I was half-dead, but how about them?

Two days ago, I was dying! I'm telling you...track practice two days ago was killing me! Tearing my pleuras apart from my lungs, trying to blow my heart away like a grenade, and pulling off my legs and breaking the ligaments.

Okay, I was exaggerating. But still, it was the hardest practice I've ever been in. First, it was pouring and cold. Second, we had to run like a horse.

We warmed up and jogged for 20 minutes, it was not bad. But then, we had to run uphill 6 times 200 meters. Uphill! Yes, uphill.
For my friends, probably those exercises are okay. But, my friends in track team are BEASTS!!! O yeah...they are so good at that stuff. Running, jumping, throwing...and they've got good endurance too.
But for me....ahahaha...I don't need to mention how much I suffered during that 1,5 hours torment.

Anyhow, my friend's awesome strength and endurance already made me gape. But, I saw another thing that made me gape even larger.
Yes, those REAL runner!

On Monday, High Schoolers had a field trip to Boston Marathon. We just basically sat there and cheered for the runners. It sounds boring, but it wasn't. I mean, it's really cool to see those participants to run, and some of them are just really fast that could make me go "WOW" for 30 seconds.
The marathon is pretty much the same with the one we have in Indonesia. Well, I actually know only one marathon in Indonesia; Malang-Tumpang Marathon.
The Boston marathon went from a town called Popkinton to downtown Boston, which was 26 miles. Twenty miles...yeah, I could never ever ever run for twenty miles!
There are several kinds of event in this marathon; men, women, and the one that mesmerized me most -- disabled people.

I saw them there, driving their arms to spin the wheel faster and faster. When the road goes uphill, I could see them breathing so hard and pushing themselves further and further. Twenty miles is not a long road, it is a wicked long road. I was just hypnotized how they could keep on going for such a long time. You know, HOW did they gain the endurance?

Anyway, there were more 'exciting' participants in the marathon. Some of them were doing the marathon to prove their athletic ability, some of them just doing it for fun, some were doing it to attract people's attention (you'll see why), and some were doing it for charity! What a group of people!

This man was fast!

This is a charity group (I forget what did they call themcelves)

Wonder woman! I wonder if it's hot to wear that outfit for running :p

Red 'afro', I suppose? :p

Hmm...this post is kinda pointless, haha. I just want to show my appreciation upon the athletes, especially the disabled athletes. I just want to let them know (by any chance) that they're awesome! :D

PS: I'll post some more picture later, cuz I don't have it right now.

ta ta for now :)

Nangis Darah T.T

Huhuhuhu

kenapa oh kenapa???

David bakalan ngadain konser di Manchester, NH...
this is what I've been waiting for...
Tapi...
Hiks...konsernya tanggal 24 Agustus!
HUAAAAAA...

aku udah gak di NH dodol!!
*sebel sama yg bikin konser

"I Went to Boston and Now I Can't Speak"

That's how Lew put my illness into words, hahaha

Yesterday I went to Boston. During the day, my flu spread out. In the morning, the problem was only my runny nose. In the end of the day, I couldn't speak anymore. Uhmm...not really. Let's put it this way: it hurts when I speak , hahaha.

Get well soon, eki!

:D

Let's Unveil the Beauty

Yerterday, I went to New England Aquarium with my hostfamily. Before we entered the aquarium, we watched a 3D movie about Underwater World in IMax. The movie was great because of its awesome effect and more importantly, the scenes took place in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australian waters. The narration that began with, "In the lands of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia..." made me more excited. The entire movie shows the beauty of the seawater world in the Coral Triangle and the Great Barrier Reef. Does it look familiar to me? Uhmm...not really.

I think Indonesia should've been more popular than it is now. Just look at what title it posseses:

1) the 4th most populous country which equals the combined population of all other South East Asian countries.

2) the world's largest archipelagic country

3) the country that has about 75% of all volcanoes in the world

4) the variety of ethnic groups in Indonesia is unparalleled anywhere else in the world (316 ethnic groups).

5) Indonesia is home of the biggest Buddhist temple in the world

6) Indonesia is home of the world's largest lizard

7) There are many more stuff but I can't remember them

The fact is, there are many people who still wondering, "Where is Indonesia?" of those who say nothing when they are asked about what they know about Indonesia.

It's not their fault that they know nothing about Indonesia.

The point is, we, as Indonesians, did not do enough to develop our country's potential. That is why nobody knows about Indonesia's potential and beauty, because we did not unveil it yet.

Now, the biggest power to develop Indonesia lays on Indosian youth's hands. It's us! This is the time to use our utmost potential to develop our country. Ten years from now, I hope we can make a change.

WE CAN DO IT!!!

April 17, 2009: Day of Silence

Today, in the computer lab when I asked Rachel about our semi-formal dance, she didn't answer.

Me: Oh, you can't speak? Are you sick?

Rachel: (shook her head)

Me: (Tilting my head ~ didn't understand what's going on)

Then, Rachel opened Microsoft Words and started to type up her answer.

Rachel: [I'm doing the silence protest]

Me: For what?

Rachel: [Against anti-gay people that continue to bully gays]

Me: Why? (stupid question)

Rachel: [Because at schools there are many students who were bullied by others because they're gay, but the teachers did absolutely nothing]

Me: Really? (I was thinking that she was talking about OUR school. I couldn't believe that there are many anti-gay people in our school)

Rachel: [Yes. There is one 12 years old kid who was killed because his friends always harass him. He was not even gay, but his friends thought that he was]

Me: Killed??? Are you serious?

Rachel: (shook her head) [He killed himself]

Me: ooh. Who is he? (I was still thinking that this poor kid is from our school)

Rachel: (opened some website and showed me an article about that kid)

Me: Oooh...ok!

Frankly, I am impressed by Rachel's dedication about this case. I mean, it's hard not to talk for one day. Even though it won't make a big change, at least this action can open people's eyes and even slap them in the head, just like me.

I'm not a bully, that's for sure. I hate to hurt people's feeling. However, sometimes my words can be offensive to some people, even though I didn't mean to offend them.

Sometimes, when my friends and I were fooling around, they would imitate girlish boy's gesture, then I would say, "Oh my God, You look so gay!"

That's a common joke for me, that means I say it a lot. Now I realize that what I say is not appropriate. I can imagine if a gay person hear me say that. It would probably feels like if someone was joking around me and say to his friend, "OMG, you look like an Asian!" or "Hey, you look like a Moslem!"

I would probably say, "What's wrong with that?"

Back home, my friends also say this kind of joke. They would call each other "Bencong" which means a transgender person. If a transgender person hear them saying that, they'll be hurt too.

This is not about right or wrong, because it's relative and different in every culture. This is all about respecting others.

PS: For more stories about Day of Silence, please visit:

www.dayofsilence.org/ and

http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2400.html




EDITED:
I found this cool picture of Dougie Poynter (McFly)

Straight A's

Yesterday, I got my 3rd quarter report card. The feeling of getting a report card here and back home is totally different. Back home, we have a special day after final exam when our parents come to school to receive our grades. It is such a big deal. We also have ranks in our class. I always feel nervous in that particular day. I have three ways of spending the day:

1) Watching tv at home without paying attention at what I am watching cuz I get to go pee so often.

2) Go to school and hang around with my friends while my parents are having 'bussiness' with my teacher (read: go to the bathroom together with my friends pretty often)

3) Help around with Journalistic team to give school magazines to every single class. Sometimes, my teacher ask me to put the magazine inside the file folder where our grades are kept. I like this part, cuz I get to see my grades too, hahaha.

Here, report card is not as big deal. The teachers just give the card to us in the library at lunch. If we don't show up, they will come to us and hand the card. Simple, huh?

Back home, we like to see each others grade, we compare our report cards. But here, such a thing is not common, and it's considered to be impolite if you ask someone's grades.

Anyhoo...I was so thrilled to see the first page of my report cards. It's my grade in Junior English. What did I get? A- Yaaay!!! Last quarter I only got B, so....I'm improved, ain't I? ;)

The thrilling past is...I get all A's for the rest of the subjects I take!

OHOHOHO

US History = A+

Math = A

Chemistry = A

Adv Biology = A-

This is as thrilling as last year when I got the 9th academic rank out of 280 eleventh graders in my school.

:D

Now, I feel like studying...

I wanna go home, start my senior year, and off to college as soon as possible....

GANBATTE!!!

^^9

APRIL 15th

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SIZT!!!

have an awesome one!! :D

I have a present for you, but I'll give it to you when I get home, ok?

*lama amat...

hahaha