Techno-crappy

Technology has developed rapidly in the past few years and everyone is joining all the fun and festivities. Everywhere people are hooked up to their newest BlackBerry.People are rushing to the stores buying the new iPhone one after another. Two or three people in the same room stuck to their laptops and computers browsing for something that they themselves haven't figured out is a common sight. Often, people are just absent-mindedly clicking one button after another, shifting through pages of webpage just for the sake of it. We are hooked. This generation has become a generation that's addicted to technology.

The society is lost in the wonderment of a tiny machine that can connect you to anyone anywhere in this big world, a phone that fit the world in your palm, and a technology more advanced than ever that can bring everything to you in a click. All is because a mysterious thing we call the internet. It's understandable that people are excited about all these new technologies. However, many people aren't just excited. They are addicted and many don't even understand what makes those new technologies so addicting. I believe that the internet today gives people more flexibility in their daily activity and now that they have tried the luxury of being able to do everything instantly, they can't stop.

In this era of competition, people are getting busier and busier. Between work with constant increase of competition, the growing challenge of raising a family in this modern era, and hundreds of other personal responsibilities, people don't have the time to rest from the hectic life they live. The internet, with all kinds of entertainments and activities, has somewhat become their safe haven. People find peace on the internet. The internet is a world away from their daily responsibilities. It's a world that doesn't care if they haven't done their laundry or finished their homework. The internet is a way for people to escape from reality. Of course, it's nice to be able to escape from reality and that's why the internet is so addicting.
More than that, however, what makes the internet so addicting is the fact that it gives instant access to those entertainments and activities. Otherwise, people don't really need the internet to provide us with entertainment since they can find entertainment without the internet. In their hectic days, people don't have the time to go places to hang out and have fun. They are too busy doing all kinds of chores that they have to do and when they're not, they're too tired to do anything. The internet gives them the access to those entertainments and activities without them having to get out of their homes or even their beds.

The same case with information. With the internet and the right machine, people can pull any information they need anywhere anytime. The technology gives them access to every information there is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If someone needs to know who's the founder of water bottle at 2 in the morning, the information is right there on their smart phones. When someone got lost in the middle of a deserted road, he can just go to his BlackBerry and activate the GPS to find his way home. It's practical, it's easy, and it's fast, so of course it's addicting.

Even when we want to talk to our friends or family, we want an instant way. Those social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace give people the flexibility to talk to their acquaintances whenever they want wherever they want. People can now steal one minute at work to send a quick "hallo" to their acquaintances. They don't have to go through the long drives to a friend's home to meet up to exchange gossips and catch up. After all, they can just call their friends on those chatting sites or talk to them on phone sites like Skype where they can talk and see each other on the computer or their phone screens. Another advantage of those social networking sites is that people can voice their mind more freely on those sites. They can just post random notes on how they are feeling or their latest problem. Blogging sites where people can write whatever they want give them the opportunity to become activists, poets, reporters, advisors, or even critics in instant. With all those features and convenience, of course the new technology is addicting.

Like other addictions, however, the addiction of technology is also dangerous. It deprives human beings from their natural need as social beings to interact physically with other people and it slowly creates a virtual alternate universe that prevents people from living the reality. Even now, everywhere we can see people too busy with their gadgets that they aren't paying attention to their surroundings anymore. A man ignores his friend who's sitting across him in person because he's too busy talking to another friend halfway across the world. It's a great gift that now we can do so many things that we weren't able to do with so much more efficiency. However, we have to be careful, because no matter how fun and easy the virtual world on us, it's not the real world. We can't abandon our lives for a virtual world that may give us convenience, but not a life. We have to be careful so those new technologies become a tool to advance human civilization rather than to depreciate.

-me

Can't remember what I wrote this for, but there you go.

Kami Bukan

Aku melihat orang-orang besar
Yang sibuk berlari ke sana kemari
Seperti tikus-tikus kecil yang lari dari perangkap

Sepatu-sepatu besar mereka menggertak galak
Bunyi derak kaki mereka menggegap
Wajah-wajah mereka penuh dengan kontemplasi

Mereka tak pernah berhenti berlari
Mengejar apa-apa aku tak tahu
Berlari dari apa hanya mereka yang mengerti

Orang-orang besar berlari di bawah bayang
Bernafas, terengah, tapi tak hidup
Terus berlari tanpa pernah meraih apa-apa

Dan mereka terus berlari melewati kami
Karena kami menolak ikut berlari
Kami bukan tikus yang panik lari dari perangkap

Kami orang-orang besar
Yang lewat dari jarak pandang mereka

Karena sepatu kami kecil dan tak menggertak
Karena derak kaki kami kurang menggegap
Dan kontemplasi kami bukan di wajah adanya

-me
29.09.09

Antara malam, siang, dan aku

Jam berdetak sekali dua kali seribu kali
Sehari dua hari tiga hari seribu tahun
Berputar putar melingkar kembali
Ke awal lagi ke kosong lagi melamun

Lampu meredup redup di ujung sendiri
Mata terbuka menatap tak tahu apa
Bayangan hitam temaram menari nari
Hati berdegup kencang entah milik siapa

Kami di sini malam ini sendiri bernyanyi
Bersama jiwa jiwa yang bersama kami mencari
Sebentar pagi datang lagi dalam sunyi
Dan kami berlarian ke sana kemari

Esok kami tak tahu apa siapa dan kenapa
Tapi malam ini kami ada di sini
Dan kami mencoba untuk terus lupa
Agar kami bisa jadi lebih berani

Malam kami terus menari dan mencari
Di ruang kosong di sudut sunyi di terang hilang
Siang nanti kami harus berlari ke sana kemari
Sampai kemudian bertemu lagi ketika jam berdentang.

29.09.09
Auburn

-me

"For all that's lost and waiting to be found"

Dear you

For you whom I love and always will
The road we have passed wasn’t easy
And between home and here
We have been everything
We were best friends and strangers
We were lovers and enemies
We were two people
Finding comfort in each other
And sometimes resentment
Now we’re here
The same two people
Yet not quite the same
Life brought us to a point we never knew exist
The road ahead is unclear
And what lays ahead us is unknown
The times we’ve passed will always stay
Unmoved by anything
For we are who we are
Because who you and I were
Years will pass and things will change
We would be two strangers to who we were
But one thing will remain unchanged
We will always have them at heart
Those younger people with passion
Those younger people with their mistakes
And we will always remain who we were
Two innocent kids
With so much to learn
Who find comfort and resentment in each other
Best friends and strangers
Lovers and enemies
Everything

-me
Jakarta,
July 14 '09

Doom

The little daredevil has found her little shrine
Peacefully she sits there contented and perfectly fine
In the distance she still sees the fire that once burned her
And silently she swears she will stay away forever

But oh, a little daredevil she always will be
With her curiosity burning inside so strongly
The same curiosity that once killed the cat
And oh if she only knows the story of this cat

One night the little daredevil needs some light
She's surrounded by darkness and in need of something to guide
She sees the fire in distance glowing so tempting
So hard she tries to hold back but it looks so fascinating

Blinded by a little hope, she forgets about her vows
The will to approach the fire quickly grows
Just one more time, she says
Assuring herself that this time will not she pays

She walks slowly closer to the burning flame
Reassured that the fire is now tame
She stops for a while, recalculating her every move
And finally decides that she needs to prove

The little daredevil charges ahead
With confidence, she’s no longer afraid
She touches the fire, she embraces the flame
And for a while she thinks, yes, the fire is tame

It’s a little too late when she realizes
The implication and the consequences
Little daredevil watches in awe as she’s burned slowly
While the fire eats her alive so calmly


-me

(Love does fuck you stupid.)



"Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly."
-Arnold Edinborough

Roller Fucking Coaster, eh?

Going up and up high
Going down and down low
One second on the highest of the top
On the bottom of rock bottom the next
Twirling around in my own little world
Running in circles and than, stop
The circles dizzied me and I’m all confused
Am I still on the top?
Or it’s the underground of series of complication
Light up!
Light up, fool
Haven’t you heard that song?
The one that says you are a fool to cry?
I am a fool to cry
Than again, smiling doesn’t really suit me
I’m crazy to smile
Cause I’m at the bottom of the barrel
And the highest of the top is not all that fun either
You know why?
I’m acrophobic
You know why?
I'm so afraid to fall
I would rather not fly
Chitter chatter all in my head
Of course,
Me and myself
We are the best of friends
We are the worst of enemies
Now I’m up high
Now I’m down low

-me
Sunset District, San Francisco,
Tuesday, March 24 09
around 4.40 am


"I am a contradictory mess but I see it as my prerogative to change my mood like the weather."
-Shirley Manson

Conscience

Looking at us
Chin up high, too high
With haughty smiles that say
I’m the king of the world
And beyond
Looking at him
Face as pale as the snow
Laying down
Youth shines from him
Now meaningless, now useless
It’s so sudden
It’s so cold
It’s a slap on our faces
We’re not kings of the world
We’re just a tiny part
And life goes on
Even when we are no more
The haughty smile disappears
When the truth appears
We are just another drop of sand
In the beach
And we are not invincible

-me
march 9, 2009

For Sergio