Gasoline Frenzy

What’s read and worried by citizens in small towns has now reached Bali. Ever since last Friday people start lining up in gas stations. The queue got long it took the road lane and of course created another problem: traffic jam. According to the papers the distribution from java was late since mon/tue, but finally managed to transport some from Kalimantan. Distribution was rather late, so this afternoon the gas station near my place was out of fuel. Eeeeekkkk!!!

I had an impulse plan of going to Singaraja with a friend but she was so worried about gas and the risk of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere, ohwell we had to abort our plan til next time. Drat! What’s the use of having a car but no gas?

a t h e i s t - 2

There's a story about a group of scientists who decided that humans could do without God. So one of them looked up to God and said, "We've decided that we no longer need You. We have enough wisdom to clone people and do many miraculous things."

God listened patiently and then said, "Very well, let's have a man-making contest. We'll do it just like I did back in the old days with Adam."

The scientists agreed, and one of them bent down and picked up a handful of dirt.

God looked at him and said, "No! You have to make your own dirt!"

a t h e i s t - 1

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods.

"What majestic trees!
What powerful rivers!
What beautiful animals!" he said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look.

He saw a 7 foot grizzly charge towards him.

He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing in on him. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer.

He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.

At that instant the Atheist cried out: "Oh my God!..."

Time stopped.

The bear froze.

The forest was silent.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky: "You deny my existence for all of these years, teach others I don't exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament?? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps could you make the BEAR a Christian?"

"Very well," said the voice.

The light went out.

The sounds of the forest resumed.

And then the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together and bowed his head and spoke:

"Lord, bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."

:: chilie club ::

Once what belongs in the kitchen and of which life time doesn’t pass more than a couple of weeks after being plucked off its mother, now preserved for more than a life time. It’s amazing how the mind works, how it can pop up a brilliant inspiration out of nowhere even when you seem to be ‘idly sitting’.

Designer: I was sitting one day at the beautiful long table under the tree, someone had left a woven palm leaf basket full of chilie peppers, and I was looking at them and I was thinking ‘how beautiful are these.. how beautiful could they be’. Then I thought ‘how can I preserve these..?’

Name one culture that doesn’t know what chilie is. Some cultures use it abundantly in their everyday cooking, some other just too weak to endure the hot biting taste. Not just taste in the mouth. Anybody who cooks know very well how hot your hand could get after processing chilie -filled dish. It’s always good to have rubber hand glove around the kitchen for this purpose. But if you have none, lubricate your hands with cooking oil, and that will help reduce the flaming feeling. (hmmm… I miss cooking!!.)

Designer: So what we did was very simple. We took the actual chilie, <> for confidentiality purpose I think it’s wiser to keep the recipe on how to make this silver chilie in its original kitchen. <>

Some people might have similar ideas, but I don’t know if anybody could make it last (may I say) forever. I once found some hair clip where they made the accessory out of a cookie. The way they did it: they took one cookie (oreo, good time, or other old time biscuit I don’t remember the names), cover it completely with hot plastic then attach it to the clip. It’s cute, but unfortunately didn’t last long. After a couple of month it just got dried inside and eventually broke the plastic. Perhaps some living power strove out of it successfully?

Designer: So, when you choose one, you’re asked to put your hand into a silver bowl, and feel around until one comes into your hand.. and that one is yours. Some people put it under their pillows, some in their bedrooms, pockets, purses. But everyone that has one will have one as long as they are. They are chilies, they’re for good luck. They’re good for wishing. They’re completely unique and beautiful.

I’m not really into good luck business, I just think it’s cool. >> Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit. (R.E. Shay)<< I’ve seen people’s reaction when they got it, now I got one myself ;). Mr. Designer insisted I should take it home and put it under my pillow, but I insisted on making it a pendant. Just need to find a way on how to bend without breaking it.

Note: I’m not sure about agreed spelling. It can be spelled: chili, chilli, chilie, chillie. Not Chile, as that’s a whole different story.


which one is mine??

kutakarnival.com

It’s a yearly carnival/carnivale/karnival held along the Kuta beach, not sure how many years they’ve done this tho. The set up was pretty cool. It was along the Kuta beach. They set up games/competitions, such as frisbee, beach volleyball, beach soccer ball, skateboard, pet talent, surf, etc etc (check out website if you like). The span from one game area with another was relatively wide and the scheduling didn’t go as they planned it (as usual), so most of the time you would see people stood around doing nothing, waiting for some happenings.

crowded beach


The area itself is quite busy these days (school holiday and nearing high season), so with the carnival the load of people got doubled, or perhaps even tripled. People were everywhere, cars and motorcycles packed the street (a good advise would be never take a car, coz you could hardly get a parking space, unless you could make a way in one of the hotels, or park at the Kuta Square/Discovery Mall and walk to the main area.

eat & drink people!


People were heavy on selling; they would approach you with friendly persuasion. No harm, you could just smile and tell them you’re coming back later, even if later on you settled with another dish. There was this bulky guy (who I think owned the resto) in a stand selling pasta (don’t think it would be appropriate to tell name of the resto, yes?), and he would just scream at people “good pizza” and other stuff I didn’t care to listen. Then it was getting late and I think he got desperate to clean up his stall he offered more “buy 1 pizza and you get free beer”. Then the next time I walked pass it (5-10 mins later) he went “buy 1 pizza and you get free beer and free sex”. How desperate can one be??

bartending


They set up long lines of tables across the stands, also on the beach. It was great. Such a waste if one didn’t come and have some lovey dovey time. (Well, it was a personal opinion so ignore that). They set up a stage for bands and fashion show and lotsa lotsa sponsor messages. I think a total of 5 stages for the overall fest and carnival. Not sure what went on the other stages, but the one I went to was pretty lame. Only 1 band was quite enjoyable (Centerstage’s home band), the fashion show was not exactly what you would call fashion show (some lingerie which I don’t think you get to see in Jakarta; and the rest were resort fashion, which defined as less fabric, more skin). The ‘models’ were small/tiny, they looked as if recruited from high schools (if not jr. high) so they got something to do during the school break.

stage


All in all it was enjoyable. It would be great if they have miniscule of it once a month. Set up some food stalls, install a stage and anybody could just hangout with their buddies; eat and drink while listening to enjoyable music out in the open air by the beach. Coolness!!