Sin Hap Hoat Vintage Packaging

Sin Hap Hoat is a brand of mooncake that is only produced once a year to celebrate Peh Gwee Tiong Ciu, a traditional Chinese cultural event in October. So far, I think Sin Hap Hoat makes the best mooncake.

The text in the vintage packaging reads:

Tuan2 Nyonya2 yang terhormat, mulai hari ini sudah bisa dapat beli lagi kita punya keluaran Kue "TIONG CIU PHIA" yang rasanya dan kwalitetnya istimewa. Untuk merayakan Peh Gwee Tiong Ciu, pilihlah Kue Phia yang terbaik, lantaran adanya 1 tahun cuma 1 kali, jika Tuan2 Nyonya2 membeli kita punya keluaran Kue Phia supaya tidak keliru membelinya, sebelumnya dibungkus periksalah satu persatu, sebab di atas Kue mana ada kita punya stempel merk yang sudah di daftarkan. Kita punya kue2 yang tersedia isinya dari: Susis ham, Keju, Coklat, Susu, Krenten, Nanas, Mangga, Duren, Cempedak, Biji Jambu, Bahpia dan Caijphia.

10 unique characteristics of Indonesian consumers

These are 10 unique characteristics of Indonesian consumers, according to MARKETING magazine:
1. short-term perspective
2. unplanned behaviour
3. like to socialize (collectivism)
4. not adaptive to high technology
5. context oriented
6. receptive to country of origin effect (fond of imported goods from certain countries)
7. religious
8. strong need of prestige
9. strong in subcultures
10. low consciousness toward environment
Although these characteristics are unique and I should be able to judge things with omniplexity, I still feel ashamed when I look at those 10 items. What about you?

Recent despondency

This week I felt really despondent. The whole thing started when I heard of an acquaintance’s death at a very young age. Just around my age, I supposed. And I thought a lot about death or the process toward death. Not in a suicidal way, don’t worry. But I saw our world is aging. The air is highly polluted, the forests are bald, the icecaps are melting. I just felt so sad. Or even more, afraid. I saw people got old and weakened and became sickly. On one hand, I thought those people are lucky for being able to get old, but on the other hand I felt sorry for the lengthy painful process they experience. And I realized that one day I must experience the same thing. But I don’t want to die young. No! I believe there are things I can do to make a difference. Besides, I don’t want to let myself fall into uselessness and hopelessness. But yet some part of me cried in despair. Is there any hope left? Or death really haunts us like shadow for it is unavoidably near?

And then I thought of love. Or more precisely, romance. The images around us picture a happily ever after life with everyone meet the so-called “soul mate” and discover a true romantic love. A lot of people believe this images to be true. But I have doubts. Will there ever be a true love so strong like in the stories? The romantic relationship and love at first sight? Honestly, I don’t believe in all those stuffs. I see relationships as contractual in the beginning. Probably love will grow between them, more as a friendship sort of thing. As a spice, there is passion as well, lust and desire for bodily contact. But is it love? I became so skeptic.

All these feelings almost overwhelmed me like smog. I shiver out of fear…

But then I knew what my problem was. I worried too much about the future, about greater things that are beyond my control. It’s just so strange, but I tried so hard to focus on what’s in front of me. What was I thinking to think about all the other too important things that are beyond my comprehension? And it strikes me that for one time in my life I said to myself that I should not bother greater issues. For one time in my life I told myself to focus on the plate in front of me.

IT WON'T BE SOON BEFORE LONG

After accompanying me during my undergrad thesis with SONGS ABOUT JANE, Maroon5 is back with their second album IT WON'T BE SOON BEFORE LONG (wonder what that means...)

This time they deliver somewhat lighter tunes compared to the previous album. However, the lyrics still circle around love stories (doubt if it's the right term..but it's about emotions, attractions and feelings toward opposite sex for sure), although I think this time they are deeper and more mature. The distinctive and easy to remember songs make them those that will play over and over again in your head.

One of the keys beneath a succcesful record is universal lyrics. That is also one reason why Maroon5 can be no.1 in US and UK charts for both of their albums. Compare it to Goo Goo Dolls, which second rock album didn't go as succesful as the first one. Certainly, some might argue that they were only succesful with their one hit wonder, Iris. Whichever the case, I think one of their problems is the lyrics, that are too American.

Personally, I feel attached with a lot of Maroon5 lyrics and I believe, IT WON'T BE SOON BEFORE LONG will again accompany me through my graduate thesis... ^_o

10 things we can do to slow global warming

Hi! it's been a long while since my post about Global Warming..but I still promise to post an article about things we can do to slow down the process in a less painful way... I extracted 10 things from TIME magazine 9 April 2007 edition and here they are:
1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHTBULBS. The impact is LOW but you can do it NOW, and it will make you feel good!

2. HANG UP A CLOTHESLINE. Start washing your clothes with cold/warm water instead of hot water and hang them dry rather than put them in a dryer! Certainly this won't be hard to do for Indonesians, because we don't use a lot of dryer anyway. But I add one more thing: reduce the use of detergent! A lot of foam doesn't mean it's cleaner!

3. TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT VINTAGE CLOTHES. Hey, it turns out that reducing your consumption of new clothing can actually help the environment! Because synthetic fabric and natural cotton both have their impact for the environment! Even the organic ones, which I'm sure doesn't mean a lot to you coz you rarely read the tags, huh? Especially in Indonesia..."organic cotton? What's that?" So the solution is just reduce the shopping! Now you have a green reason to stop the consumerism!

4. BUILD A SKYSCRAPER. Hey, green building is gaining awareness! Check this ad from KOMPAS:

5. MODIFICATIONS IN TRAVEL TO WORK. Try to get a job near you house or try to live near your job. For employers: let employees work close to home. And ride the bus! For those working near the TRANS JAKARTA BUSWAY route, they're quite comfortable, you know?

6. OPEN A WINDOW. Reduce your AC consumption! Open a window instead! At work, wear lighter clothes and rise the temperature on your AC thermostat.

7. SAY NO TO PLASTIC BAGS AND UNFRIENDLY PACKAGING. Before those biodegradable plastics become popular, you can reuse plastics and reduce their use whenever you can replace them with the environmentally friendly ones!

8.SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMER. Local veggies and fruits are the best ones! At least you can do two things at the same time: support the local farmers and reduce the pollution produced by long distance transportation.

9. SHUT OFF YOUR COMPUTER rather than keep it hibernating.

10. MAKE YOUR GARDEN GROW.

THE CONCLUSION: CONSUME LESS, SHARE MORE, LIVE SIMPLY.