Just showered, and that typically affords a moment of inspiration, like a nice cup of coffee. I've been having this intense desire to read lately, whether it's serious academic style books, trashy fiction (I'm so close to downloading the Sookie Stackhouse Diaries onto my e-reader), and a range of in-between. Instead, I've been alternately fretting about various work tasks and watching DVDs with Dezant (the desire to read Sookie Stackhouse novels comes from our voracious marathon watching True Blood Seasons 1 & 2 in about three days). In other pop culture consumption news, I'm downloading new music for the first time in awhile, in large thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
sarabellum's end-of-year recommendations, available on her facebook profile. But I also downloaded the Sufjan Steven's BQE soundtrack, and an old gem --> Dr. John's first album "Gris Gris" (in keeping with the Louisiana groove inspired by True Blood), which I'm really surprised I never heard of until I heard the "Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya" track on the Saturday Night Fish Fry compilation.
So within this bi-polar frame of unproductive work stress and zoning out watching DVDs, I haven't gotten much reading done, in spite of a large stack of desirable reading material I have here with me. Well, if I can just finish reviewing this one report about Acehnese fishermen and the "toke bangku" that prevent them from ever improving their economic condition, then maybe I'll allow myself to read a few chapters of something before I address the next work task.
In other news, Gus Dur died yesterday. Indonesia's fourth president, and perhaps the most eccentric and funny. It was wonderful reading the Twitter stream last night, following Indonesian comments about Gus Dur and his contributions to the nation. For a few hours, his death dominating four, sometimes five, of the top ten trending topics. Some incredibly touching comments, most especially from Chinese Indonesians who honored his contributions to make Chinese New Year a national holiday, to permit the public performance of the barong sai dance, and to allow Chinese language publications (in Chinese characters) to be printed again. Other tweets celebrated his off-color humor, his pluralist sensibilities, and his role in improving Indonesian democracy... many tweets achieved this by quoting Gus Dur directly. My favorite: "Tuhan tidak perlu dibela."
I'm not big on holidays, so Dez and I haven't done anything particularly special for XMAS or New Year's. Tonight, Dezant's family will come over to our apartment to watch the fireworks from our balcony. We live on the 28th floor, but we've never observed New Year fireworks from here before, so I'm not sure if we'll get a good view of anything or not. But it's a great excuse to get together, host his family, and saves us from any obligation to do anything else! :)
sarabellum's end-of-year recommendations, available on her facebook profile. But I also downloaded the Sufjan Steven's BQE soundtrack, and an old gem --> Dr. John's first album "Gris Gris" (in keeping with the Louisiana groove inspired by True Blood), which I'm really surprised I never heard of until I heard the "Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya" track on the Saturday Night Fish Fry compilation. So within this bi-polar frame of unproductive work stress and zoning out watching DVDs, I haven't gotten much reading done, in spite of a large stack of desirable reading material I have here with me. Well, if I can just finish reviewing this one report about Acehnese fishermen and the "toke bangku" that prevent them from ever improving their economic condition, then maybe I'll allow myself to read a few chapters of something before I address the next work task.
In other news, Gus Dur died yesterday. Indonesia's fourth president, and perhaps the most eccentric and funny. It was wonderful reading the Twitter stream last night, following Indonesian comments about Gus Dur and his contributions to the nation. For a few hours, his death dominating four, sometimes five, of the top ten trending topics. Some incredibly touching comments, most especially from Chinese Indonesians who honored his contributions to make Chinese New Year a national holiday, to permit the public performance of the barong sai dance, and to allow Chinese language publications (in Chinese characters) to be printed again. Other tweets celebrated his off-color humor, his pluralist sensibilities, and his role in improving Indonesian democracy... many tweets achieved this by quoting Gus Dur directly. My favorite: "Tuhan tidak perlu dibela."
I'm not big on holidays, so Dez and I haven't done anything particularly special for XMAS or New Year's. Tonight, Dezant's family will come over to our apartment to watch the fireworks from our balcony. We live on the 28th floor, but we've never observed New Year fireworks from here before, so I'm not sure if we'll get a good view of anything or not. But it's a great excuse to get together, host his family, and saves us from any obligation to do anything else! :)
Current Location: Permata Hijau, Jakarta Selatan
Current Mood: 
calm
calmCurrent Music: Sufjan Stevens - BQE Soundtrack
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