**.........Gundam..........**

I've been busy lately, so I can't update my blog.

I've seen a gundam store when I walk around two days ago. there plenty of Master Grade series collection there. Ups, it's gonna cost me my saving :( :D. There is one more store to check.

Haven't decide which one to buy. Probably a Master Grade.
I hope I'll find MG Freedom, MG Wing ver.ka, or MG Zeta plus C1.
Nyam..........

I'm Dizzy.....

We're covered by smoke here in Pekanbaru.
My head is aching, so I can't write any better than this.
Hope tommorow will be better...

Candik Ala

I've read a book entitled 'Arjuna Wiwaha' recently. It was written by Sunardi DM. First published by Balai Pustaka in the year of 1986. The book tells us about the battle of Arjuna, the third of the Pandawa Brothers, versus Niwatakawaca, King of Imantaka.

Niwatakawaca, a giant himself, wanted to marry Dewi Supraba, a very beautiful goddess. If Batara Endra refuse his will, he threatened to destroy Kaendran (Batara Endra's palace) with full scale military assault. Batara Endra knew that even the god could not withstand the power of Niwatakawaca's army. Niwatakawaca was once blessed by Batara Guru himself when he was young.

Batara Endra then seek for a chosen warrior, that was said can defeat the giant king. His choice fell to Arjuna, his own adopted son, who lived as a hermit named Begawan Mintaraga at that time. Batara Endra sent seven goddess, including Supraba , to disturb Arjuna's meditation. This was done to prove Arjuna's worthiness as the chosen.

***

So much for the story. When I read the book, I stumbled upon a word 'Candik Ala'. Suddenly, I felt so nostalgic. This word 'candik ala' has brought me seventeen years back in time. When I was a child, I often take a vacation to my Grandpa's village. I was happily playing around outside when my grandpa told me to go home. "It's already candik ala", he said. At the time I never understand why. Yet my grandpa pronounced 'candik ala' as 'sendekala'. Maybe it's the right pronunciation, I don't know.

It is said that 'candik ala' is the time when the sun almost set. It is also said that everything at 'candik ala' will look beautiful. Don't choose a lover in 'candik ala' cause everyone would looks beautiful.

I do admit that (almost) everything looks beautiful at ‘candik ala’. The sunrays cast a golden-yellowish color. Human skin would looks beautifully gold. I’ve seen a beautiful picture of a girl. Agus, a friend of mine, took the picture at Panderman. It was taken in the morning actually, but it still has the same effect.

Photographers like ‘candik ala’ (and of course its morning counterpart)when they go hunting outdoor nature or landscape photography. The sky and the clouds form an amazingly beautiful color of red, orange, yellow and blue.

Maybe this is why my grandpa forbade me to go outside at ‘candik ala’. Maybe because it was ‘deadly’ beautiful so that anyone could drawn in adoring its beauty.

***

Sure that ‘candik ala’ is beautiful. To me, it’s a way more than beautiful. Nostalgically beautiful. Imagine yourself as a kid playing, running, through the banks of Serayu river at ‘candik ala’.. ..

Rumbai, 18 March 2005 1625

My First DSLR Shot!

Just a couple of munutes ago, I have my first DSLR shot. It was Canon EOS 300D/Digital Rebel. It's an entry level DSLR, the cheapest you can find in the market. The word 'cheapest' is making it sounds like nothing. Right, but it was still a no-cheap camera! It's a DSLR man!
I can fell the speed there. To bad I cannot play with it a while longer.
The camera itself belong to the company, Caltex. So I feel ackward to borrow it longer. I don't even have time to try any advance feature.

We have a photo session today, for the staff of Politeknik Caltex Riau. Mrs. Rinta, Caltex Pacific Indonesia employee, had us photographed. So she brought the camera. After the photo session. Rahmat, a friend of mine, and I had a chance to try some shot.
Yummy....

Sugar Cane Juice

Once again, I wander around Pekanbaru today. Nothing special here. It's just that I happen to drop by to have sugar cane juice near UIN.
It's sweet, fresh and delicious. Directly served from sugar cane, with ice of course. A real treat to your throat.
Never have something like this in Java. I wonder why didn't they sell something as delicious as this there.

The Awful Odor

About a week ago I stumbled across SMAN 5 Pekanbaru during my assignment of promoting Politeknik Caltex Riau to 3rd year students. When I got out of the car, my immediate response was, "What is this smell? So awful!." A friend of mine explained that the smell came from rubber. There a rubber processing factory near SMAN 5.

A few things came out of my mind, "How can they study in this kind of environment? How can they concentrate? Why can't we just sue the factory for polluting the air?"
After a few moment I realize that the students and the teacher there didn't even bothered with the odor. Apparently, we get used to the odor after a while and didn't smell th odor anymore.
That's exactly our smell sensor works. After a while their sensitivity to a specific odor is decreasing. In a few minutes, we are no longer smell the same odor. This is why we almost cannot smell our own scent. We get used to it! We also can't smell our perfume (after few minutes) while other people can.

Here is a quote from familyfun.go.com:
Our sense of smell begins when we inhale, bringing chemical particles into your nasal cavity. Here, millions of smell sensors are packed into a patch smaller than a postage stamp. These chemicals have to be dissolved to be sensed, so our nose produces sticky mucus. When these dissolved chemicals come into contact with smell receptors, nerve impulses are sent to the brain.
When we first inhale the scents of the forest--pine needles, musty leaves, split wood--we smell everything at first. But after a while, strong scents begin to fade. That's because smell sensors get used to the scents and stop sending new signals to your brain. This helps us become aware of newer smells, like the odor of a skunk.

Parallel to this phenomenon, our sensitivity towards many event in our country (or our environment) is decreasing through time. We easily forget an event after another event. We easily forget the fuel price increase after The Ambalat affair. Just like perfume covering our body scent.

***

Back to SMAN 5. Afetr a while getting used to the smell, my sensors begun to be insensitive. Yet, about ten minutes later, to my slight disbelieve, I smell those awful odor again! What happened then? Apparently the wind has changed its direction. When the wind changed direction (again) towards SMAN 5, I smell the odor once again.

The Americans built the 911 Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. This memorial would keep people remembering the tragedy of September 11 and the Vietnam War. We Indonesian also have many memorial from the colonial era, independence war, and the revolution era. These memorials would make the wind blow in the right direction. So people would forever smell the odor.

The problem is that many government want people to remember only their bright side. The dark side should be forgotten. There is no memorial for the super invlation or the increase of the fuel price for example. Maybe it’s the nature of humanity. We all want to remember the good things and forget the bad.

Rumbai 15 March 2005 0744

Bismillah....

My blog begin with this so called 'unbeautiful' morning.
The air is polluted with dense smoke here in Pekanbaru.
What a day to begin with.

I never thought why would people make their blog? I never truly understand until this morning, until i have my own motive.
It's just keeps you your thought unwasted by writing and sharing it.
It's a place to learn to write too (this is my ulterior motive, hehehehehe)

Thanks to Ukyo and mas Haris for the inspiration.