationship. You know that rush-of-blood-to-the-heart you have when you’re falling in love. As a normal dude you’ll find a hard time repressing those feelings and to be aggressive is who we are. And you rushed into that commitment while maybe its not your season yet. As one of my friend quoted “Love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely”. And by ready it means know how to treat your girl right, know your partner well (at least you gotta know how she’ll be when she’s angry otherwise the shock and the negativitywill tremendously doubled when you’re already in a relationship), know your borders, know if you can manage the time, know if you’re financially okay (no girls will pay for your dinner dude), and such and such. Have you ever consider those stuff before starting a relationship? I did to the smallest details and yet I still screw up here and there. What if I just jump and do it? Worse? Better? Well, you can figure out the mathematics.

I can think of another hundreds application of this in real life, but I promised to make this short enough to trigger your thinking and let your mind ponder, digest, and relate it to your own life.

Don’t just do it. Do it right! Its not only about making a start, but also how well you finish.

Smile on, shine on!

 

I'm Happy If You're Happy

Found this link from Otjep post on Facebook. Fell in love with the short-movie and the beautiful message it brings.
Smile on, shine on!

http://www.youtube.com/v/Cbk980jV7Ao&hl=en&fs=1

Twitter 101 (Kenali Fiturnya Lebih Baik Lagi)

Yang terhormat-terkasih-dan-tersayang kawan-kawan, saudara-saudari dan handai-taulan semua yang berada dalam timeline saya, izinkanlah sayamenggunakan kesempatan ini untuk memberikan penyuluhan singkat seputar penggunaan Twitter berikut dengan fitur-fitur yang melengkapinya seperti RT, via, # (hashtag), dan lain sebagainya. Niscaya pada akhir tulisan singkat ini semua menjadi lebih baik dan alurwaktu (timeline) pun berangsur-angsur menjadi maksimal pemanfaatannya.

1. @replies
Fitur ini digunakan untuk membalas (reply) tweet teman anda yang anda follow. Orang lain yang tidak mem-follow anda dan teman anda tidak akan bisa membaca reply ini.

Contoh Kasus: akun twitter saya adalah captainruby. bila saya membalas teman saya seperti berikut

captainruby @henrygerson jo, g baru dapet @nuBmagz, ngambil d starbucks. hehe. cool review on soulnation!

Saya (captainruby) baru saja mereply secara langsung ke teman saya (henrygerson). Maka anda sebagai pihak ketiga hanya akan bisa melihat tweet ini (tweet ini hanya akan muncul di timeline anda) bila anda follow captainruby dan henrygerson.

2. RT (Re-Tweet)
RT atau fitur mengulang-tweet / retweet adalah fitur yang and gunakan jika (dan hanya jika) anda menemukan sebuah tweet (dari seseorang) yang layak dishare dengan followers anda (yang tidak mem-follow seseorang itu).

Contoh Kasus: kembali menggunakan akun saya seperti berikut

captainruby RT @shinta_s "Perasaan mengikuti keputusan (untuk mengampuni, untuk mencintai), its not the other way around" (JR)

Dalam situasi ini saya mengulang-tweet (retweet) teman saya shinta_s dengan anggapan quote'nya cukup berkesan dan ingin saya share dengan follower saya yang tidak follow shinta. Follower saya yang tidak follow shinta pun akan dapat membaca quote yang saya RT.

Kadang dalam RT kita menemukan username teman kita terlalu panjang sehingga kalimat akan erpotong (ya itu ada unsur kesengajaan disana =p) atau tweet itu sudah di-RT beberapa kali sehingga terlalu byk username. Untuk itu lazim bila anda (1) menghapus semua user name kecuali user dimana tweet itu bersumber (2) menyingkat kata" dalam tweet (misal: dengan menjadi dgn, saya menjadi sy, dll).

ATTENTION! Jadi RT itu bukan untuk digunakan setiap kali anda ingin membalas setiap tweet. (kecuali anda tak segan seluruh dunia membaca percakapan anda)

Contoh Kasus (penggunaan RT yang di-abuse / disalahgunakan – harap jangan ditiru):

captainruby yesyes! =) RT @shinta_s HOREE! Makasi cat RT @acallista upahmu besar di surga RT @willydarmawan: @cathprajino bakal traktir nonton astroboy sabtu nanti

3. # (hashtag)
Daripada berulang kali RT setiap tweet, lebih baik gunakan # (hashtag) dan diikuti dgn topic pembicaraan terakhir.

Contoh Kasus:

captainruby @sandyjaya makasih yah udah jauh-jauh beliin ampe ke singapur trus di engrave lagi, sungguh terharu #ipodtouch32gig

4. Favorite

Fitur yang terakhir ini memang kurang terekspos dan belum dimaksimalkan penggunaannya. Saya pribadi suka sekali dengan fitur ini, bahkan menurut saya jauh lebih baik dari RT-ing. Mengapa? Mudah saja, kalau sebuah quote itu cukup menggugah pemikiran saya, saya lebih suka menyimpannya sebagai favorite yang bisa saya kumpulkan dan dengan gampang dapat saya lihat kembali di list favorite saya. Inilah alasan kenapa saya jarang sekali RT, tapi mungkin anda temukan quote anda dalam list favorites saya.

Tampak seperti aturan yang panjang yah? Saya juga merasa begitu awalnya, namun bila diikuti alurnya dengan baik, lebih terasa sebagai sebuah guidance. Twitter bisa menjadi sarana yang sangat baik sesuai dengan konsep awalnya yang hadir sebagai micro-blogging site. Kini memang telah berkembang menjadi social-media site, alhasil banyak mis-use. Kembali kepada anda untuk menyesuaikan dan membuat twitter dan timeline aja menjadi lingkungan yang lebih baik atau tidak. Tidak ada paksaan dan tekanan. Saya hanya merasa teman-teman semua perlu tahu ini. Mari berdayakan 140 karakter kita dengan maksimal.

captainruby posterous people, tersenyumlah. bersinarlah. salam. rubs =)

 

 

Polaroid Sydney

I'm barely sleepy and its 1.00 am. So I played with http://www.rollip.com/start -- created a bunch of polaroid images. And ended up compiling a sort of goodbye-for-now-sydney-see-you-when-i-see-you kind of album. The one year I spent there was a rollercoaster, literally. The ride is always up first, followed by a huge slump, then jumpingjacks, twist-and-turn, all in all, only to go back to the same place I was a year ago, square one (with an extra Master Degree in Commerce though). It wasn't all sappy. In my own words, it was rainbow-ish. I got all the colors. There were some great moment as well. I guess when I have time, I'll narrate each of the photo. For the time being, enjoy. =)

See the full gallery on posterous

Appreciate (The Wisdom Of No)

Have you ever been in any of this situations:

CASE-1
You applied for a job. This is one of your top-five most wanted job. After posting your application, you waited those long hopeful hours. You stared at your cellphone day and night until it finally rings! You just won an interview. And you gave your best, you were one of the first arrived, you conquered all the questions tactfully. You gave everything only to find that three weeks after the interview, not a single person inform you (not even a phone call or text message) whether you are accepted or no.

CASE-2
Wednesday, noon, lunchtime. You are munching your chicken wings dipped in terasi-sambal-sauce. *ringring A customer calls you. You say to
your colleague "Ah, let them wait, its the only time of the day I can relax". But the phone keep ringing. And as a professional salesperson your heart couldn't resist anymore but to answer, hoping there'll be a sales lead. So you spend the next 15 min explaining your products, forgoing your decent meal. And another 20 min to write a proposal complete with price quotation and terms of payment. All is done only to find that your proposal e-mail is never replied with anything.

---

Been in any situation with more or less similarity? Maybe the examples are a bit business-related. Let's try something simple. You asked 5 of your friends if they can make it for a quick dinner today. You called up early in the morning. Everyone's answered simply "hmm, i'm quite free, but im not too sure, i'd let you know if I can make it or not". Fast forward to 6 o'clock. Nobody replied. And you're already in the diner. As expected, nobody show up either. Gantung. Hanging on a string. It just bothered me. And I reject to blame this on "well it is the eastern-culture". NO! If something contains no positive value, should we continue it as a culture? And NO it is not culture. It's just us. And you can improve if you decide to.

The culture of late stuck with me for some time before, but it all changes when i start coming to my local church, JPCC who always start on time. When they say 12pm. Then the door is closed 11.45. After getting an uncomfortable seat for two or three times, I learned the hard lesson. Thankful for that though. We say its Indo-culture, I refuse that! Shame if we did nothing and accept it as it is. Coming on time means you appreciate people's time.

The same thing applies with the above example. Why let people uninformed and confused? Are we afraid of saying "no" to ineligible applications? Are we afraid of hurting others feeling when we reject a proposal? That is no excuse. I've been applying the opposite thing for quite some time. Whatever it is, whether I accept a patner's proposal or not, I inform them. Letting them know what our decision is -- yes or no -- that's appreciation to their effort. Imagine you are the company in case #1 would the candidate promote to a friend the products of the company (your company) that didn't inform anything to them? Hey, your company might also lose a potential candidate 5 years after when you make another opening. Would you care to answer another phone call from a neglectful partner? Or from another point-of-view, would anyone care to accept your phone call if you are that neglectful partner?

Sometimes even though its a "no", its much more appreciated if we let people know, rather than left them hanging on a string. You gain the person's respect and you let them know you appreciate them as well. It also represent your value -- professionalism, something that represented as your track record. A "no" can be a wise move to make. Especially in a long-term perspective.

I'D LIKE THAT! (a lesson from uncle john mayer)

These are the words of John Mayer from the live performance DVD - Any Given Thursday, enjoy and tell me what you think. I think it’s got some reality in it. As for the message, I rely it on you to entertain yourself. =)

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I was thinking about relationship as it pertains to songs about relationship. It occurred to me. I figured out a key to a relationship and how to make it work.

See, when you first meet somebody you find out they like you first of all. A friend of a friend of theirs tells you he or she really likes you. And it kills u, force you and sends you on the grounds. Then somehow you got her phone number. You call her up and start talking and at the end you say "well, thats a great phone conversation, can i see ya sometime?" and then they say this, they say "i’d like that.."

"i’d like that" makes u fall on the floor again, your heart about to stop. Nothing feels better than "i’d like that". So now, you blood presssure going, you are six feet off the ground, you can’t sleep because of "i’d like that".

So you’ve been hanging out for a while and you’ve been calling and talking on the phone all the time and then you drop the bomb or what feels like the bomb. You say, u know what … "i’ve been thinking about you a while". And she just went speechless and then you say "what?"… and she said "i’m sorry i’ve just… i’ve.. just.. i’ve been thinking about you too." BAM! higher than the sky. But now, "i’d like that"..DONE! Now you are up to "i’ve been thinking about you.. "

"I’d like that" doesn’t work anymore.

And then a few months past , whatever weeks, whatever makes you feel comfortable you say "I gotta tell you something.." you say this…. " i’m in love with you…" and nothing in the world sounds better than i’m in love with you and maybe she starts crying.

Now what doesn’t work? "i’d like that" and "i’ve been thinking about you"

Now fast forward you start saying "i love you a lot", six weeks, six months, now you are like… "i wanna marry u, i wanna impregnant u with my love, damn! words just doesn’t work anymore..". and then you say this line, you know you’ve used this line before "i just wish they put a new word in the dictionary bigger than love because love just doesn’t describe what i fee!."

And so then now he/she start asking "do you love me?" and you start going "of course i love you, i’ll say it twice, i’ll say it three times", and then you cross a really interesting point where all of the sudden comes "i hate you, i hate you". And they are saying "i hate you a lot" and she’s goin "we’re over!!" u say "no we’re not!"

Now the words do not work at all, completely meaningless, it doesn’t work anymore, you are throwing punches under water and you know you are done.

You know what the moral of the story is? If there’s any… Never ever underestimate the power of "i’d like that"!
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Typography Quotes

I bumped into an album full of inspiring quotes by one of my friend in facebook and it gets me into searching for more. I ended up spending two hours exploring the web, feasting my eyes and mind with this astoundingly written quote, and the artistic presentation adds even more impact to whatever the message is. Love it. Just wanted to share them. Sometimes we need words-of-encouragement and words-of-affirmation. I find this helpful. See which one moves you and stick with you the most and leave comment. =)

See the full gallery on posterous