At home all day. Was planning to go out, but I've found that mood has a strong influence - and exacerbates any slight health condition I may be feeling. Case in point: I've lost my appetite since returning from Bandung. Not sure if Bandung had anything to do with it, but what's certain is that I've had only one proper meal a day (usually lunch) for the past three days. I've only eaten to avoid passing out and total starvation - and even then I can barely finish my meal, which never tastes as good as it's supposed to. Or maybe my illness has made my taste buds super-sensitive to food that doesn't qualify as gourmet quality - though I have a feeling I'd throw up Filet Mignon with equal ease.
Anyway, allow me to elaborate on the title of this post. It all started with a new thread on the MBDC message board, with someone asking about the nature of freelance writing. Having some amount of experience with it, I opted to be as helpful as possible. I recalled how I saw an ad in a magazine looking for contributors and decided to try my luck by sending writing samples and a spontaneously-written accompanying e-mail as to why I'd like to write for them. For added effect, I looked through my inbox for the reply I got that told me I got the job. That's right - I've had it saved for the past three and a half years. Well, it was (and is) my first proper job. Sort of. Of course I'd save it...
But what I didn't remember was that the reply I got was a straight reply to the e-mail I had sent. Here's the thing: I wrote the letter as an afterthought, just something to do while I was there at the internet rental. Just a little something to say, "Hey, I like what you're doing, and I want to do more of the same for you." I didn't even think to save it as a draft in my account or on disk; I sent it, and that was that. Once I got the reply, I don't think I even considered reading past the name of the sender. So for the past three and a half years, I've been under the assumption that what I'd written in that letter was gone forever - and it's not like I'd expect it to hold any significance for them to save it.
So here it is (edited because you don't really need to know my home address, do you?), after I'd unknowingly left it sitting in my account for three and a half years. I knew there was a reason I saved stuff like this...
Greetings and salutations, dear editor...
Hi, my elder brother was looking through the latest edition of your mag a few days ago, and brought to my attention the miniscule advertisement on the inside of the back cover. Which should tell you something, either that my brother is way too anal retentive, or that the ad was near-impossible to find, anyone actually finding it should be rewarded with merit badges for exceptional eyesight. Or something like that.
Anyway, the reason I'm writing is because I really enjoy your magazine. I think it's a breath of fresh air in the post-Soeharto glut of new periodicals, and it fills a previously uninhabited niche, that of socially conscious irreverance. It's good to see an Indonesian magazine take the piss out of a whole range of targets (and it's about bloody time, too, as there are so many out there who deserve a good bashing), and at the same time shed some light on subjects otherwise overlooked by other magazines and society in general (unfortunately, I am one of them). In short, it's the sort of magazine I'd like to contribute for, and my brother seems to think so, otherwise he wouldn't bother showing me the ad which he discovered with much effort and keep it a secret. I guess he feels contributing stuff to your magazine would be a welcome alternative to lying around and getting fat everyday. So anyway, he's got me fooled into thinking I can write for your mag, and so, who am I to disappoint him?
And so, attached herewith is my attempt ("effort" would be too strong a word) at reviewing. Why these particular albums, and why only two? The reasons I can think of are because they're both relatively recent, so in the remote possibility you might actually like them, they can fit in the next issue without much of a problem. Also, they happen to be in my tape collection, and they were the easiest to write about. And they're both live albums, so that should give them a theme, albeit unintentional. However good or bad they actually are, know that I did my best to adhere to the infamous Contributor's Handbook. So regard these reviews as the tip of the proverbial iceberg, my potential writing ability to be (hopefully metaphorically) whipped into shape by yourself or others like you, should you decide to deem me good enough to write for your mag.
Anyway, in lieu of a Bat-Signal, here's info on where to contact me, send letter-bombs or make any inquiries of my mental well-being:
Hasief Ardiasyah*
Jl. XXXXX No. XX/XX
XXXXXX Jakarta Selatan XXXXX
Ph.: XXX-XXXX Pager: 13068 ID XXXX**
In closing, I'd like to thank you for allowing me to take up your time, eyesight and e-mail space.
Yours sincerely (no, really),
Hasief Ardiasyah
* that's ARDIASYAH, without an 'N' as in ARDIANSYAH, a common mistake I've had to endure over the years, and frankly am quite sick of.
** yeah, I'm low-tech. So sue me, already.
Man, that brought back memories. Probably not the best of example of a job application letter, but whatever works, right?
Halo Hasief,
Terima kasih atas suratnya dan kontribusinya, deh. Tolong hubungi saya secepatnya, di kantor (326-XXX) atau di HP 0818-XXXXXX, supaya kita bisa diskusi lagi. I like your style and attitude. We should definitely talk.
Tenkyu ya,
Daniel Ziv
Pemimpin Redaksi/Budak Kantor
Majalah Djakarta!
Thursday and Friday, August 19th and 20th: My two-day trip to Bandung with campus friends. First time I'd been to Bandung in three years, which you probably think is a bit odd, given that loads of people seem to go back and forth at the drop of a hat. Guess I've never had a good enough reason to go, or the timing was never right. Not to say the timing was right on this occasion, considering I had some leftover work - my review of Hoobastank's gig - to finish. But I figured that Bandung's a modern city; they were bound to have internet rentals, so I could take some time out to finish up my work.
So we left from campus in the afternoon, got there at around seven, stopped by our lodgings to deposit our bags, and then it was off for dinner and a sojourn to this place called The Valley. After that it was back to our humble, temporary abode, where I was too tired to even think about finishing work, even though - as it turns out - there was a laptop and internet connection via cellphone available, courtesy of a travel mate's foresight.
The next morning, I started working. I would've sent my article via e-mail as soon as it was done, but the cellphone had to be used, so I had to put it off, save it to disk and look for an internet rental. And once again, since Bandung was a modern city (and the last time I went there, it wasn't hard to find internet rentals), I thought it'd be a simple matter of just taking a brief detour while everyone was checking out the abundance of factory outlets.
Boy, was I wrong. In a nutshell: here in Jakarta, you can't throw a stone 100 yards without smashing through an internet rental's window, such has been the level of proliferation over the years. Whereas in Bandung, it's like the internet rental has become a dying species, and been co-opted by that Ragnarok Online shit - you don't have to be a marketing genius to know that the internet will still be around and essential long after Ragnarok has become an embarrassing early 21st century memory. Lack of vision there, internet-turned-Ragnarok rental owners. By this point, I was seriously on the verge of losing it - and the fact that the entire day was spent hopping from factory outlet to factory outlet didn't help. Personally, I was in no mood nor financial health to shop until I bloody well dropped. All I wanted was to send my article, and probably stay in the car if everyone still wanted to go shopping.
Eventually we stopped by a rental...but was that the end of my problems? Hell, no. The signs were probably apparent when the clerk had a hard time transferring a scan of the Hoobastank setlist to the disk. Eventually we had to make do with another disk for the scan, and then it was just a matter of attaching the required files to my e-mail. I was about to let a weary whoop of jubilation as soon as the "Message sent" reminder came on the screen, but then I suddenly realised something - I had sent the wrong article! Didn't know how that happened, maybe I was just too tired to pay close attention. Then I checked the disk's contents for the proper file...and it wasn't there. How could it not be there? I'm sure I had saved it to disk before we left. Then I tried accessing the disk on the rental's main computer...and up came that dreaded "this disk has not been formatted" message. At first I didn't panic, because on previous occasions, all that took to remedy this was to just eject the disk and put it back in again. But when that method didn't work, panic started to set in.
Then the thought occurred to me that maybe I hadn't saved it to disk after all, and I had saved it on the laptop by mistake. So we went back home, I checked the laptop...and nothing. Tried accessing the disk...and nothing too. Same bloody "not been formatted" message. After several futile attempts at the insert/re-insert trick, I finally gave up and we went out for a steak dinner. What, you think I'm the type of person who dwells on the unsalvagable?
Saturday, August 21st: Got up at 5 o'clock, got my stuff ready, and headed straight for the train station. I was the sole traveller from our group, because - contrary to the original plan - everyone had decided to leave on Saturday night as opposed to morning, whereas I had told the folks that I'd be back on Saturday afternoon at the latest. They wanted me to drive them to a wedding, whereas I didn't want to miss the night's episode of
Coupling - the main reason I agreed to the Bandung trip in the first place, because it meant that I could get home in time to catch it. So when everyone decided to stay longer, it meant that I had to travel alone - which, as it turned out, wasn't so bad. In fact, it was quite wonderful; during my waking moments, I could appreciate the countryside scenery better than on the trip to Bandung. Daylight'll do that for you. Plus I could get an adequate amount of shut-eye; so adequate, in fact, that I woke up just as the train was pulling into Jakarta. A very blissful trip. Not so blissful was the taxi ride back home, which took about half the time the train from Bandung to Jakarta did.
Then it was a matter of counting the hours until the wedding, where my supposed claustrophobia (or whatever phobia it is that makes me queasy in crowds of people I don't know) flared up. All I wanted to do was go home - especially as they were showing Liverpool vs. Machester City on TV. The match was on at nine - clashing with
Coupling, but as I've
mentioned earlier, not a problem due to the re-run.
Ah yes, the re-run. Here's the thing: after the excitement of seeing Liverpool play good football and come from behind to beat City 2-1, I got tired from waiting for 1:30 to come around, so I set my alarm for 1:25 (to compensate for differences between Star World time and Hasief Ardiasyah time) and took a nap. Did I fail to get awoken by the alarm? Oh, if only I were that fortunate: I heard the alarm fine. I turned on the TV, and it was still that shitty
TNA Wrestling on. So I went back to sleep...and didn't wake up until five. Yup, I missed it. I missed the main reason for arranging my Bandung trip the way I did. Oh, the cruel irony.
Though I guess there's a silver lining: in a couple of weeks,
Absolutely Fabulous (which occupies the time-slot immediately after
Coupling) will be replaced by...
The Office! Yeah, baby! Very soon, I'll no longer go out on Saturday nights! Though I suppose I'd better be more obedient to alarms...
Sunday, August 22nd: Major headache, most of the day spent in bed. 'Nuff said.
Monday, August 23rd: Still a bit under the weather, but had to soldier on with the unfinished work from Bandung. After that was done, went to PIM to see
The Bourne Supremacy with Citra and her pal Tari. Personally, I was curious due to the good reviews, curious enough to check it out even though I missed the first one. But I read somewhere that you didn't have to have watched the first, so there you go. Pretty good, rather brutal without being too explicit. Favourite moment? Any time Jason Bourne has a long phone conversation with the CIA woman who's tracking him down (watch the flick, you'll see what I mean).
Back at home, caught this week's episode of
The O.C. on TV7, and I am increasingly feeling a kinship with Seth Cohen. I'm sort of like the penniless version of Seth, and in this episode, I found another similarity: he has a knack for remembering obscure details regarding this girl whom he's had a major crush on for years, even after said girl herself has forgotten all about those details. Here, Seth gets a big kiss on the lips from the object of his affection for his uncanny memory; wonder if that'll ever happen to me too...
