WHY

A very sad day yesterday. "Kenapa" or "why" - that pretty much was the reaction to the news yesterday. "tidak mengerti" "no understand"............. (?) neither do I. A lot of hearts were broken in this country yesterday. This is not what this country needed. Yesterday was a very sad day.

Everyone I know that is/was in Jakarta yesterday - are all accounted for and fine. And a big thanks for that.

The Jakarta Post

The Jakarta Globe

TODAY: Get ready - time to organize and pack. Today is a full day.

.......... and looking forward to the big Birthday Bash tonight, too.

Enjoy the weekend.

Good to Go!

COINCIDENCE

Good Morning everyone! Hey - check this out. The Jakarta Post yesterday ran a story (front page) about the opening of that Suramadu Bridge I posted about a couple of days ago. The bridge was officially opened yesterday. Pretty cool isn't it? Now is that coincident or what?

A great lunch with everyone yesterday afternoon. And wow, what a lot of new faces there are here these days. And my God, I'm having a hard time with all these new names. (unusual names too in fact) Remembering names is definitely NOT my strength. Lots of folks transferring in and out of here these days. People on the move. There's a big rumor (maybe more truth than rumor in fact) - seems BHP is closing up shop and moving out of town. And so, that pretty much means, there's going to be a whole bunch more people moving on from here.

Today's photo - nothing in particular, just something that caught my eye I guess. That blue bottle is LPG. (without regulator or any other sort of safety check, and more often than not hooked up with a garden hose - in fact I heard the big fire last week was started with a gas bottle, possibly just like this) The Bahasa pronunciation for LPG is exactly the same as us. However, EL-PI-GI is way it's spelt.

TODAY: The sun is out and shinning full force this morning, hardly a cloud in the sky - and that can only mean all good things + it's going to be hot.

This morning the other Me has hit the road again. Back on his way out of town. I have the Fortnight Lunch thing to do this afternoon and later tonight a bunch of us girls are going out on the town. Going to check out a new night spot that's opened up at the Novotel.

Good to Go!

TUESDAY AGAIN

Look at that - here it is, Tuesday again.

Ok, so check this out. This is an article that appeared recently in the Jakarta Post. (if you want to read the whole thing - go here) Is there any other country in the world that does this? Not a bad idea in fact. ......... examine the mental and physical capabilities of presidential candidates. Maybe all the Presidential (Prime Minister) hopefuls of the world should first go for a check-up before they're allowed to run. Interesting concept.

Yesterday turned into a rather busy + interesting + do what you really like (paint) kind-of-day. Managed to get myself way over to the other side of town and picked up my birthday gift from my favorite 'rock shop'. And it is totally awesome. #1. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a picture of that.

Turned out, that while I was there, so were 3 gentlemen from Sri Lanka - dressed entirely in white, sitting on the floor behind the counter, sorting though handfuls of sapphires - for resale here. WOW. Big WOW. ...... more sapphires than you can ever imagine. Lots and lots and lots of them and almost every colour you could ever want. Including a blue sapphire almost as big as an American dime. I didn't even dare ask them "how much?", but at least I got to touch it. Impressive to say the least.

TODAY: Already rolling right along. Started the morning with a South American cooking class. Yum. They truly do make the best food I think.

This afternoon - have some errands to run, some stuff to drop off and some stuff for pick up.

.......... and this just in. Its looking like the other Me is working on getting some (1 week) time off. Good deal. Good enough to get out of here, and go some place nice.

Have a good one. Good to Go!

FORWARD

Well had a pretty busy day yesterday. One of those days when things just don't go as fast as you'd like. One of those 3 steps forward and 2 steps back kinda days - at least that's how it felt. Turns out I was going forward all the time. Forward thinking. Just didn't know it. And that's the kind of day it was.

Special note to someone in Wyoming: You probably noticed that I deleted your comment - thought it might be best not to share your user name, etc. with all the rest of the folks out there on the net. I also know you have a whole bunch friends around here that miss you a great deal too. And yes I checked out your Blog - thanks for the Bahasa English part. And all your cool photos too. (I love pictures of snow) And a big thank you for all your kind words regarding my little space in the world of Blogs. Very flattering in fact. Peek in any time you like. Stay warm and enjoy the snow.

On a side note - there's an interesting little article in yesterday's Jakarta Post. "Bad weather to continue until April" Claims it's the El Nino effect, I didn't know we were in the middle of that. They use the words "torrential" and "storms". "Beach areas will suffer the worst weather...." (and Balikpapan does have a beach - a whole bunch in fact.) And here all along I thought it was called the Rainy Season. And for today, not sure what the forecast is, but for now at least ...... the sun's out.

TODAY: Hmmmm. Not sure, but I'm on my way out.

Good to Go!