~Audi alteram partem~

You know your part of the story. Now hear the other side.
Cos everyone just want to be heard
.

A journey of a thousand miles..

Asking my boyfriend any my brother "What do you think if I move to Australia to work?": The difference.

Me:  "What do you think if I move to Australia to work?"
Bf: *shrug* "Ok."

Me: "What do you think if I move to Australia to work?"
Bro: "What's the job? Who told you? Are you sure? What did your bf say? Have you thought it through? Don't you think this is selfish?" *two hours later* "The economy is... The tax in Australia is..." *two more hours later* "You have to know what you want in life. Is this really what you want? If not, then what is it that your really want." *goes on to other irrelevant topics for a few hours more*

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between an optimistic realist and pessimistic idealist.

An optimistic realist sees the world like a little child. Just enjoy what you're doing and life will shape itself around you. No need to worry. Worries only brings unhappiness, and unhappiness brings bad luck.

While a pessimistic idealist is the total opposite --perhaps like a bitter old man. Everything that will go wrong in life, will go wrong. It is life's personal mission to make each individual's life miserable.

I'm not saying that one is better than the other. Any extreme is not good. What we can do is learn from both and find our own balance.

But right now, my journey of a thousand miles is stuck on the first step.

Land of Oz

Every once in a while, I come up with a crazy idea.
One that would make my friends sure I'm a crazy dreamer.

Maybe that's why I don't have many friends.. hmm.. *distracted, thinking about the past*
Well, it's ok, the friends that I still have don't really mind my crazy dreams.

Most of my dreams didn't come true, of course, as I just leave them as they are: a dream. But now I'm dreaming a new dream and I can't sleep at night cos I literally dream it in my sleep. And I just have to do it, no matter what. Especially since my last job interviewer went MIA.

My latest crazy dream is *drum rolls pls* move to Australia and work there.

The first common reaction I got was, "Why so sudden?"
Sudden for other people is because I announce it suddenly. But I've been thinking about it for months, and kept the idea at the back of my head for years.

Bukan hanya cantik yang subjektif. 'Kenapa' dan 'karena' juga.

The second common reaction I got was, "Why?"
That interrogative word again. To that question I always answer "Why not?" But of course that simple rebuttal is never enough to stop people from asking. One 'why' is enough to confuse philosophers. A why answered with a why is like poking a sleeping dragon. So to soothe the dragon back to sleep again, I chant the obvious facts: Australia has higher demand of human resource and offers higher salary (compared to Singapore and Indonesia).

But the real reason to that question, I only told one person so far. This blog is the second place I repeat it: To give my life a purpose.

Hidup itu harus ada yang mau dicapai...

We have to have a goal in life. Only by having something to achieve can we have an achievement.
By staying where I am right now, I can't achieve anything. I don't have a purpose. I've lost interest (and hope) in my previous dream. While just dreaming this new dream, I have the enthusiasm to wake up in the morning.

Now, I have to risk everything I have (which is not much anyway) to keep moving forward. So that even though this dream falls through, at least I tried.

Buying happiness

Yes, you can buy happiness.
You just need to know what to buy: People.

Ok, not exactly. According to this book 'The Geography of Bliss', by Eric Weiner (that's 'e' before 'i', ok) because human is a party, eh, social animal (rawr), happiness is about being with other people. So, one way to be happy is to spend your money on other people. Be it to buy something for a stranger, friends, or family, when your money help to make other people happy, you'll be happier too.

So..um, can I borrow $20?

How to be happy - Eric Weiner

Keep asking questions

"Another reason why it is important to keep asking questions even thought there are no clear answers, is in order to remind ourselves of our ignorance. Science is built not only on knowledge. It is also built on ignorance. It is very, very important to always remember what we don't know."

- Dr. Yuval Noah Harari,
History Professor in Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Think your country sucks?

Think again.

As if it's not enough listening to heartbreaks from Syria, Egypt, and many other war-torn countries, internet once again show me that sufferings come in many form. This time, in the form of a drug called the Devil's Breath from Locombia, I mean, Colombia.
"Do you know why they call it Devil's Breath? Cos it steals your soul."
- Luis Eduardo, victim.

Colombia
For those who aren't sure which one is Colombia,
it's the one connected to Panama like a fetus.
The locals call it burundanga. For English speakers who can't pronounce it, it's also called Scopolamine.

Odourless, colourless, and tasteless, it can be blown to victim's face without him even knowing he's been drugged. Worse than that, its effect resemble something that come out of Harry Potter world: Victim will be 100% conscious, but without any willpower nor memory. You know when you remember you have $10 in your wallet, but now can't find it and don't remember that you spent it? Well, it's like that, except it's your whole bank account. One of the victims who thought they're being robbed, and reported to the police, were actually shown a video that he himself withdrew all the money and gave it to some strangers. I shudder at the thought of other things bad people can do with this substance.

Worst of all, the plant Borrachero from which this drug can be produced grow freely everywhere in Colombia. The flower is beautiful and the tree looks like any other tree, but one can actually pick any parts of the plant, dip it into hot water and get high from drinking it. It's not so bad, isn't it? Cos weed does the same thing? Well, except you can't get overdose with weed. One single seed of the plant (which is not bigger than 1 cm) can produce 70 mm of Scopolamine, when 1 gram (that'd be 15 seeds) of it can kill 10 to 15 people.

Colombia by itself is a crazy country. Murder, drugs dealing, and prostitution are merely some of the occupations in the country. But, imagine all that with a sprinkle of Scopolamine.
Flashfloods don't sound so bad anymore, eh, Singapore? We choose expensive fuels anytime over this, eh, Indonesia?

If you're interested to know more, here's a thorough 35-minute documentary about the drug and its victims:


Of course, as it is with everything else, it can be used for good things as well. I hope in the near future the higher minds will use the properties of the drug for medical purposes instead, or for anything else mediocre minds like mine can't think of. No, please not euthanasia. Maybe to tame big cats (cheetah as pet, anyone?), or to cure spacesickness as NASA is planning to do.