So Long, Bang Andre

JAKARTA - September 24, 2008

One of my cousins from father-side, Andreas M. Pancarian Situmeang, passed away on the age of 39. 

I wasn't really closed with him, so I can't comment much about his personality and daily life. One thing for sure, I will always remember what he told me on the last day I met him at the hospital.

He was surprised when I told him that I'm a med-school student, maybe it's because we had never seen each other for years. We were having conversation that I'm sure I will never forget.

Him: Have you watched Patch Adams?

Me: Sure, it's a must-seen movie! 

(He was suddenly silent, and started to cry...)

Me: *panicked* What's wrong? Are you hurt or something? OMG!

(He shedded tears)

Me: Something's wrong?

Him: Patch Adams is my hero... (he started to cry again)

Him: Dev... Be a doctor like Patch Adams!

(I was stumbled, but quickly nodded)

Me: I will..

I visited him on Sept 23, and never thought it would be the last time I had ever seen him again. On the following day, he passed away at 1 PM. 

He suffered from acute renal failure. It had been detected a couple of years ago, however he failed to undergo hemodialysis regularly. Consequently, excess nitrogenous waste products in the blood and highly accumulated urea started to reveal toxic effects; whole body were swollen, yellowish skin and itching. If he scratched the itch, it would end up with ulceration. 

During his life, he had huge passion for acting. Despite he had never gotten a big role, he always tried to give his best performance. Being a cameo in "Si Doel Anak Sekolahan" scored him a major role in "Aladin". He played as Jinn, co-starred with Didi Riyadi and Meisya Siregar. Unfortunately the sinetron didn't hit big.

He is survived by his parents, a wife, two little daughters; Khloe and Grace, an older brother Aditya and an older sister Anggara.

100 Blogger Bicara

In the beginning of this month, I got an unexpected e-mail from Elsa. 

She asked whether I wanted to participate as a respondent in order to compile a book entitled "100 Blogger Bicara" (in Bahasa). It is called "100 (Indonesian) Bloggers Say" in English, fundamentally embraces "Blogging World" and also to introduce blog to society in general (and for those who are not too familiar with, in particular).

I was chosen to fill "bridge blogging" category I was chosen to fill in “bridge blogging" category cos my blog is written in English (as she said on e-mail). Please don’t ask me how to be a respondent, cos I honestly don’t know. I’m sure there are zillions of Indonesians writing their blog in English, but why me? In term of popular blogger, I am definitely not one of them.

Celebrity? Nope.
Socialite? I wish, LOL.
Social climber? Not a chance! Whatever.

Anyway, let’s get things straight. I was insanely excited, and proud of myself too, when I read the e-mail. Despite the fact that I won’t get any royalty from the book sales, I still have great enthusiasm of being a respondent.

Besides, all I had to do is sharing my background of blogging; when and why I started to have a blog, why I write it in English, what I think about Indonesian Blogging Communities, and some other things.

As much as I’d like to convey, she limited it to a 2-page of A4 with double spacing, excluding 100-word (max) to jot down my profile.

The book itself will (hopefully) soon be launched on October 2008, along with Pesta Blogger 2008. So if you curious about what I say, do search and get yourself a copy! LOL.

New Template for The Blog

It took me more than 2 years to move on from the old template. Back then; I’ve searched throughout the internet (thanks to Google Almighty!) for a decent (and free, of course) blogger templates but nothing-seemed fit my idealism. Maybe I was just being picky.

My previous template:

I like simple 2-column design and soft colors, especially WHITE. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried to use “Minima” as the default but ended up with disappointment. It was too plain and simply boring. You can see it from the screenshot below.


However, I’m not sure about this new template. Please let me know what you think about it by replying to this post, or participating in my poll.

Thanks in advance!

P.S.: If I have mostly negative feedbacks, I’ll consider changing it back to the old template.

22-Year-Old Virgin

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” ---Abraham Lincoln

I feel blessed for being officially 22-year-old bombshell on September 17, 2008. Unlike the childhood, there was no party to celebrate. I was cool with that. It was just a birthday after all.

My wish for this year... hmm.. basically to be a better person. Not forget about my health condition, hope it's getting better and better. Glad to say that I've undergone recovery process. 

As for the love life, I've been single for a year and a half since the last break-up. Nothing to be worried about (other than school stuffs), until I read this article. 

It says, "Those who lose their virginity at a later age (around 21-23 years of age) tend to be more likely to experience sexual dysfunction problems later, say researchers at Columbia University and the New York Psychiatric Institute's HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies". 

WTF?!@#$

Gee, I hope I'll be doing okay. I can't imagine myself beseeching to a completely stranger to lose my virginity. 

No no no!

*Image is taken from www.cakecarousel.com 

Advertise For Free

As many of us always seek for great bargain, preferably free stuffs (admitted or not), here's the good news. Anita McKay, one of my favorite blogger from Finally Woken has come with a (quite) breakthrough on her blog. With 200 to 500 visitors a day coming from all over the world to her site, she generously offers free space so that any of us may promote our own blog. All you have to do is simply send her an e-mail to be featured as one of the blogs of the week. 

However, there are still few terms and conditions that must be followed though;

• Your blog must be at least 3 months old or have 10 posts
  
• Your blog must be active for the last 30 days
  
• Your blog must be G rating (no pornographic contents)
  
• I have to find your blog interesting and intriguing!
  
• Once your blog is advertised up there, kindly please post a new entry telling your readers to check how your blog is promoted here.
  

Fair enough, right?

Btw, my blog is featured this week :)

Can I Have Your Number?

Just wanna share this clip I've found in YouTube. Mad funny!

Enjoy!