Mapping the dream world

Recently I become aware of some of the different dreams I've had which occured in the same location. It's quite intriguing, so I'm going to travel to the dream world and chart a map inside. Hopefully I would gain some insight about the places. Are those places represent some sort of archetypes? Is there a connection to the real world? To be continued.

Energy Vampire

What would you do if you found out that one of your family, relative or close acquaintance is an energy vampire, or energy parasite? What is it anyway? If you never hear about this before, energy vampire is someone who could drain other's life energy by just being around near the victim. Similarly, energy parasite also drains other people's energy but in a subconscious way that the person doesn't realize what he/she is doing to others around him/her. Energy vampire/parasite would devour everything, leaving the victim with symptoms such as fatigue, sore limbs, dizziness and headache. This kind of vampires usually can be characterized by:

• Being negative about everything around them.
• Feeling helpless but at the same time hardheaded, always rejecting inputs from others.

The other day we went to my parent's house. We came with protection as usual, though sometimes it works, sometimes it just doesn't. That day, alas, we were drained (again), and so I had to lay in bed for the rest of the day.

Strange? Yeah, well, welcome to the dream world, where reality is stranger than fiction!

Psychic Attack

Two years have past since my last blog post here. So many things have happened. But where do I start? I have quit my job, left behind all the wolves in sheep clothings. I'm running my own business now, doing what I love, that is, making other people happy. Yet the past seems to keep haunting me from time to time.

Sometime a week ago, at dawn when I was still asleep, I had a dream, a visitation in my dream, an entity perhaps, a spirit, or could've been a person. I didn't know who but I'll just write as him since the face looked rather masculine. He certainly wasn't friendly, I felt.

He asked me, "Would you like to be able to see ghosts?" I replied, "No."
He persistently repeated, "Would you like to be able to see ghosts?" Again I said "No."

Then suddenly, a very loud buzzing sound screamed in my mind,

"SHRIIIIEEEEEEEEENNNNNKKKKKK!!!!!!!"

It was so loud my ears hurt. It lasted a brief moment, I looked straight at him fearlessly. He looked angry. He was right in front of me where I could only see his face. After a short pause the loud buzzing sound stormed my mind again, and again.

I withstood as much as I could. My teeth chattered. My ears hurt. And strong energy was wavering around causing goosebumps all around my body.

Didn't take long for me to realize this was an attack, a psychic attack. I yelled back repeatedly,
"Go away! Get out of this house!",
"In the name of Jesus! Go back to where you came from!"
"Angels, bodhisattvas, please protect us from harm."

He then dissappeared from my sight, I awoke, with goosebumps still all over my body, wavering erratically. I screamed again, this time verbally, "Stay out of this house!" The goosebumps gradually lessened until completely disappeared. There was a long silence in the dark as I waited to make sure the attack has gone.

It's been a while, and this, strange disturbance, certainly wasn't the first time, yet it opened old wounds in the past..

Finding the courage to change

For the past two years I realized that my career in the Dream World is slowly drifting to a dead end. Work has become a daily static routines of do this and do that, and the surroundings have little or no interest to advance and make a difference.

People around me have started to care less with each other, having consumed by their own personal gains and agendas. Perhaps, this kind of situation has had some effect on me, too.

I also realized that the company seems to have little or no interest in making progressive improvements for their workforce. At each annual staff evaluation, I had repeatedly requested for training program, so I can better serve the company with improved skills. All went futile. Perhaps this has also affected my physical health. I had frequently skipped office hours due to heavy headache. Even worse, mostly everyday I go to the office, my third chakra is vibrating abruptly (stomach ache), which is probably a sign of stress or trauma.

I can’t go on like that. I always do things with love. But when circumstances is forcing love out of it, I will choose to do what I love instead.

The decisive day is closing, very soon I will have to make a choice. I realize it requires great courage to change, and an even greater strength to sternly stand amidst consequences that may come afterwards.

I pray to the heavenly Father and divine siblings, for courage and strength not only to stand, but walk in the great change ahead.

Imagining Utopia

Sometimes I daydream about utopia. It is a place where, or a time when people live in harmony, peaceful, and loving. I remembered my Thought Adjuster asked, where would I go from here? I said, a place where there is joy and love. I concluded that it was my view of an utopia.

Of course that was in contrast to what I am now seeing these days, where people would lie to each other, envy with each other, hate one another, they would even kill our own kind.

Gosh, I’m seeing these traits right down in my workplace. I’ve seen people who want to know all the things that I do and have all the things that I have, yet they keep their own things to themselves. It would prove so hard to get help from persons with a trait like this, yet they would be so persistent to get what they want.

And not to mention the many hypocrites, who see the world only as a two sided coin, and guess what? Theirs are always right. Is it only me whining, or there are too many wolves in sheep clothing?

But I’d like to ask a stupid question to humanity, is it hard to actualize utopia? Not just dreaming or imagining.. but realizing, creating. Can we? If we can, why haven’t we, already?

Perhaps we still haven’t gotten out of the 20th century mindset, an old world paradigm, I would say, a worldview which is centered on FEAR. We’re evolving towards better minds, inclusive thinking, progressive cultures. We are moving away from FEAR to LOVE, from separation to unity, but maybe old habits die hard. Maybe Fear’s gripe is still too strong for a culture to move away from it.

I still remember long time ago, some men rejected female as being a president.

I remember some religious fanatics hijacked several air planes and crashed them on to skyscrapers and buildings, killing thousands of people.

I remember, in a bookstore, a mother yelled at her children not to go near a particular religion books section.

Like it or not, things are changing for the better. Fear is doing what’s best to keep the flock inside, but I believe the world at large has no longer in favor for it. Love is a powerful and contagious force, which sooner or later will prevail. It already is in several developed countries and higher cultures.

Indonesia, why not imagine utopia for a start?

Jakarta Toyz Mania Fair 2008

On Sunday, I went to the Jakarta Toyz Mania Fair 2008 at GOR Bulungan. The place was pretty crowded, although it was still 11 am when I got there.

There were mostly US and Japan action figures, namely DC, Marvel, Spawn, music figures, Saint Seiya, Revoltech, and numerous others. Obama was there, too. ;) Cars were also aplenty. There’s about everything for everybody.

It was sunshine all day long, but inside the building, everybody was sweating hot. Man! Probably because the air conditioning system wasn’t spread evenly. I even felt nausea and headache after a while. So just after 12 am I had to call for the day, even though there were still plenty of stuff to look for. Oh, well..

Moving to a new office

My workplace was being relocated to a new place in South Jakarta, SCTV Tower. And this Saturday was my first visit to the brand new office. It’s quite a long run to reach the place from home, around 30km. It took me roughly one hour and a half. I’m not a good navigator, and I admit I often get lost getting to a location. But today I only made one wrong turn. So hurray to that!

Well, I finally got to the place, Senayan City. Went to the new office, unpack my stuff, set up the pc, put all the stuff in the drawer, and help others while at it. Phew.. welcome to Senayan City!

sleeping awake

Lau Tzu fell asleep and dreamt he was a butterfly. Upon awakening he asked, "Am I a man who has just been dreaming he was a butterfly? Or a sleeping butterfly now dreaming he is a man?"

~ Lau Tzu

Transformers Knock Offs!

Hate 'em, like 'em. Either way, they’re all over the store shelves. Gabe was once given by his grandfather on last year’s birthday, a particular Optimus Prime. It actually resembles the original G2 Optimus Prime, but in different color scheme.

So recently I tried on a few other Cybertron Legends Class knock offs, since they’re sold at a mere eight thousand rupiahs. Sadly, within just a minute out of packaging, they soon broke into pieces when we try transforming into alt modes. I had to patch up their joints so they would stay together, at least when not moved.

Just yesterday I found more knock offs being sold at Hypermart, surprisingly there were another Optimus Prime this time from Armada Series. I was intrigued to grab one and compare it with the original, but I soon laid my eyes on one particular toy called TRAINEMPRISE. I’ve seen the original but could not recall what it is. The mold is quite detailed, and so I took this one instead.

I was right, the Trainemprise is a direct copy from Transformers Universe Railracer (a combination of 6 Micromasters Railbots). The differences are in the head mold, and one of the Railbot which form the left arm. Color scheme also differ from the original releases both Hasbro and TakaraTomy.

I haven’t opened it so I could not tell at what quality this toy rates.
Update: I have opened it out of curiosity, and while the plastic quality is just okay, the molds do not exactly imitate the original. The detailing is visually okay, but most of the Railbots do not have movable arms! Only two which form the arms do have. Combinations are very limited just to form the Railracer robot, I simply couldn't combine the trains and the weapons into super train. There are no connectors and the holes don't even fit.

Generally speaking, if you really have to buy knock offs instead of the originals, you might want to consider these:

• Most are made of lower quality plastics. Higher price tag could mean better quality plastic and more detailed sculpt.
• Perhaps to avoid copyright infringments, manufactures make slight differences on their molds. However, I do find boxed knock offs directly copied from the originals down to their joint molds, but visibly measured far less in quality. The point is, pay careful attention in their details and features.
• Don't go for the money excuse. They look cheap and cost less at first, but eventually you'd be better saving for the originals instead.
  
• Knock offs are average choice for experimenting or practicing with your sculpt painting hobby.
  

The final verdict: knock offs are a definite no, no!

Farewell, Mr. King..

Today was a parting day for us with our beloved King. We’ve been with it for five years, and have had unforgettable fond memories. It’s natural that we were feeling kind of sad to let it go, but we really needed the money.

Ah, yes, we’ve been experiencing financial turmoil since end of last year, which had forced us to selling off our things. So today was of no exception.

This is a year of change, and change always comes with struggle. The ways to overcome our financial problems lie ahead. All we need is courage and wisdom to act decisively.

As we bid farewell to Mr. King, we are also welcoming new days of change with steadfastness and strong will. We’re at the crossroads once again, and a new life journey beckons..

Save Mamit!

Mamit is a quarterly Buddhist children magazine which is freely distributed nationwide. It is managed by Ehipassiko Foundation, and each edition is filled with wonderful dharma teachings, knowledge, info and tips on many subjects. We love Mamit, and have been distributing the magazine around our home district.

Due to the recently sky-rocketing prices, plus the increasing demand of Mamit from all over Indonesia, production cost and distribution also rise. Right now Mamit’s funds are more than 48 million in deficit!

We all hope to see Mamit again on subsequent periods to come, so we want to help spread the word to all Mamit readers, parents, and anyone else who may wish to donate for the ongoing of Mamit magazine.

You may give donation at any amount directly to Mamit’s account:

BCA KCP Plaza Merdeka Mas
Yayasan Penerbit Manggala
Acc. No. 8820003960

Then, send a text message with name of donor, name on behalf if any, date of transfer, fund amount to 081310131117.

Please contact me if you need more information on this subject.

Free gift and a swindle

One day I took a leave for holiday with family. Not quite a holiday since Her had work to do which required my help. After that was done then we went to Mal Artha Gading for refreshment. Just when we were about to leave the mall, on our way to the entrance my spouse Her was offered a free gift from a male bystander. I wasn’t interested at all.

He said, “it’s free, please take it.”

Her replied, “Really? Is there a catch? Will I have to buy something?”

“No, no catch whatsoever.. we just need you to fill this small form in our office, then this gift is yours for free,” He continues while showing the small brochure with form on it.

“Okay then, why not I fill the form here right now..”

“No, ma’am we need to fill this upstairs, it won’t take long.”

The person talked us into going to his office, on the second floor. Her wasn’t buying, but the bait is interesting so she played along and called me to follow. Upstairs I saw several females wearing rather flashy mini skirts, and upon entering their office, we were greeted by a friendly salesperson, let’s just call him Jack. And I was still not interested at all.

For administration, Jack asked Her for an ID card to be photocopied and she gave it to the girl in a mini skirt.

Jack was so friendly and talked almost all the time about their office, their products, asked where I work, what we do, on and on, Her had to cut him off several times to ask for her ID card to be returned. I began to get interested then.

Jack got a chance and showed off one of his main product, a technologically advanced electronic flat microwave stove. He showed several other items and even turned on the massaging couch for me. Then having asked for the third time, they came out and returned the ID card. The other salesperson, the one who offered the gift (let’s call him Jake) brought several folded papers and offer us to choose one of them, as extra lucky gift. Gabe took the shot and grab the one on top. He then gave it to Jack (still talking all the time). We teared the paper and it was written “Parcel VIP”.

We were going through a drama, a surprise party of “wow, you won the big prize!” something like that. There were phone calls to confirm our winning, and facsimile report that we’ve won the biggest prize, which in 50, only three of Parcel VIP, and we’ve got it. There were hurray, applause, and handshakes. But I was really interested at how they were playing the drama.

Okay, to make this short, we thought that Jack and everyone else there were acting like they’re starring a soap TV series, tried to buy us time and talked us out to give them the credit card they need to make a purchase of five million rupiahs. Yes, the peak of this show was the five million purchase we were required to make to claim all those prizes excluding the free gift. We knew. Been there, seen that. Jack once again tried to talk us into handing over our credit card. No sir, we only wanted the free gift, and we’ve no more time to play, so we stormed our way out and bid goodbye to them for having a nice talk and all that.

This holiday we’ve got our free gift, and Gabe has got one good lesson.

There are still companies using this kind of marketing scheme (i.e. scam), seducing us with free gifts and prizes so they can talk us (sometimes hypnotize) into spending five million rupiahs on their way-too-pricey home products.

Go for the free gift if you want to, but be wary not to give too much personal information, and more importantly, don’t give your credit card away.

Why I became a vegetarian

I was a meat lover. KFC chickens, A&W’s burgers, Ny. Suharti’s ayam bakar, tongseng goat, rendang beef, Bandeng Presto, gulai boar/celeng, pepperoni pizzas, smoked-beef slices, cunyok, and all others too numerous to mention were my favorites. You name it.

Then about four years ago I stopped eating food from animal flesh. It was a gradual process which took roughly a year, before I had finally abandoned meat. Well, I still consume dairy products, eggs, cheese, and milk.

People always asked me why did I turn vegetarian? Was I on a diet? Health considerations? Etc. etc.. Even Gabe asked me again and again.

And I always said I’m not sure why, I just don’t want to eat animals anymore. They’re just like us humans, they have legs, arms, eyes, mouth, and brains. They think, though not in the advanced terms like us do, they also have feeling, they fear when their lives are on a threat.

I don’t want to make a long story out of my decision. But I’d like to take the words off of Master Ching Hai’s campaign on Global Warming awareness.

Go green, be vegetarian.

It has a nice and catchy phrase. And very reasonable, too. Please, if you want to, click here to visit their website and read on.

Moaci

If you would ask about one of my favorite snack, I would probably say moaci right away.

Yup, those yummy chewy sticky white balls with hundreds of tiny sesame seeds spread around them are just too good not to be eaten.

What's it made of anyway? Well I have to ask the shopkeeper the next time I shop again.. but I suspect it is made of ketan flour. Inside each os those yummy-chewy-sticky-balls, is a sweet and tasty peanuts.

Truly one of Semarang's finest delights..

Meet the Autobots

Hello. My name is Optimus Prime, we are an autonomous mechanical toys from the planet Cybertron. But you can call us Autobots for short. I am a Voyager Class First Strike edition, a redeco of the original mold with a Generation-1 colors, which mostly covered in red with dark blue on the ankles, and the All Spark light blue on my chest and upper arms.

My first lieutenant, Jazz. He’s jacked up as a Premium Line Deluxe Class with striking silver paint job, very cool brass coloring visible on some of his body parts. He may be the shortest of the Autobots here, but the coolest looking one nonetheless.

Rescue Ratchet, my medical officer. He’s a new Voyager Class redeco, fairly similar to the old G1 looks. He’s the biggest of all the Voyager Class series. But don’t let the bulkish look turn you down, because he is more poseable and articulated than Jazz does.

This is Ironhide, my weapons specialist. He’s a lean mean fighting machine and a mighty fine Voyager Class Premium Series. Just take a look at those huge cannons on each of his arms. Combine the two and he’s got a BFG capable of shooting four projectile missiles! The Autobot insignia on his front hood is quite a nuisance, since it can be spotted too easily by suspecting Decepticons. He’s not very happy with that, but a fair trade for his overall better color enhancements.

And of course you’ve met your guardian, Bumblebee. Thanks to Mikaela’s critics he now comes with two variants, the Classic and the new 2008 Concept Camaro. He looks too dark in the Classic Camaro version, but he yields two cool projecting missiles which can either be mounted on his shoulders or held in his hands. The Concept version on the other hand sports a cannon which can automorph into a blade. In the end he looks much much cooler with his new look.

Gabe is unquestionably Jazz, while Mom is definitely Ironhide. Me? I’m probably more like Bumblebee. And which Autobot character are you?

Sunshine Fun Carnival

On 12 July 2008 we were at Mal Artha Gading as part of the Sunshine Fun Carnival event of the day. Lots of games were happenning there, with many children and adults competing to win prizes. Some of the games to my observation were Uno card games, Hotwheels speed racing, and coloring competition.

We arrived at 14:00, and waited roughly two hours while Mrs. Ester and her spouse were coordinating their staffs to set up the stage. We could not just stand and do nothing so when opportunity arrived, I get to help them a little on stage.

About 16:00 when the competitions have finished, we came in and brought our show to the audience, while the juries were calculating the scores.

I could tell that most of us were quite nervous performing live on stage before the public. Gabe were good with his Nocturne play even though he did miss a note. The second song was Eccosaise. He lost some notes there he had to stop for a second, but he managed to smoothly slip right back on track and finish the song.

Overall this was not close to our best performance. Nevertheless it’s a valuable and rewarding experience for all of us. I personally enjoyed the whole show, especially soundtracks from Jay Zhou’s the Secret movie. A timeless jewel of musical experience imo.


On our way home, Gabe said enthusiastically, “Next time I want to play in a bigger mall, pa!”

“Yes, we’ll do that..” I replied with the same tone.

July Piano Roadshow

Gabe will be performing along with his friends from Symphony Music School on July 12 2008, starting at 4:00 pm in Mal Artha Gading, Kelapa Gading Permai.

The show will be themed after Jay Zhou's movie The Secret.. yes, they'll be playing some of the Secret's beautiful soundtracks! Although Gabe and Lovina, the performing disciples under 8 yo. will not be playing the Secret's songs, it'll still be a lot of fun.

Gambatte ne, all!

Oh, if you happen to be around.. don't forget to join the fun! ^^

Animation

“Dad, what is animation?” asked Gabe the other day.

“It’s a bunch of still images put together to produce movement.” I answered, at the same time thinking for alternative explanation.

“Dad, I don’t understand.. how can still images produce movement?”

I should have thought out alternative first.. but I skipped the mumbo jumbo.

“Cartoon movies are animations, too.” I replied instead.

“So animation is cartoon..” Gabe concluded.

“Not always…. say, I have an idea.. Let’s make an experiment with one of the Transformers..”

“What’s the idea?” Gabe looked intrigued.

“We’ll make a short animation of Bumblebee transforming from Camaro car..”

So I went to grab my old cellphone which has a built in VGA camera, took the Bumblebee car, and set up a chair as stage for the animation.

Gabe was curious.. wondering what was I up to?

But then after having taken a few snapshots of Bumblebee and showed Gabe in slideshow mode, he was so excited.

(click the image to view animation)

“Let me do another!” Gabe begged..

“I’ll make another animation, but watch carefully.. so then you can do it your own.”

I took another figure and make the animation. But Gabe could hardly wait, “Let me, let me, please.. Dad!”

“Okay, here we go.. you take the snapshot, I’ll transform it once at a time.”

“Why not me do it all?”

“Teamwork, son..”

“Can a person do this all by himself?”

“Of course… but it’s so much fun when we do it together..”

And here is the animation of Brawl transformation shot by Gabe.. neat!

(click the image to view animation)

Mission Success!

Gabe said that joyfully at the end of the piano show on Saturday 31th May 2008, at Mitra Keluarga, Kelapa Gading. What an exciting experience for everybody! Gabe and his friends were quite nervous before the show, even after having played the scores, Gabe's hands were frozen cold!

He's been quite edgy since a few days before the show. I understood his situation, his teacher had given a bit hard pressure on him and everyone else for the show to be successful. But in the end, it was worth while.. Good entertainment for the hospital visitors, and everybody was happy and seemed to have enjoyed the show very much. Indeed, mission success!

The hospital staffs did record the show, we'll post the video when we have received it.

Gabe and his 6th birthday

Earlier this month I had promised Gabe a Fraulein Idolmaster figure for his birthday present. Unfortunately I was told that it will only be available in June. So, to make it up, we brought Gabe to a toyshop owner’s home just a few blocks from ours and let him choose on his own. Gabe was picky enough but thankfully oom Stefanus was very patient while offering various toys. It took quite a while for us to wait until he made a choice. But it was an excellent choice, afterall.

A Transformer Bumblebee (movie version), with three additional S7 agents packed in Screen Battles series. Bumblebee is transformable into a Chevrolet Camaro. Whew! It took me an hour to figure out how to convert from robot mode to vehicle. I made a few mistakes at first, but good thing the toy is sturdy and can handle several wrong moves.

I need to mention to readers who happen to have this toy too, remember to pull the back first when trying to pull the front grill up. It serves as somekind of a locking mechanism, and that was what took my time the most.

Although we didn’t go out today, Gabe was having fun playing with Bumblebee. And so have we..