Little Less Little More

If you remember my last post, I was ready to go to Lampung.

Well, obviously, I'm back now! And I'm back not with empty hands, but with something to tell (and something to eat if you lucky enough to be a friend that I remember. For others, sorry but I don't have enough hands and money to bought more)

So, you must be questioning what happens in Lampung, am I right?
Well, let me tell you the story from what I'd like to call the beginning...

We started our journey on Monday (last Monday, not this Monday) with a travel agency using a somewhat comfortable L-300. Curious what L300 is? Please search it using google images. And before you asking, no, we were not going to Lampung on a notebook (Search the google then you'll know what I mean). The L300(I'll be using the word "car" from now on) has 3 row seat and quite comfortable. And it's different from the L300 which Binus have(or maybe they have more than 1 kind?).

So, we started our so called journey. We arrived on the port (idk which port, I'm not a map) past midnight. I'm not sure what time it was but it's absolutely past midnight. We were waiting for a ferry to cross the Sunda Strait. It's my first time to ride on a floating pile of iron, so it's quite exciting, especially on how the cars can get in(childish? I don't care what you say ;p). I was planning to look at the stars above, but the dark-black-clouds were on the way. I can't see much, no, I can't see any stars! I thought it can be a romantic night (well, nothing romantic AT ALL if you're sailing with all-guy team >.<)

Well, so we went to the 2nd class room (if you're curious, there were no 1st class room) and decided to play scrabble there while waiting for this pile of iron get across. We played there for training. And I also found out the reason why people get seasick. It's rocking here and there and makes me dizzy.

Because of scrabbling(my word to say playing scrabble. Get used to it :D), we didn't feel how fast the time go. All I know was that suddenly we arrived. Time surely gone by fast if we enjoying our time. When we got back to the car, I went asleep again(What can I say? It's still 3.30 in the morning!)

I woke up when we arrived on our planned hotel to stay. One thing that delighted me and catch my eyes when we first walked to the entrance of the hotel was a banner. The banner said that, in a simple way, "We have a wifi connection in this hotel, you internet maniac! And you can use it without thinking about how nuch money you will spent on it. It's free!!!"
.....

Well, it's not quite simple but I think you all get my point. We went in and realize that the room that we wanted is full booked. And we decided to try another hotel (thanks God there are rows of hotel on this street) with me saying goodbye to the wifi connection. Then we went to the next hotel and I find out that all hotel on that street have wifi connection! Don't blame me, I haven't been to any hotel since long, so I didn't know that Wifi is a standard among hotels.

After we got into our room, the first thing I do (besides feel the softness of the bed) was go online! I took out my beloved Lappie and turn on my wifi. Guess what?! I was not that isolated from the internet world (Wew, I'm started to sound like a hikikomori guy). The first thing I did is change my Facebook status and check on my thread on IDWS. It's great that I still can vote for ISML there.

Then we go for lunch and bla bla bla(I can't remembur much the details). Let we skip this to the first day of Competition on Wednesday, shall we?

So on Wednesday we were told to come at Eight. They said we shouldn't be late because the Mayor of Lampung is coming to the opening ceremony. Then with the respect to the Mayor and for the commitee who held this, we come at eight. When we got there, there were only a bunch of people who already come(aside from the commitee). Then we sit and wait. Around nine o'clock the participant already swarming the hall. Then we sit and wait again. The Mayor sure took his time very well, because he managed to show up on 11 o'clock. Wew, Indonesian people and lateness. Somehow it can't be seperated, especially for people goverment guys (no offense). When he finally show up(and I manage to get another good sleep while waiting him), the ceremony (at last) started.

Then we went to another building to start our match. That day we only went through preliminary, thanks partly to the mayor. We only got three match and unluckily(this is not a typo) me and Handi met a strong opponent on the second match, which is UNILA. We must admit a defeat on this one. Thanks God it's not a knock out round yet. Then on the third match, we faced with unknown opponent. Why we call it unknown? Well, because we haven't seen their face yet until now. In other word, they didn't come so we won by WO.

On the next day, which is the final day, we arrived at 9 o'clock. There were no more delay today, the reason is that Mayor only come once. If he did come and dare to come late, I will run away and find an elephant to crush his car. Ehem, so we started the octofinal. Our first match was a victory because of, again, WO. Damn, when will I get a proper match? The third match was with UNILA again (The second match were done well). My tiles were really bad and I couldn't get a good score. I consider that as my worst game of my life so far. What can I say? I only managed to score 69!! WTF!! I still can't believe it.

We still managed to go to the quarter Final. Edo and Albert did well on SMA 5 Lampung and managed to get to quarter final with our desired scenario. OB and Julius.... Well, they two are Godlike, so you maybe can tell how they did so I'll skip them. Then on the Quarter Final, me and Handy faced with unknown group. Not because we won by WO again, but because we haven't heard about them. We were told that our road to final will be an easy road. And so we thought. But, somehow, the curse of the black tiles come back again and strike us. Both of us get a bad tiles and couldn't score much which led to a defeat. And it not only happen once. On Quarter Final, we need to win againts the same opponent twice. Sadly, that's what our opponent did to us. We got another bad tiles and you know the rest.

We're out from the game with OB-Julius and Edo-Albert manage to go up and steal 1st and 3rd place (which prize really makes me envy them). Then at that night we return to Jakarta via the same travel. We arrived at Jakarta around 7 o'clock in the morning. I asked to be dropped on My Home Sweet Home. And when I arrived the first thing I do is to get another good sleep....
Oyasumi Nasai Minna-san...

This is Benard Reporting, see you on the next post!!
Aaaaaaannnndddd CUT!!

A Little Word Before I Go for A While....

Hello again my dear readers and friends!
As I said before, a bunch of post is coming! And this is a part of it!

So, why do I post another post so quick?
Well, it's because I have something important to do and I think I need to tell it to y'all...

Firstly, I bet some of you already know that I'm a member of BNEC (Bina Nusantara English Club). And this thing I will do is connected to this.

Secondly, some of you maybe already know that I'm one of the scrabble player from BNEC. And this thing I will do is connected to this.

Hmmm.... If I keep this way of writing it will take ages to tell you what I want to tell. Okay, let's make things quick. So, a few weeks ago I joined a selection for a scrabble competition in POLINELA & UNILA Lampung. After a hard and heated selection, I managed to join the rank of those who will go to POLINELA!

So, the competition will be started on this Wednesday until Thursday. And to make it in time, we are going tonight at 8 o'clock.
The guys (yes, no girls at all!!) who will be going are :

1. OB
2. Albert
3. Vedro
4. Julius
5. Benard (That's me!)
6. Sumahandi

We will try hard to take honor for our club! Please support us by any means possible ;)
So, see you again after I returned and meet some internet connection again! LoL

Whoops! Look at the time! I'm almost late! Ehem,
This is Benard reporting, see you on the next post!!
Aaaaaannnnddddddd CUT!!

Persona and Firefox 3.6

Hello to fellow Firefox user!!
Right now I want to say something about this browser...

If you're using firefox, u will notice that firefox will ask you to change to the newest version, which is Firefox 3.6. Well, it already ask me to upgrade since long, but I just upgrade it a few minutes ago. And right now, I regret that I didn't do it earlier...

So, what's make me love this new version so much? The most important thing is they have change the new tab feature in 3.6. You see, in the old Firefox, if you choose to open a link in a new tab, the new tab will be opened on the far right on the tab list. What's wrong with this? Well, nothing wrong if you are a normal guy who browsing with only less than 10 tabs. But, its really annoy me who browsing with what looks like infinite tabs (fyi, right now there are 26 tabs opened on my browser, with my personal record 50 tabs which all of them are usefull).

What they change is when you open a new tab it's no longer open on the nowhere in the farthest right. Now, when I center click (default shortcut for new tab) a link, it will open right beside my current tab. That's mean when I'm on the, let's say, 7th tab, the new tab will be opened on the 8th tab! For most of you it doesn't do much. But for me, it helps me a lot. Well, that's said, it also has some negative effect for me. When I research something, I usually need it to be organized on a single location on my swarm of tab. So, I think it will hinder me a little (Or maybe you will see another post about Firefox 3.6 with me hating the new new tab feature).

The next thing you should notice is persona. It's not about a group of insane student who fight monsters in a crazy tower maze with creature come from blowing their heads with some guns to prevent the destruction of the world (fellow gamers know what I'm talking about). Persona that I'm talking about is a new feature on firefox. I take that you all have know about theme on firefox. Theme will change appearance of your firefox, from background, font, to buttons. But, with persona, you only change the background of your firefox. Moreover, it can be done with only a few click. You can take it from the gallery, or you can also create a custom Persona if you have install the Persona Plus. If you already create your own, you can also submit it to the gallery and see them used by thousands of Persona user. Basically, Persona is like an equivalent of Desktop Background on Windows. They only provide a different view without changing button, icon, etc. You can also change persona without restarting your firefox. This will help a lot for a guy with infinite tab around. Just imagine how long you must wait for those tabs to load whenever you want to have a fresh appearance on your beloved browser. Thank God its not like that.

So, enough blabbering from me. I hope my simple review can help a lot of you guys to think whether you need to upgrade or not. As I said in my previous post, you can expect a lot of post in the future, and this, this is just a beginning. I have a bunch of topic to post here. Maybe tomorrow I will post again....

This is Benard reporting, see you on the next post!
Aaaaaand, cut!

Something definitely Change

It's been quite a while since my last post. Somehow I lost some desire to write this month. Thankfully, lately I've been driven to start writing again.
Actually, I was planning to join some Short Story Competition this month. The deadline is on 27 of March. Somehow, even though I already got a good story, I was reluctant to write it. And what happen after that? Here I am, one day before deadline, without anything to send. Not even a word has been written.
This also happened to my Afterlife. I already write some when somehow I started to stop writing. Well, I've been start this afterlife for quite a few month, but I only managed to write 5 chapters so far. This is far beyond my plan...

Well, that's over now, I hope. By writing this post, it's already a proof that my passion on writing has come back at last. My plan for now is to constantly posting here and working on my Afterlife as quick as I can. Hmm... I think I gonna drop my vote system on my Afterlife. It hold me to write faster...

Aside from that, there's something definitely changing inside me. I don't know what but I can feel it. I think it started around this week. From what I observe, the most important thing that change is my way of seeing girls around me has change. Well, not to the negative way(I know what some of you thinking), but to a different way. I can't describe it well, but I know there's something wrong change. It seems I become more brave around them. Where did this courage came from?

Another important thing that change is my adaptive skill. I think it has improved somehow. I become more adaptive around some new environment and atmosphere. I think it has some connection with courage that I was talking about. Well, at least I change into a better man, right?

My way of thinking is also change. For this way I should give credit to "3 Idiots". It's a great movie that change my way of thinking (I'll tell you about the movie latter). What change inside me is not really the same with what that movie give. Errr, I can't explained it well. Anyway, I think my dedication around various things has improved now. And right now I'm trying to write more, watch more, draw more, study more, and read more. It's only a plan right now, but I think if I write it down here, I'll be feel more responsible with the outcome.

Well, I've said all I want to said. It's quite long, but bear with it ;)
So, from now on, you can expect many updates from me. Whether it about me, movie review, anime review, game review, afterlife, drawing, anything!!!!!! Ehem, I'll try hard to keep this blog moving on and on. Even when no one read it.

This is Benard speaking, see you on the next post!

Terror on Indowebster

What's with my title??
That's may be what one of you think....

Well, last night (Sunday) my beloved forum, Indowebster, went down.
I contacted my pal, zereon aka eric, and he said it's under maintenance.

Well, If you one of the users on IDWS, this thing maybe not gonna bother you much...
Last January there was thing like this and a lot longer.

So, when I arrived at my boarding house today I try to open it.
Well, as I'm expected, it was still under maintenance.
After class I went to my friend boarding house.
I borrowed his notebook to open IDWS (what a persistent guy!)
Guess what! It's opened!!! Yay!!!

But, then I realized that something is wrong.
When I check again, my post drop!!
I lost 50's of my post!
It was 620 before, and now it's 550!!
Then I go to lounge and found some difficult fact to handle.
IDWS went a rollback.

Yeah, that's mean it went back to sometimes condition on the past.
It seems it went to around 22th of February.
It's quite sucks.
I lost 20-30 thanks, 10-20 grp, and 50-60 post.

But, there are some guys who lost 300-500 thanks, 200-300Grp, and 200-500 post.
Hearing that, I'm relieved.
When you in a bad condition, go to guys with worse condition. You will feel better.
That's my lesson for today....
Hopes it doesn't affect me much X(

Hello hello and hello!!

God, it's been a long time since my last post, isn't it??
I'm really sorry about that.
On January I was busy with my Exam...
On February I was busy with Nationwide English Olympic...
And between that I was busy with my holiday ;p

Aside from my long hiatus, I've created a flash video for 6th NEO opening ceremony.
Well, if I have the time, I'm willing to put some tutorial here ^^
I'm sure it will be a help to many people ;)

About Cosplaying, I want to report that my equipment is more or less complete.
I already bought wig, ring, clothes, necklace, and else.
I can't wait to wear it.

What else?
Oh, yeah!

I want to proudly said that last Sunday, Bina Nusantara English Club (BNEC) attempted to break the Guiness World Record!
The record is Filling cross-word with most participant simultaneously.
The last record was 400-ish, and we managed to pass it!!!
The last thing to do is send it to Guiness and wait for their approval^^

Okay, I think that's all for my updates.
From now on I will try to post as often as possible ;)

The Born of a Cosplayer!!

I'll fulfilling my promise back there, so I'll write these in English.

The title is self explaining, so I'll be straight. Last Saturday I want to spend some money on anime thingy. Whether it will be action figure, lot of keychain, or something. I just want to spend my money on anime! Then I saw something on the shelf.

It's an Akatsuki Robe!! Damn! It's like I want it since the first time Itachi shown up on it!
After long time thinking, I decided to buy it.
Besides, I always want to do some cosplay since ages.
I also think it's better to buy full equipment now.

So, here's what I bought :
1. Akatsuki Robe

2. Itachi's headband

3. Ninja's Shoes

 

 

Besides all that, I also ordered a pair of Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan Softlens. 

I just get it today.

To bad I forgot to buy the solution, so I can't show my doujutsu here.

It's kinda blur, but I'm sure you can see that's a sharingan there!

Well, more or less....

I decided to dive into this cosplay thing deeper.

So, if I want to be fully into this, I still need a few things around.

Here's my next shoping list :

1. Itachi's Akatsuki ring

2. Dark Purple Paint nail

3. Black and comfortable trousers

4. Ninja's sock (I don't know the name, so I'll keep it like this)

5. Shuriken (one or another)

6. Straw hat (I need to modified this one my self after I bought it

7. Wig (the one that resembles Itachi's hair)

The priority is top-down.

When those are on my grips, I'll be perfect!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Ehem...

So, if you know where I can find those things (especially wig!), please let me know.

Btw, I heard there will be another cosplay event on February.

I need to confirm this first, but I absolutely come (if nothing stand on my way)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Well, it's been a while since I get back online. So I want to say....

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009

AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!

I know it's kinda late (especially about the Christmas), but hell! Who cares! (I know some of you cares, but certainly I don't ^^)

There are several things I want to do this year. Some of them will be revealed here :

1. Change this blog to be English (as you can see now)

2. Speed up my Afterlife (I don't mean dead, but my story)

3. Change the layout of my blog (both, if you're curious)

4. Polish my drawing skill (which have been significantly better for the past few months)

5. Polish my writing skill

6. Get higher marks (duh )

7. Watch more movies, animes, and series (and I mean MORE!)

8. Read more mangas, comics (it's different from manga fyi), and novels

9. Play more over-the-top-rate Games (which currently my playtime is waaaay too short)

And so far, because of my tedious business (no offense), the priority are number 1, 2, 6, 4. My second priority are 5, 7, 8, 9, and my third is 3.

Too bad my plan to draw some cute Happy New Year message can't be done. I really have something on my mind, but I just can't get it out.

So, that's all for my first post of 2010. Hopefully next post will not be long enough !!

Easily Best Movie That I've Watch This Year!!!

AVATAR

Title : AVATAR

Director : James Cameron (Alien, Terminator, Titanic)

Noted Cast : Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez

Genre : Sci-Fi, Action
My Rate : 9/10

So, AVATAR. Semuanya bakalan teringet dengan bocah botak yg ada panah di kepalanya. Itu masih tahun depan, jangan buru-buru dulu. This one is James Cameron's AVATAR. Brought to us by the director of Alien, Terminator, and Titanic. Impressive, huh? Avatar yg dimaksud di sini adalah representatif diri, seperti avatar di forum.

Okay, sebelum gw masuk ke pembahasan, gw entah kenapa ingin mendata beberapa judul, baik film atau game, yg akan teringat ketika nonton film ini. Mereka adalah :
- Battle for Terra/The Last Samurai
- The Matrix
- Metal Gear Solid
- Final Fantasy X
- Aliens (duh, same writer for God sake!)
Mungkin kalian semua bingung, ini daftar apa sih? Kalau kalian kenal dan paham judul-judul di atas, pas kalian nonton AVATAR pasti akan teringat lagi dan tau apa hubungannya.

AVATAR menceritakan tentang seorang ex-marine, Jake Sully, yang mengikuti program Avatar menggantikan saudara kembarnya yg tewas. Film ini berlangsung di sebuah satelit fiktif bernama Pandora. Di sini ada sebuah bahan tambang yg sangat mahal dan di incar oleh Human. Pandora di huni oleh penduduk asli bernama Na'vi (which somewhat remind me of the Indians). Dulu, beberapa peneliti sudah berkomunikasi dengan Na'vi dan mengajari mereka bahasa Inggris (now become a VERY UNIVERSAL language, lol). Namun, karena suatu sebab (yg sepertinya diakibatkan oleh manusia) hubungan Human dan Na'vi terputus. Na'vi menjadi offensive terhadap Human.

Apa sih Avatar Program? This is a kind of program yang membuat suatu "Avatar" atau "representasi" yg dibuat dari DNA Na'vi dan Human. Nantinya Avatar tersebut akan dikendalikan oleh Human dari jarak jauh. Mereka menggerak kan Avatar seperti menggerakkan diri sendiri. Basically, they're like dreaming dan berubah menjadi Avatar tersebut (see the reason I mentioned The Matrix?).

Jake, yg kebetulan DNA nya serupa dengan saudara kembarnya, dipercaya menggunakan Avatar saudaranya. Jake bertemu dengan Kolonel Quaritch yang meminta Jake untuk melaporkan perkembangan dan hubungan dengan Na'vi, juga kondisi lingkungan dan juga "learn their way" atau pelajari mereka. Parker, penanggung jawab perusahaan penambangan mengatakan alasannya bahwa di bawah Hometree, rumah para Na'vi, terdapat sumber yang sangat besar. Jake diminta untuk mendapatka kepercayaan dari mereka untuk meminta mereka pindah.

Semua hal tersebut tidak di ketahui oleh Grace, Kepala Peneliti juga penanggung jawab Avatar Program. Jake diminta menjadi pengawal selagi Grace dan Norm, keduanya menggunakan Avatar, menyelidiki spesies tumbuhan di sana. Namun, karena beberapa kejadian, Jake terpisah dari mereka. Pencarian di hentikan karena sudah malam. Malamnya, Jake diserang oleh beberapa hewan setempat dan di selamatkan oleh seorang Na'vi bernama Neytiri. Neytiri membawanya ke tempat tinggal Na'vi dengan alasan mendapat petunjuk dari dewa. Kepala suku Na'vi akhirnya memperbolehkan Jake tinggal dan belajar menjadi seperti mereka.

Apakah Jake berhasil menyelsaikan misinya? Apa yang akan terjadi dengan pertikaian antara Human dan Na'vi?

Harus di akui, ide dasar dari cerita ini sudah sangat sering kita lihat di mana-mana (and I mean it!). Namun yang sangat membedakan adalah James Cameron dapat mem package AVATAR menjadi sebuah cerita yang sangat menarik untuk di ikuti. Film yang berdurasi panjang ini (sekitar 2,5 jam, God!) memperlihatkan keindahan alam Pandora dan menyuguhkan Character Development selama 1/2 film. Sisa 1/2 film lainnya? Big War(and by big I mean really BIG). 1/2 film berikutnya di fokuskan kepada konflik antara dua kubu tersebut. Adegan-adegan yang sangat menegangkan di dukung oleh penyusunan alur yang tepat membuat film yang memiliki cerita standard ini menjadi sangat menarik dan luar biasa.

Yang sangat di manjakan adalah para movie goers yang menyukai special effect dan great CG. Animasi yang ditampilkan sangat menakjubkan dan luar biasa (terutama jika kita ingat bahwa ini bukan di Bumi). Kita mungkin tidak akan menyadari bahwa itu semua adalah CG image. Oh iya, seluruh Na'vi adalah CG. Sistem baru yang dikembangakn oleh Cameron memberikan ekspresi yang sangat natural di wajah mereka.

Overall? Yah, mungkin Avatar adalah sebuah film dengan cerita standard yang bahkan beberapa twist bisa di tebak oleh movie goers yg berpengalaman (it's not a twist anymore though). Namun, kemampuan James Cameron dalam mengubah cerita tersebut menjadi sangat luar biasa harus diacungi jempol. Dia mampu memainkan alur dan menyusun event-event sehingga hasilnya maksimal dan memuaskan (us and him). Didukung oleh special effect dan CG yg menawan serta adegan-adegan dahsyat membuat film ini sebuah film yang harus ditonton. I give it 9/10. Two thumbs up!(I don't have more, so...)

Setelah membaca sedikit review, bisakah kalian menebak hubungan list di atas dengan film ini?

Worth to watch? Absolutely!!

Afterlife gak kelar2 nih!!!

Oke, kali ini gw akan nyeritain soal AFTERLIFE....

Apa tuh AFTERLIFE??? Lagunya Avenged Sevenfold yah???

Bukan2.... Emang judulnya sama, gw gak sadar sih, tapi isinya beda. Gw kan uda lama pengen nulis cerita. Tapi adanya gak ada yg bener2 di publish. Suatu hari pas lagi kuliah gw iseng nulis 1 kalimat kayaq gini...

"I wake up on a top of a building and open my eyes."

Entah kenapa karena merasa itu kalimat lumayan keren, gw lanjutin bikin cerita satu halaman. Pas ngerasa ide ceritanya bagus, langsung kepikiran buat bikin blog cerita gitu. Langsung deh gw buat kerangka untuk 20 chapter kurang lebih.

Setelah kira2 2-3 hari, meluncurlah afterlife ini dengan sukses. Di lanjutkan chapter 2 kira 2 minggu kemudian...

Afterlife ceritanya gimana sih?? Jadi, ceritanya tentang seorang bernama Jake bangun dari pingsannya n nemuin kota uda berantakan n semua orang di sekelilingnya mati dengan kondisi yg aneh. Jake yg menjadi satu2nya survivor yg ada di daerah itu memutuskan untuk pergi mengecek kondisi teman2 dan orang tuanya. Apa yg sebenarnya terjadi?? Apa yg akan dialami oleh jake selanjutnya???

Nah, gitu. Sekarang Afterlife lagi nunggu chapter yg ke 3 nya. Karena gw sibuk, gw jadi gak kelar2 bikinnya >.< Trus temen gw juga bilang katanya style menulis gw terlalu banyak menceritakan background (agak mirip Narnia, mungkin lebih parah). Maklum, gw emang lbh menjurus ke sutradara daripada novelis. Tapi itu masukan yg bagus. Chapter 3 akan dirilis dengan gaya yg berbeda dan lebih simple dengan harapan jadi lebih mudah dan enak untuk dibaca. Setelah chapter 3 release, rencananya gw bakal release ulang chapter 1 n 2 dengan new style plus beberapa revisi.

Oh, iya. Gw juga menyediakan sesuatu yg menarik loh. Setiap chapter baru release akan disertai dengan sebuah voting. Voting apa? Voting yg menentukan kelanjutan petualangan Jake berikutnya. Untuk saat ini vote uda ditutup, tapi saat chapter 3 release pasti akan diiringi dengan vote. So, kalian gak cuma baca, tpi juga punya peran dalam menentukan jalan cerita.

So, doain yah teman2. Semoga chapter 3 cepet keluar dan AFTERLIFE jadi terkenal. Kalo kalian suka dengan AFTERLIFE tolong disebarkan ke teman2. Gw juga minta kritik dan saran. Maklum, gw kan cuma manusia biasa....

AFTERLIFE -Click Here to Read