Jakarta Anti-Tobacco Day

Bunderan H.I.!
Enjoy Jakarta!

umm... what is it to enjoy in this overheated, polluted, flooding city?


well... actually there was a plan for a photography Hunt of Medilens during Jakarta Anti-Tobacco Day at Bunderan HI, but somewhere along the way it got cancelled.


Bicycling is healthy. Jogging is healthy too. Inhaling gas from motorized vehicles are not. So it's good to have a car-free hours on a Sunday morning like this ^^

one of the reason was due to the inability of the Medilens members to gather on Sunday Morning (Maroon 5? "Dying slow on Sunday Morning, and I'll never want to live" ^^).
Most of them just had an exhausting exams on Friday, so I think they could use a good sleep till noon on Sunday ^^. Even the club chief doesn't feel well on the day before yesterday, and I myself was not in a good shape too. I've been ill since 4 days ago, but it got quite severe since thursday... after taking antibiotics for 3 days, I feel a little better and I can go for a little walk on Sunday.

After my business with PERKI (about ACLS) is finished, I decided to take a walk on the car-free Jl. Thamrin, starting from Bunderan HI. It's crammed full with people, doing all sorts of things to celebrate and promote Anti-Tobacco day. From jogging, physical exercises, bicycling, wet themselves on the big fountain of Bunderan HI, join a "balap karung" contest, and even smoking ^^. Funny isn't it? There are still a lot of people enjoying their cigarettes on Anti-Tobacco day ^^

Here are some other pictures I take during my solo-hunt:
(All photos taken with Olympus E-500 DSLR. Image resized to 600x450 with Photoshop to fit my internet connection speed ^^)


It's a Hot day, comrade...


Golden Glow


a fluorescent egrang? ^^


BALAP KARUNG!


Don't trip yourself, mate!


Bike Lane. Kids ONLY.


Bike to Work... with NOS


Exercise under the flare ^^


My Bike, My Wife.


Oh, and there were a lot of unique bicycles on the street! From classic, antique bikes from Netherlands-Indies Colonial era, to Harley-Davidson look-alike... and even more antique bike collectors were there, showing off their collections and even wearing Meneer (it's "Mister" in Dutch, pretty much like a honorific for Foreigners back in Colonial era) clothes... I guess they can be considered as an Otaku too? ^^
And here's one of the most unique accessory a bicycle can get: a cannon ^^


A Bike-mounted cannon


Target on sight. Fire at Will!

And there was a tandem-bicycle (a bicycle with side-passenger seat on the left) full of EPIC WIN: the bicycle was repainted in camouflage colors and there are 2 boxes of ammo box with markings on the side-passenger seat
"100 ball rounds + 50 tracer rounds
Cal. .50BMG
Fire-Linked Browning M2 Machine Gun"

too bad I can't take any photo of it - the owner forbid me T.T
but he said that when he finished customizing his bike, he'll put it on a kind of "Unique Bicycle Show" or something like that, and everyone may take some pics... Is there any such thing as "Unique Bicycle Show"? ^^

anyhow... today was fun ^^
Now I need to get back to my daily life of a Medical Student... Studying heaps of books and handouts in limited time... Cramming statistics and practice using SPSS is the menu for next week's exams!

* Sinanju, please wait till I finish all the exams!

Photography: Hobby vs Mall Security

taken from my note at Facebook...
I'll put on the pictures later...

To make it short, Kelapa Gading held an event called Jakarta Food & Fashion Festival. In an event that big, Photographers lurking around the area is inevitable. From media photographers to hobby photographers like me. Of course, official photographers wore an ID Tag to identify them as a committee of the event.

But to my observation, there's so few of the DSLR-using people who wore ID Tag!
I counted about 12 out of 15 people who brought DSLR along with them didn't wear any ID Tag or dressed with a proper committee shirt.

Among these 12, 3 or so are PRO Photographers (fellow photographers can't mistake the EOS1, big lens, and that "aura" of Pro ^^).

Then about 7 of them appears to be in their late teens or twenties, implying that they're either college students, amateur photographers, or young photography hobbyists - including me (3 of them even brought tripods).

And the rest are some rich people who bought DSLR cameras only to look cool and use the DSLR as if it was a pocket camera. What a waste. Fuck off and die.

Anyway, as I stroll around took some pictures (for my own pleasure and entertainment), two mall securities with their handy-talky cornered me and asking for some credentials. WTF? My arguments were:
1) DSLR are now available for those who want to have it and have the money - not only for those with occupational needs. That means, nowadays people with DSLR doesn't mean that they're occupational photographers. Hobbyist like me who took pictures for myself and wouldn't post a picture to mass media can have a DSLR if they had the resources and decide to buy one. Even those rich, photography-blind, smartasses can have one!
2) You apprehend people with DSLR, but you let loose people with pocket cameras. Okay, so next time if I decide to be an event-spy or unofficial media agent who wants to take pictures of the event without any credentials, I'll just bring my pocket camera. because you let that happen!
3) Due to my argument #2, I asked them back. If photography is forbidden, WHY CAN'T YOU ENFORCE IT? See? you let loose 12 people with DSLR without ID Tags and hundreds of people with pocket camera or phone camera to take pictures as they like! And you do something only to one of them (me ^^). You call that enforcement? I can conclude that you SUCK at your job.
4) Again, If photography is forbidden, you did nothing to inform the people who brought their DSLR unauthorized. Come on, DSLR are BIG! You can't mistake a DSLR bag with a pocket camera bag, can you?

After defending my arguments for about 10 minutes, they let me go easily. "Alright, you may go around." Without telling me not to take pictures anymore or so. See? You really SUCK at doing your job, you know?
I took several more pictures then head home. Along the way home, I managed to see the "No cameras allowed" sign which is hanged on top of the ceiling. and that's the only sign. That's it? That's the only effort to forbid photography on the area? You can't be serious. Who would bother seeing the sign if there are a lot of kiosk and stands on the area?

So, Mister Ad* and Ri**i, you took wrong Hobbyist Photographer to apprehend :D
I suspect you intend to gain some more money by preying on lone photographers like me, yes?
my dear, that's called an extortion.

bad luck, chummy. I wouldn't give my precious money or - most importantly - my PRIDE to be taken down by people like you ^^
if you asked for my money like a beggar, maybe I'll consider giving you some... you really SUCK at doing your job, you know that? :D

and to the management of " LP ", please change the sign with a better one, or just put them down anyway. It's useless. You can't restrain or limit the people's spirit of photography.

Onward Amateur Photographers!

Saturday Night Fever

Hell. I am tired. Really Tired.
What do you expect when you took a little too many activities? For me, I think I can manage my time and I expect to finish them all according to meticulously designed plan of mine. All I got is a complete mess.

I haven't had a good sleep for months. for the last 2 weeks, I only sleep for 2 hours or so, 4 hours tops. And now I feel I'm dozing off during lectures too often.

Now my minds are unclear and I'm exhausted, but I have a lot of work to do: Finishing my Research that due on May 14th, calling and managing participants of ACLS - there isn't many of them but it's time-consuming since the Contact Person of PERKI is rather hard to be contacted, writing article about AIDS for monthly bulletin, study for Mid-block exam which is next Friday, and... finish building my Sinanju ^^

Oh, I prefer to do the last one mentioned, above all else except sleeping :D
especially after witnessing the conflict between fellow club members which IMO are utterly prodigal... and I just can't calm down when the issues are getting worse - maybe due to my lack of sleep. well, more details of this conflict are to come soon... When I have time (probably tomorrow) to settle my mind and gain peace, I shall write about it as objectively as I can... my current opinion about this case: "You guys want to show off your superiority by making trouble over trivial things? Fuck off and die." [negative-charged emotions are building up inside me ^^]

by the way, my Sinanju's current progress are stalling. I just finished the legs, but I think it'll be the same until next week... I'll have the time to assemble the arms, backpack, and weapons after the Mid-Block exams...

I just want to rant about my bad weekend - because I can't have some rest - for now. Hopefully I can finish some of my jobs tonight so I can have a little rest - 4 hours of sleep is a must... Otherwise I'd start flipping out into Flippy from Happy Tree Friends :D