Cigarette

I wasn't gonna drink tonight,
then I went to a bar,
I wasn't gonna start that fight,
but they pushed me way too far,
and oh
but you would never know,
but you would never know,

I wasn't gonna watch a game,
Now I'm shouting at the bar,
I check my phone and saw your name,
So I must have missed your call,
I wasn't gonna place that bet,
But they said he'd take the fall,
Now my clothes smell like cigarettes,
But I don't smoke at all.
But you would never know,
But you would never know,

When I was out having fun,
I was outta line,
When I thought I was staying young,
I was staying out of my mind,
Life is like an old cassette that you can't rewind,
Now my clothes smell like cigarettes,
And it happens all the time,
But you would never know,
And oh
But you would never know.

Love and sex and T.V. sets,
I never left my room,
I used to speak in all regret,
Maybe I spoke to soon,
I thought that I did my best,
Now I know that isn't true,
Cause my clothes smell like cigarettes,
And they used to smell like you.

Cigarette - Daniel Merriweather

Wandering around in a space from old times, Georgetown

After almost 2 months working here with the hazzle dazzle of visa issues, I managed myself on my non-immigrant visa to work. I was expecting my boss my send me back to Jakarta and stay there for a couple of days for it. But he has his own plan: he sent me to Penang, Malaysia to work on my visa there. I promised myself not to step my feet on Malay land for the sake of my personal political view. But oh well, it's Penang and it has attracted me before since I planned to see it. Let's just say it's a traveling for free concealed with the "business trip" mask.

I planned to stay in Georgetown, an old heritage city protected by UNESCO. Have a little knowledge about this island and its historical sites, then I think, "I will love this place".
And this city is not even overrated. Everything is so preserved. I love it. I took a long walk to the city center in the night and it's stunning. I have a huge thing on historical places so you can feel my excitement here. Wandered around the streets in the night, looking at the lines of the house-store, old buildings. It's splendid.

What I like the most about this town is: it is well-preserved and the government there make the area look like what it should be. They make the town as it used to be. It is a hot spot for tourist, but it's not so eager to please. The people here live just like us, they do their stuff. They are not eager to please nor begging them for a cent, like many other touristic places.

I presumed the buildings were built in the 18th-19th century. The architecture style knocked me off my feet. I kinda feel the building and its atmosphere were kinda different than Kota Tua Jakarta and District 1 Ho Chi Minh City, though the "old" atmosphere is pretty much same. Unlike Jakarta whose most of the building are Dutch colonial art deco style, Georgetown is fulfilled with the Sino-Portuguese style, especially the house-store. It reminds me of Phuket Town. And the buildings are more like Brittish kinda style?? I am not sure cause I don't know much about architecture and now I sound sound douchy.

Wandering around Georgetown brings me to feel the pace of old time romance. Every streets has its own stories. The Love Lane, is know as the street where the rich Chinese men keeping their mistress away from their wives. And the famous Penang street, it lies a long and winding stories about the city and the people who are and were living in. There are Indians, Chinese, Malays, Javanese, Achenese, Minangs, Armenians, Jewish, Arabs, and Europeans were living together centuries ago. Looking at the complexity of the people, multiracial society living in a town and bring their culture into a unique fusion.The peranakan, also known as Baba-Nyonya, are the most perfect example of the culture fusion that Penang has. It is so damn unique, even for people who live in multicultural society like me.

Visiting Penang makes me wonder about Malaysian urban history and their culture. It contributes me how to appreciate this country, apart from the stereotype and personal-political views towards this nation.

Roll the Dice, Can You?

We always spend good times with friends and family playing monopoly or other board games. We roll the dice(s) to determine how many steps we can take.
When we were in college, we roll the dice to play stupid drinking games all night long and we ended up sleeping on poolside somewhere in Legian. We didn't know how many times we rolled the dice until we threw up and fucked up.
Zillions of people are coming to Genting, Macau, Monte Carlo, or the infamous Las Vegas just to try their luck on gambling. They roll the dice. They might get tons of chips, or they might be penniless till they can't even afford to pay the parking lot.

We all know that the dice is cube-shaped thing that we often use for playing games. It has 6 sides with dot(s) on every side, from one to six. It plays big roles in every games you're playing. When you roll it you know that either you win, or lose. You know it.
Do you wonder how it's gonna be if there are some kinds of dices that have different shapes like ones that we mostly know? How it's gonna be if there's a pyramid-shape dice whose only 5 sides rolling for the game? How does it roll?

Imagine this: There are 5... oh no, 4 dices in a glass. 3 dices are just normal dice we know, and another one is a weird-shaped. How can we roll 'em? how can the dices show numbers we bet on a game? How can the weird-shaped dice roll like the normal ones? How can the dices roll inside the glass before the dice roller swing 'em out? Does the weird-shaped one affect the way of other normal dices roll? If we put the dices together and roll em, how can they determine the games? How can we win the monopoly? How many chips we can get in Vegas? How many times we need to roll them to fuck ourselves up on the poolside? I am just wondering.