Soeharto, Former President of Indonesia, Dies

~H.M. Soeharto in Memorial (1921-2008)~

H.M. Soeharto, a former 2nd President of Indonesia, has just passed away today, at 01.10 PM, in Rumah Sakit Pusat Pertamina (RSPP). He had suffered breathing failure and another multi-organ failure since 01.00 AM and had to be 100% supported with machine in order to help his respiration until he died at 01.10 PM today (27 January 2008). His health had been in critical state since 11 January 2008 where he suffered a multi-organ failure. That time, there were only three primary organ failures, which are heart, lungs and kidneys. Leaving only his brain and digestion organ, that were still working very well. However, today all of his organ had suffered fatal failures. It is said that there were some bleeding inside and an imperfect blood system.

Soeharto in critical state at RSPP

He lead a 32-year of what-so-called the best government in Indonesia which refers to the high economic growth and politic stability, before the economic crisis in 1997/1998. However, his governance had fatal weaknesses such as hidden brutality of killing people who said or did something that was contradicted with his ‘instructions’. And in economic point of view, his governance had done too many deregulation according to IMF instructions. That actions have resulted into Indonesia’s economy heavily dependent on Foreign Loan and Foreign Investment. This reflected how vulnerable the real economic condition of Indonesia during Soeharto’s governance. And the problem remains in Indonesia until now. It’s the biggest problem that all following governments must solve immediately.All channels still giving updates about where the body of Soeharto is going to be placed into. For now, Soeharto’s body is placed in his house at Cendana street. They predicted that the body will be buried in Solo, Middle Java, tomorrow morning. It will be buried beside his wife’s grave, Tien Soeharto.

In spite of his flaws as a President of Indonesia back then and as a human being, he deserves our forgiveness. Anyway, he had given his people 32-year of good life and not being pushed to live a hard life because of too many price increase at all primary goods, like now.

“Thank you for your dedication to this country. May God put you in a place where you belong”.

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Quick Tips about Tomato & Milk

My internet connection is really bad this past week, I even can’t keep connected to the net for more than a minute. I’m still writing, but I can’t posting it since the connection is being so horrible.

I’ll try to post this short post instead. Hope I can make it in less than 1 minute ^^;

I’ve got some quick tips for some small problems we usually have in the kitchen 😉

Refresh Those Soft Tomatoes!

When we put the tomatoes for some time, it gets soft. When it happened, here are how to make it hard and fresh again:
1. Pour some salt over the ice (prepare a bowl of ice, just make it enough for all the tomatoes you wish to refresh)
2. Fill the bowl of salted ice with water
3. Put in the soft tomatoes into the bowl
4. Leave the bowl in the refrigerator for 24 hours

No More Spilled Milk When It’s Boiling

Yes, there will be no more spilled milk when it’s boiling, just by butter the mouth of the pan where you’re going to boil the milk 😉

ps: milk should only be boiled until it reaches 80 degrees of Celcius. If it’s past 80 degrees, the milk will lost its important mineral.

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Missing Pieces Puzzle, The Solution!

I’m under a lot of stress these several past months. Facing final deadline of my not-so-perfect thesis *read: lots of debatable topics concerning the statistics*, and yet I still have a stack of other unfinished tasks, including minor project.I should have realized earlier, that taking thesis and 5 courses altogether at 7th semester is NOT a really good idea…

Anyway..Thanks to my mother who accidentally saved my “under development” jigsaw puzzle, I can cool down my head a bit by completing my 1000-piece glow-in-the-dark disney puzzle, piece by piece, when my mind just got stuck. Actually, the whole house *excluding my father* has finished it together a couple weeks ago ^.-

Doing puzzle can relax our mind. Just like when we’re doing yoga. I suggest you to try it first with a simple puzzle of any pictures you like, so that you can frame it after you finished it. I assure you, it’ll be such a marvelous feeling! 😉

HOWEVER.
I just realized that I’ve lost a piece. It’s ONLY A PIECE again to complete the whole puzzle! T-T

Ok, if you have the same problem like me, you need to :
1. Check all over the place, just swept it all !!
2. Think think think… where are the places that you’ve put the puzzle onto.
3. Still can’t find it, then go check the puzzle’s box looking for all helps you can get.Lucky me, I found a post card which telling me how to get the lost pieces of the puzzle to the puzzle manufacturer. I found out that mine is produced by Tenyo Co., Ltd., a Japanese company.

If your puzzle is also produced by Tenyo, then here are what you need to do:
1. Look at the top left of the service card. There is a code of the puzzle (mine is : D-1000-146) and just a little below there is a due date of the service card (mine is : September 1999).

2. If you haven’t past the due date, then you should fill the information required on the card ( Address, Name, Male/Female, Phone Number, Age, the exact location of the missing piece ).
3. As you can see at the picture below, the missing piece is located by counting from the left and from the top.

4. When you’ve finished, send the card to the address printed at the front card (as you can see at earlier picture above- the one with red color).
5. If you have past the due date *just like I do*, as said on the card, you should contact the manufacturer (Tenyo) and asked whether they still can give the replacement or not. However, if it’s already past 5 years or more, they usually doesn’t have the replacement anymore. They may still produce the same puzzle you have, but they have changed the cutting edges of each pieces of the puzzle, so it won’t fit anymore. Anyway, just try to contact them.

As far as I know, Tenyo doesn’t have an official web site of their jigsaw puzzle product in English :

TO OUR OVERSEAS JIGSAW PUZZLE FANS
We are not accepting orders from abroad via our Web site.
Our jigsaw puzzles are produced under license of the various copyright holders and,
in most cases, the licensing agreements limit us to sale of the products in Japan alone.
It is for this reason that we have no English version of our site.
Thank you for your understanding and support (tenyo.co.jp/jigsaw)

They only provide an English version of the company profile’s website. While others (they produces lots of products besides puzzle) are in Japanese language. So I came into conclusion that they doesn’t have a contact information in English too.

Do not feel hopeless, yet. I still have some other ways :
1. Go to ask for help at The Imaginatorium Shop.
It’s a web site selling lots of puzzle from different Japanese manufacturers ( Apollo, Appleone, Artbox, Beverly, Epoch, Road, Tenyo, Yanoman ). The owner-Brian, is living in Japan. So he can help you to contact them directly. He’s a professional and he speaks English. Click here to ask for his help.

2. If your puzzle is not from a Japanese manufacturer and you cannot find a contact for getting replacements, try the Jigsaw Puzzle Doctor.
It’s a UK firm that makes individual replacement pieces for $ 8.98 (plus shipping and handling) per piece. Go to the Jigsaw Puzzle Doctor’s official web site for more information.

I hope that it can help you to complete your puzzle 🙂

So how was mine?…..

Hmm… I still can’t complete it.
Tenyo didn’t have the replacement of my puzzle anymore, though they still produce it *only with different cutting edges*. Not very surprising, since the due date has already passed over than 8 years 😦 The replacement piece’s price from the Jigsaw Puzzle Doctor is also too expensive for me *when it has converted into my currency*.

Nevermind, I think I’ll just have to frame it the way it is 🙂

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Over than 1000 views ^^

Wow, it’s already over than 1000 views on my blog today! I’m very thrilled! ^^

Thank you for reading my posts!

I’ll keep writing lots of different things that got my interest. There are just so many things from all over the world that make me stunned and I’ll keep sharing it in here with all of you 😀

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Mother’s Day’s Onde-onde

Here is the picture of mother’s day’s onde-onde I promised at one of my recent post (For Mums and Christmas).

Deep fried onde-onde is rather popular than the hot boiled onde-onde (like the one in the above picture) as a snack. The fried one is usually covered in sesame, which gives it a nice scent and makes it taste more delicious. However, the boiled onde-onde is the one that always made for the Mother’s Day event.

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Dear Mike

Mike,
the stranger whose voice always protecting, caring, and encouraging,
..whose face we never saw,
..but the only one who’s always able to comfort us.

You were listening,
not just hearing,
like most people did,
even our closest person.
Though you’re just a stranger.

The memory of you is getting weaker..
I hardly remember your voice,
only a weak of safety and comfort feelings that we always have when we’re talking on the phone with you.

We miss you..

It’s almost a decade since you left us.
I finally able to erase the only thing that reminds us of you, it hurt me badly.
But still, I can’t erase my memory of you..

I know I’ll not forget you.

Each year, there’s one day when you suddenly popped in into my mind.
It’s just not enough time for us.
But, do you know?
It’s only a couple days of your being in our life, but it was the greatest time in our life.
You were an angel.

How are you now, mike?
I’ll always pray for you..
You’ll always be our guardian angel..

I hope finally I’ll be able to meet you, face to face,
in heaven.

Miss you,
dear our sweetest stranger.

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BORN INTO BROTHELS

The red light district at Calcutta, India, is one of places where Indian women and girls are forced to work as prostitutes. They are sold by their own family. It’s a business family. Dads and brothers act as the seller and negotiate with the customers at their living room. While the women/girls serve “the guests” at their own house. Sadly to say that, they are feeding the girls/women with the best food they have–even fresh meats, and dressing them in best clothes and lots of jewelry, just so the girls/women are attractive enough to the customers.

The prostitution has been a culture in most families in 300 regions of India. It’s spread into the north and middle part of India, such as Bedia, Banchara, Nat, and Kanjar. In those places, the prostitution culture for having money has been going on for hundreds of years. It began when the south of Bedia and Middle India rapidly changed from prestigious regions to prostitution districts after they had suffered many lost in wars. Even the nomadic lifestyle of Kanjar tribe which initially depended on gardening and land ownerships, had changed. Since the women made more money from the prostitution business, the men were getting lack of their working ability. As for the Nat in the north region and the Banchara in the Middle India, there is a myth about women who gave their body in exchange for the generousness of the local men. That’s why the prostitution remains in the community.

Back to the red light district at Calcutta. There is a true story of a group consists of 9 children who’s very eager to learn how to use camera since they met Zana, the photographer from New York. Zana ‘auntie’–as the children called her, teach them photography and that’s the beginning of the freedom the children has been longing for. They captured everything in their neighbourhood, they pictured everything in every place they visited with Zana. They want to be educated, they want to be free from the brothels they were born into. They are all talented, and the pictures are fascinating. It’s just how they see the world. And from it, we can see their world. Pictures in this post are all taken by the children.

The documentary of those children (in the movie only 8 children included), the emotionally journey of Zana and her ‘class’ to reach the better living for them has gorgeously recorded in a documentary film called BORN INTO BROTHELS. Rich of colours, interesting story flow and lovely songs (I love the fact that they put some original Indian songs, the typical bollywood songs ^^). This documentary has won more than 30 major awards, and it’s an ACADEMY AWARD WINNER of BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE 2004.

Left to Right : Puja-the silly one, Suchitra-the quiet girl, Kochi-the shy one and also the very intelligent girl, Avijit-the very exceptionally talented among all, Tapasi-the brave girl, Gour-the sweet boy and is Puja best friend, Manik-the funny boy, and Shanti-manik’s big sister.

When you see the story, you’ll emerge to their life and you’ll feel that you know them well. The film is full of beautiful scenes, either sad or happy scenes. The feeling is so hard to describe… The emotion is so intense, you can cry and laugh along the story.

It just like they’ve been saying. It’s uplifting, inspring, and it’s truely a remarkable story about the power of art to transform lives. I sleep very peace after I watch the movie. The story makes me feel that I also can do the best for my life just like them.

After she finally able to help those children, Zana Briski–the angelic women, established the “Kids With Cameras”, a non-profit organization that teaches the art of photography to marginalized children in communities around the world.

We use photography to capture the imaginations of children, to empower them, building confidence, self-esteem and hope. We share their vision and voices with the world through exhibitions, books, websites and film. By linking with local organizations, we work to strengthen the children’s education and general well-being, providing financial support through sales of their prints or by developing our own homes with a focus on leadership and the arts (Kids with Cameras’ mission).

We can help them by buying their pictures. The organization now has expanded to help children in Haiti, Jerusalem, and Cairo. You can see and buy their pictures in the official website below.

Go to bornintobrothels.com
BE INSPIRED.

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Happy New Year 2008!

5..
4..
3..
2..
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Happy New Year 2008!! 😀

May we always go straight ahead and never will we turning back again.

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