I'm Not Dead

Sorry for lack of updates. For the last two weeks I was coping with my mid sessions which completely turned my world upside down (hmm maybe I'm a bit exaggerating here, LOL). It's true however, that I had a tension headache when I was doing my pediatrics and neurology exams! *snickers*


I've acknowledged lots of things happened during my absence in the blogosphere, like what happened to some of the losing candidates after Indonesian Legislative Election and recently the new Swine Flu outbreak. Not sure though whether I have a word or two regarding those events. My first priority at the moment is actually to enjoy my semester break but I really want to bloghopping for a while.


Anyhow, no need to worry. I've been preparing several drafts for my upcoming posts and I think it'll be ready within a week. Thank you for your patience! :)


*Image Courtesy: cairns.com.au

Fir Tree Found Growing in Lung

Another bizarre case that becomes one of medical mysteries; 5-cm fir tree found growing in a Russian man's lung. (I'm totally freakin' out!)

Source: Reuters.com

Simple Explanation

Have you ever wondered how come certain people do bad things to you for like, constantly? People you care, people you love the most suddenly get twisted and become wicked way more than your enemy ever did to you. Have you ever wondered why?


I've been wondering all these years until I recently watched The Silence of the Lambs. Surprisingly, the answer is here all along.


Hannibal: First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?
Clarice: He kills women...
Hannibal: No. That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What needs does he serve by killing?
Clarice: Anger, um, social acceptance, and, huh, sexual frustrations, sir...
Hannibal: No! He COVETS. That is his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? Make an effort to answer now.
Clarice: No. We just...
Hannibal: No. We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don't your eyes seek out the things you want?


Before I go further, I need to set a parameter before our discussion leads you to the wrong end. An instant murder or homicide, masochism, sexual fetishism or demonic possession are excluded from 'bad things' list. What I mean is a mind game, based on a case of repetitive immoral actions which mostly in psychological manner.


The perpetrator(s) might be your best friend, family, lover, co-worker, your boss, colleague, teacher, neighbor, etc. You can barely recall what your faults to them but when they start, they keep doing it over and over again until your life shattered. No physical harm involved, but they're dancing with your brain to see you fall which I believe as the cruelest crime in civilization. Still remember how good The Joker danced in Harvey Dent's mind in The Dark Knight?


If you take the bait, firstly you're gonna doubt your own judgment. You begin to question unnecessary things in your life, lose your self-confidence and get troubled with trust issues. Slowly but sure you're gonna end up all alone. Why? Cos everybody wants to stay away from you cos they think you're disturbed. That's the ultimate aim.


No need to worry cos nevertheless, there are two ways to encounter these kind of people. It's either you can be smarter than they are or simply avoid them as much as you can. You don't learn wisdom at school, after all. Let nature takes its course.


Next question I assume will be; "How can I be smarter than them?". You've read the explanation, you know the 'why', so it's your homework guys!


*Image Courtesy: aledlewis.com

In The Bus, Part 2

"ADVICE"

Before I took my first bus riding, my baby brother had given me advice to dress properly. I didn't even know there was a dresscode for riding a bus!

Andrew: "You need to dress down if you want to take a bus."

Me: "Dress down?"

Andrew: "Yes, like a slumdog."

Me: "WTF?! What is that supposed to mean?"

Andrew: "I mean casual. Put on your jeans instead of skirts, take off your heels, no make-up. You have to leave your fancy purse for a while and start with a backpack... unless you want to attract some crooks."

Me: "I am casual."

Andrew: "ZzzZzZZzz @#$%^&*"

Me: "LOL!"

I did everything he (and my mom) told me except for the heels. Perhaps I was too naive that a bus would've actually stopped for me. That afternoon was unforgettable. I was too tired to move my own feet after standing on the bus for the whole an hour zig-zag trip and suddenly the conductor asked me to jump when the bus was slowing down? Arrghh!! I couldn't argue with him so I just hoped I wouldn't break a leg (and my 2-inch heels) when I landed.

So I was lucky indeed I could keep my balance and didn't fall off. But dammit, the heels were in a good shape but my right ankle was sprained. I kept telling myself "NO MORE HEELS ON BUS" ever since.

Quote of The Day

"Tough times never last, but tough people do."

-Robert H. Schuller

Story Behind The New Template

Greetings to all my faithful readers,


I'm sure you've been noticed the significant changes here in my blog and I really hope you're gonna like it. *fingers crossed*

Actually it was an accident LOL! Few days ago I had been looking for a new template cos I was kinda bored with the old one. Besides, three blogger friends I know have already changed theirs so basically I was pretty much impulsive to do the same. With the help of Google Almighty, I stuck in few websites that offers plenty cute Blogger templates.


Of course in order to see which one I like better in result, I applied every single template which fits what I want into this blog; white, simple, clean and neat. My idealism believes that if I want to make the contents more visible, I need to throw a plain blog design. More less.


I did everything I was supposed to do but apparently I forgot to backup the old template! Well I was being such a smart-ass; instead of downloading full (the old) template, what I did is simply copy and paste the HTML - which is very stupid cos in that case, you won't save the whole blog accessories. *sigh*


Therry said she likes the old one better cos it represents me more, which I'm not sure I follow. Maybe I should ask her again one more time what exactly she was trying to say, LOL.


Please let me know what you think by submitting comments below and take the poll on the top of the left sidebar! Thank you. XOXO

Link Time!!!

• 7-Eleven to Enter Indonesia. I'm wondering what will happen with the existed chain stores like Alfamart, Circle K and Indomaret? Of course I'm more than happy for the fact that there'll be massive job opening in Indonesia but still, how can you compete with local vendors for the same price tag whereas there's an annual franchise fee to deal with? Hmm..

• Wanna try something fun? Check out this Trippy Illussion.

• 16-year-old Invents Bus Alert: awesome!

• Rima Fauzi has conveyed that To Love is Not Always To Have.

• Do you always have conflicts in your life? Here's a good Conflict Resolution for Life from Mother Theresa.

• Funny stuffs: 13 Reasons your Facebook account will be disabled.

Wake Up, Vote and Grab the Coffee!

Unless you've been living under a rock, you may already knew that tomorrow is the Indonesian National Election Day. There are so many parties with various visions and missions. Very confusing indeed, but I only need to choose one. Two days ago I received a snail mail from one of the legislative candidates from a certain party. I had no idea where he got my name and my address. It was a bit bizarre, especially since I don't know who he is and how he's related to me (the mail mentioned we're sorta family). Hmm..


This noon my mom also got called from a distant relative, who happens to be one of the (figured!) legislative candidates. Mom didn't promise him anything but an advice saying, "You should pray, kid. If it's the God's will then there'll you be."


Anyways, I have a good news!

(Image is captured from KOMPAS today)

In case you haven't noticed, Starbucks Coffee Indonesia will be giving away many cups of coffee (hot/iced coffee size 8 oz) for FREE! Woo-hoo! All you gotta do is show your finger print (as proof of voting) tomorrow at the nearest Starbucks outlets starting from 12 to 5 PM. Well even though it's just a cup of coffee (pretty lame for those who doesn't even like coffee like me), but hey it's not about the coffee, it's about the SPIRIT! So.. Are you ready?

Intimate Feminine Wash: Take It or Leave It?

A while back, my girlfriend recommended a local brand of an intimate feminine wash to me when I was ranting about how nasty my campus' toilet was. She preached on how important to maintain our genital hygiene.. (bla bla bla..) and she actually had me wanted to buy one!


But still, I needed a second opinion before purchasing. Hence I asked every female college mates I saw at that day in case there was another loyal consumer (with a good testimonial) to convince me. I instead got bad news.


One of my college mates told me that her mom suffered from cervical benign tumor and had it surgically removed twice few years ago. The second time she was about to undergo the surgery, her gynecologist asked her if she ever used any feminine wash and apparently she did, on regular basis. After listening to the gyn.'s explanation, she immediately trashed all the bottles of the feminine wash she had.


Apparently there's not so many cases reported to have something to do with feminine wash in Google. I found one case from myhealthblog.org; a 20-year-old female was sick all the time and once had a miscarriage because she was addicted to feminine wash. She bought all brands of feminine wash and used it every time she peed.


Up till now, I admit I haven't found any scientific research to confirm that the intimate feminine wash may lead to cancer or any other adverse reactions. I'll keep you posted if there's any. For the record, the Environmental Working Group on cosmeticsdatabase.com classifies one of American brand feminine wash as moderately hazard cos ingredients in the product are linked to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, allergies/immunotoxicity, violations, restrictions and warnings.


What makes me feel the urge to submit this topic in my blog is because a friendly internist, who is also one of my freakin' smart lecturers, shared a case about this feminine wash but she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't stop people from buying until they come to her as patients seeking for help.


Apart from what the ads tell you, the chemical ingredients in feminine wash products can actually upset the naturally occurring bacterial flora in your vagina and make you more prone to infections. They want you to ignore the fact that the vagina has a self-cleaning system and some odor can be a normal part of the cleaning process. The vagina cleans itself in part through vaginal secretions, or leucorrhea, which range from thick and white-ish to slippery and clear. If you notice something out of the ordinary for you, you should see your health care provider.


It's inevitable that modern day women have been persuaded by massive healthcare and sanitary products advertisements on the mass media that merely focus on embarrassing female problems.


After the era of instant whitening creams, pharmaceutical companies have been trying to convince us that women need a special soap to keep their genitals clean and fresh with the right pH and natural antiseptic. They want us to believe that unpleasant 'fishy' vaginal odor is one of the problems affecting the lives of many women so that we can all jump on the bandwagon of feminine freshness.


I'm not trying to oppose capitalism whatsoever here. All I want is you being a smart consumer regardless how consumptive you are or how much money you have.


Believe it or not, most women often live in insecurity. They have huge fear of weights, skin tones, zits, wrinkles, body odor, unwanted hair on some parts of the body, you name it. I can't deny that I used to be one of them and still is, LOL. Lucky me, my life is surrounded by great people that keeping me sane I can turn myself to if I have any questions related to health and well-being. *wink* 

Added later on April 8, 2009 at 6 AM: Here's my tip; never forget to carry around tissue paper wherever you go cos you'll never know when you're gonna end up in nasty toilets. I personally carry both dry and wet tissue in my purse all the time. HTH.

P.S. Hopefully my clean-freak girlfriend who loves to carry around a travel size of a feminine wash will somehow get to read this.


Source and Source 
Image Courtesy: au.lifestyle.yahoo.com, teamsugar.com

Say = Sayang?

Lagi cek account gw di Facebook, tau-tau si Andrew nyamperin.


Andrew: "Gw bingung deh Kak, kenapa sih cewek-cewek suka manggil 'say' satu sama lain?"
Gw: "Gw juga gak tau kenapa. Banyak yang ngomong begitu ke gw, jadi ya uda deh, gw ikutin aja hahaha.. Awalnya risih juga sih, aneh gitu.. Tapi yah namanya juga cewek!"
Andrew: "Kalo ada temen gw (cowok) manggil gw 'say', bisa gw tabokin!"
Gw: "Hahahaha GELO!"


Ada yang tau kenapa? Apakah benar 'Say' = 'Sayang'?

In The Bus, Part 1

This part of my life called "Riding a Bus".

"SAY IT RIGHT"

Since the beginning of this year I've been riding buses to commute, especially between home and campus. It matters to me because in this part of my life, I can optimally be a good observer (!). Ok that's crap. The thing is I've been trying to compile the advantages of taking public transportations as many as I can to stop sweating the fact that I no longer own a car.


People were telling me how risky taking public transportations in Jakarta; pickpockets, sexual abuse, reckless bus drivers, hygiene problems and other awful things I could barely remember. Let's just hope I'll be lucky enough to avoid those horrific things. *fingers crossed*


In the first few episodes of me riding a bus, mom was totally freaked out. The most logical explanation for that is simply because I never had the experience on using public transportations only by myself, in my very own hometown. Funny, don't you think? She was okay when I was wandering some places overseas by bus, tram or subway, but not in Jakarta, LOL.


New things are always exciting to me. So there I was, riding a bus #86 for the first time on my way home after the classes were over. I still remember, it was a hella day. People were off their work too I believed, filled the bus with me and 30+ other passengers. I unfortunately didn't get a seat so I stood still on the back of the bus until my stop.


FYI, Indonesian buses don't provide any bus-stopping bell for you to push. They can literally stop everywhere, everytime you wish them for (even though there is no bus stop available). Sometimes they're just slowing down the speed (instead of stopping) while allowing the passengers to leave and board a bus. Crazy, I know. I just don't know why.


My stop would come within 5 mins so I shouted "Stop!". OMG I couldn't feel the bus slowing down. "Stop! Please stop!" I tried to shout louder, but the crowded chit-chat were burying my voice. They didn't care, they just looked at me as if I was a lost child. I was devastated. The bus had already passed my stop far away, until the conductor saw me and made the bus stopped. I hated the fact that all the people in the bus were so insensitive. Dammit!


I told my mom and my friend about it. Surprisingly they laughed; out loud. They said I got the wrong punch line. WTF. I should've said "Pull over please!" (in Bahasa: "Kiri ya, Bang!"). 


Okay, my bad!


*Image is taken from here.