If You Were Rich in The Past And Loved Travelling so You Should Travel With These 'Monsters'!

One of my dreams is cruising on a luxurious liner. Whooaa! A big big big ship gliding smoothly in the middle of the ocean, and I'm enjoying my sunny morning in the deck, laying down in the recliner lazily while taking my iced-lemon tea and bourbons, music in iPod, whoooaa! Life's so good, perfect life wtf whoaaaaaa!!

Whoaa.. those ships.. wtf!

But, let's walk back to the past in period 1800 to 1900. Some ships were famous in their era. Sign of the technology of the moment, it shew that the technology had reached the peak and then kept growing better and faster. Here are several photos of the famous liners at the era :

 RMS Baltic

RMS Britannic II (note the funnels built lower)

Cunard's Line RMS Carinthia. Had good accommodation for 3rd class passenger. Personally, I think it was a good innovation at that moment, which made 3rd class passengers satisfied by the accommodation (compare with Titanic [especially on movie we've seen], how the crew treated them and the accommodation looked like a stable)

Cunard's Line RMS Carpathia. Rescued survivors from Titanic. The ship arrived approximately 4 hours after Titanic sink.

RMS Cedric, the postcard above exposed the ship weight (tonnage) : 21,073 tons

RMS Celtic, I dunno why the ships were look similar each other LoL

RMS Georgic, the card. It was written 'Cunard White Star' (if I'm not mistaken)

Cunard's Line RMS Lusitania. Basically similar to Titanic (4 funnels). Sunk by German ship

RMS Majestic

Cunard's Line RMS Mauretania. Remember what Rose said on Titanic movie. (Looking at Titanic) "It seems no bigger than Mauretania", Rose said to her fiance, Caledon Hockley

RMS Oceanic

RMS Olympic (above) and RMS Titanic (below), note the ships looked similar. Except for half of promenade A-deck (below the boat deck) was enclosed. And her B-deck configuration was different. But both of the hull were almost had same length. RMS Olympic had a collision with HMS Hawke, made a great damage in her bow. In World War I, Olympic was in service as a troopship. It was painted in dazzle scheme (camouflage). Titanic and Olympic, both had similar grand staircase in 1st class (remember scene where Jack Dawson waiting for Rose in the grand staircase then the clock chimes 9 times).

Titanic had a different story. As Olympic served long career (from 1911 to 1935), Titanic sank in her maiden voyage at April, 15th 1912 after striking an iceberg. Titanic was said "The Unsinkable", but the fact, she was gone. She had great on-board features for her passengers, swimming pool, Turkish bath, Verandah café, Café Parisien, gymnasium, library, barber shop, squash court, and many more. First-class passengers paid a hefty fee for such amenities. The most expensive one-way trans-Atlantic passage was US$4,350 (which is more than US$95,860 in 2008 dollars) [references from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic].

She had 45,000 napkins, 50,000 towels, 18,000 bedsheets, 7,500 blankets, 5,000 table clothes, 800 cotton blanket, 12,000 knifes, 12,000 forks, 19,000 spoons, 400 sugar bowl, 400 cream bowl, 1,000 bowl, 12,000 cups and saucers, 1,200 teapots, and 2,500 champagne glass. The stock for a voyage was a great number. Go to the dining room, we could find 11 dishes a night! Started from scallops and white Burgundy, soup, fish. The main dish would be beef or chicken, then mutton with mint-sauce, roasted-duck with apple sauce, or sirloin, or beef. Followed by the next dishes number 6, 7, 8, 9, like cold asparagus, pâté de froi gras. As the dessert, there would be Waldorf pudding, vanilla and chocolate éclair, French ice cream, or passion fruit in jelly.

Whereas, Olympic in World War I initially remained in commercial service under Captain Herbert Haddock. She sailed from New York on 20 October 1914 for Britain, though carrying very few passengers, as Germany had announced that her U-boats would sink the Olympic on sight and most of the passengers had cancelled. On the sixth day of her voyage, the Royal Navy alerted Haddock that four U-boats were pursuing his ship and ordered him to head north for Glasgow instead of continuing into the English Channel. On 27 October, as the Olympic passed near Lough Swilly, she received distress signals from HMS Audacious, which had struck a mine off Tory Island and was taking on water.

The Olympic took off 250 of the Audacious' crew, then the destroyer HMS Fury managed to attach a tow cable between Audacious and Olympic and they headed west for Lough Swilly. However, the cable parted after the Audacious' steering gear failed. A second attempt was made to tow the warship, but the cable became tangled in HMS Liverpool's propellers and was severed, and a third attempt also failed when the cable gave way. By 17:00 the Audacious' quarterdeck was awash and it was decided to evacuate the remaining crew members to Olympic and Liverpool, and at 20:55 there was an explosion aboard the Audacious and she sank. 

Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, Commander of the Home Fleet, was anxious to suppress the news of the sinking of Audacious, for fear of the demoralizing effect it could have on the British public, so ordered Olympic to be held in custody at Lough Swilly. No communications were permitted and passengers were not allowed to leave the ship. The only people departing her were the crew of the Audacious and Chief Surgeon John Beaumont, who was transferring to RMS Celtic. Steel tycoon Charles M. Schwab, who was travelling aboard the liner, sent word to Jellicoe that he had urgent business in London with the Admiralty, and Jellicoe agreed to release Schwab if he remained silent about the fate of Audacious. Finally, on 2 November, Olympic was allowed to go to Belfast where the passengers disembarked.

Now, Olympic's fittings were auctioned off immediately before she was scrapped; some of her fittings, namely those of the First Class Lounge and part of the Aft Grand Staircase, can be found in the White Swan Hotel, in Alnwick, Northumberland, England. Some fittings and panelling also ended up at a Haltwhistle paint factory. The rest of her fittings found homes in scattered places throughout Great Britain.

In 2000, Celebrity Cruises purchased some of Olympic's original wooden panels and created the RMS Olympic Restaurant on board their newest cruise ship, Millennium. According to Celebrity Cruise Line, this wood panelling once lined Olympic's à la carte restaurant.

In 2004, in the Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri, USA, a first class cabin from the Olympic served as an example of the class's interior quarters. A replica of the Grand Staircase in the Titanic also appears at this museum, as well as many items recovered from the Titanic wreckage (reference taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Olympic). 

Cunard's Line RMS Queen Elizabeth

Cunard's Line RMS Queen Mary II, note for the different interface (compare with Titanic), it had one funnel on-board.

Cunard's Line RMS Queen Mary. Now serving as a museum and hotel at Long Beach, California. LOL I wanna stay there...

Cunard's Line RMS Victoria

SS Adriatic, note the masts and one funnel applied

SS Arabic

SS Leviathan (the ship looked great)

SS Megantic

SS Normandie, gliding on the ocean

SS Paris, note the pollution she made from her 3 funnels

At last, still there was a ship left (I dunno whether this ship really existed or just a fiction, but I found a painting of her)

Antonio Graza, Genova

I found the ship on 'Ghost Ship' movie, where all the passengers and crews were killed sadistically.

So, which one would you choose?

I See It Everywhere

A phrase of a song appeared on an TV ad keeps lingering on my mind :

"I see it there, I see it there, I see it everywhere.."

It reminds me of something metaphysically exist :

Supernatural Creatures

I do believe in their existence, I mean yeah they're real but only certain people can see. Some friends of mine have been 'awarded' the sixth sense which 'allows' them to see something ordinary people cannot see (but can't be denied for several people, the 'skill' is annoying even a nightmare). Also, several ordinary people have had some experience 'rendezvous-with-the-deceased' or 'touch-the-invisible', so have I.

The story started when I was awakened in that night..

It was almost dawning, I looked at the clock and it showed 3a.m. Music still played from my computer, unfortunately the music sounded like.. a lamentation. I snuggled upon my bed, and then I was awakened. I still closed my eyes but my ears heard anything around. I turned myself toward the wall, when slowly I heard a strange sound, like somebody opened my wardrobe, sounded squeaky. I got scared a bit, and kept snuggling up. It wasn't raining but I felt cold so I get my blanket covering my body at all. Then I heard someone walking toward me. I remembered exactly that I had locked the door before I jumped onto my bed. So, how could someone entered my bedroom, unless they had another key. But my key, still it hung on its place so people couldn't open it. Started shivering, I prayed in fear. O God, I heard the footsteps walking on the floor. I heard it clearly, yeah I thought 'he' was walking around my bedroom, looking for something I don't know. Two minutes passed by. The footsteps sound disappeared. Then, I got a really really great fear! Fearfully, I turned back myself and looked around my bedroom. No one was there. A bit screamed, I covered myself with my blanket all over my body and started sleeping again but so hard. The music played still, in cold tunes of piano. I couldn't open my eyes until alarm rang and I found myself messy and woke up lately..

The song reminds me of those stories. I see it there, I see it there, I see it everywhere. They are everywhere, so wherever they go, they will always see them everywhere. O God..

But I remember one thing told by my teacher :

"They are everywhere. We have to believe in their existence. As long as we can live in harmony with them, everything will be fine. Sometimes, they appear to be someone or something scary. But, they will need great power to transform themselves into something or someone else. And at last, still. We're here in our world, and they're there, in their own world. They can see us, but we cannot see them. We should live in harmony, so no one will feel impaired."

Yeah.. I believe in their existence.

But several nights after the day, I got scared when I went to bed..

On That Morning, I Fell Silent

I didn't attend my school, it would be 2 days holiday. I stayed home but still woke up earlier.
Computer was still turned on, forgot to shut it down. The music kept playing, I was so careless, letting the computer turned on and music playing all night long. But that morning, it was a silent morning. Piano sounded from the speaker, the song was "Beautiful Dusk". So ridiculous, it wasn't dusk. It was dawn..

I opened the curtain covering the window, then opened the window. Cold wind got through the window, it felt so cold, as cold as a corpse being left by the soul fly up up away to heaven. The music blended with the atmosphere, making something unusual and special for me in that morning. I sat on the corner of my bed and looked outside. Grey, white, orange, dark-violet, that was all I saw in the sky. Degradation of those colors made a spectacular painting created by Lord. Bird started chirping, humming, and flying low around the tree. No sunshine got down through the clouds. They were too thick, so no sunshine reflected in my window. Music kept playing, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feelings. I tried to blend with the nature, and I did it. The nature and I, we were an intact unity. Then, sounds of chirping birds echoed in my ears. I opened my eyes and found the sun has totally arisen but still the thick clouds above, blocked the sunshine. The sky was cloudy then.

I wish, still I could have that morning again..

Issue for Today : Asean China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA)

This is the one of the hottest issues in Indonesia today. Yeah, let's walk out from "Century Bank" case for a while, and take a look at this motion.

Okay, time to speak Indonesian! (LOL, taking bilingual class)

Motion ini tiba-tiba terpikir di benak saya setelah sempat di bahas di pelajaran Kewarganegaraan siang itu (entahlah, dalam forum diskusi kelas ada yang tiba-tiba bertanya mengenai ACFTA ini dan langsung dibahas oleh guru pelajaran). Dia (guru pelajaran sosial), memaparkan tentang bagaimana sebenarnya ACFTA itu dan segala macam pernak-perniknya (aksesoris kali, mas...). Ternyata, ide mengenai perdagangan bebas ini tidak muncul sekarang-sekarang, melainkan sudah pernah tercetus sekitar 10 tahun yang lalu! Kalau memang sudah tercetus dari 10 tahun yang lalu, maka seharusnya Indonesia sekarang ini sudah siap untuk menghadapi Free Trade dengan negara-negara Asean lainnya (Laos, Myanmar, dan Vietnam pada tahun 2015) dan tentunya China (hhuuu... saya kangen kampung halaman). Tapi pada kenyataannya, pasar Indonesia 'memang' belum mampu mendobrak pasar luar. Yeah, bisa dibayangkan ketika barang-barang dari luar masuk ke Indonesia dengan bebas. Bagaimana dengan nasib perusahaan-perusahaan di Indonesia, terutama perusahaan kecil atau usaha rumahan?

Dalam kasus termudah, sebelum tahun 2010 saja (misalnya 2009 atau 2008, 2000 juga boleh as you wish dah!) coba kita lihat dari produk-produk yang ada di pasaran, terutama mainan! Jarang banget saya lihat produk dengan atribut 'Made in Indonesia'. Kalaupun ada sepertinya mainan 'asli' Indonesia (becak-becakan, kelereng, atau layangan), tapi kan pada faktanya memang ngga kelihatan kan label 'Made in Indonesia' di layangan, apalagi di kelereng. Sebagai gantinya, kita mungkin pernah dengar lelucon 'orang Bali yang tinggal di Hongkong' alias 'Made in China'. Silahkan coba cari ke toko mainan atau elektronik. Maka kita akan mudah mendapatkan atribut 'Made in China'. Itu membuktikan bahwa begitu banyaknya produk China dibandingkan produk asli Indonesia.

Kasus berikutnya, coba deh ke supermarket atau minimarket. Dan ambil beberapa makanan ringan brand tertentu. Saya, salah satunya yang sering membeli kripik kentang merk ..............., coklat batang merk ............, dan wafer merk ......... Saya dapat dengan mudah melihat label di belakang produk : "Imported from Malaysia" atau "Imported from Singapore". Tentu saja tidak semua produk itu diimpor dari Singapura atau Malaysia. Pasti ada lah produk asli Indonesia. Tapi anehnya, kenapa justru produk 'imporan' itu lebih banyak fansnya dibandingkan produk asli Indonesia? Memang bagi sebagian orang, yang namanya popularitas 'brand' itu faktor utama dalam membeli sesuatu. Misalnya, susu merk A diimpor dari negara blablabla menggunakan teknologi terbaru dan duaar dengan harga N rupiah memiliki kandungan (misalnya ya) kalsium X gram. Sementara susu merk B produksi Indonesia menggunakan teknologi yang ada dengan harga M rupiah yang lebih murah daripada N rupiah namun memiliki kalsium X gram, yang sama dengan susu A. Saya lihat, orang-orang lebih memilih susu merk A karena atribut 'Imported from .....'

Ironis! Seperti yang guru saya paparkan bahwa Indonesia mengekspor bukan barang jadi melainkan bahan baku dan bahan setengah jadi! Contohnya? Kain! Gampang kan? Di Bandung terutama hari Sabtu dan Minggu, Pasar Baru Trade Center yang penuh dengan ratusan bahkan ribuan atau mungkin puluhan ribu umat manusia berjejalan untuk memborong barang sampai perang tawar-tawaran (they keep bargaining but I can't bargain well LOL). Eits, diantara ribuan orang itu yang terdiri dari berbagai ras dan agama, seperti Sunda, Cina, Jawa (yang rela dengan bus wisata rombongan datang buat shopping sepuasnya, thanks for coming to my city ya guys!), Betawi, Batak, Bali, semuanya! Ternyata, ada juga serombongan kelompok yang terlihat 'mirip' kita. Mirip? Yeah, mereka orang Melayu alias Malaysia yang datang jauh-jauh dari Kuala Lumpur atau Johor Baru or wherever they are ke Bandung desak-desakan buat shopping. Mereka memborong (biasanya) ga cuma baju, tetapi kain! Kain? Yup, harga kain (garment) di Indonesia (katanya sih) lebih murah dibanding disana, makanya mereka berombongan datang dan ngeborong kain-kain yang ada. Setelah kembali, entah kain itu dibuat apa disana tapi kain itu akan kembali ke Indonesia sebagai baju bukan kain lagi! Dan parahnya, terkadang baju-baju atau kain hanya dibawa kesana buat di-tag dengan brand tertentu yang mahal atau 'wah', maka seketika pula harganya meningkat tajam. Maka, kain yang dibeli di Indonesia seharga (misalnya) 90.000 IDR, dibawa ke negara lain dan 'dikembalikan' dalam bentuk baju dengan brand apalah yang akhirnya dijual dengan harga 3 kali lipatnya. Ya Tuhan...

Kasus yang sama mengenai ekspor impor juga dijelaskan oleh guru saya tentang kayu rotan. Indonesia mengekspor rotan ke negara lain. Dan akhirnya, rotan tersebut 'dikembalikan' alias diimpor lagi ke Indonesia dalam bentuk furnitur! Kalau aja, Indonesia mengekspor barang jadi, bukan bahan baku atau setengah jadi.. yeah, mungkin setidaknya tidak akan mengalami 'kerugian' seperti itu. Ohya, kembali ke Pasar Baru Trade Center, Bandung. Selagi orang-orang memborong baju dan pesta tawar harga, kain-kain impor datang ke gudang dengan harga yang bersaing ekstrim! Indonesia juga punya banyak pabrik garment, tapi bersaing dengan kain-kain impor dari Cina yang katanya harganya lebih murah dari kain produksi pabrikan Indonesia. Belum lagi kain-kain atau baju dari designer terkenal di dunia seperti Versace, Gucci, atau apalah. Lantas, produk impor akan lebih mendominasi dan tentu saja menyebabkan kerugian buat produk bikinan Indonesia. Harga barang-barang produkan Cina lebih murah karena biaya tenaga kerja mereka juga murah (maksudnya ya.. mungkin dari salary, lebih rendah daripada salary pekerja di Indonesia). Kenapa bisa lebih murah? Karena disana banyak Human Resources. Pasti! China dengan penduduk sekitar 1 milyar, mendominasi daratan yang ada di bumi ini dan tersebar di berbagai negara. Artinya, China punya banyak sekali pekerja kan?

Kalau perdagangan bebas ini dipaksakan, bukannya tidak mungkin bahwa Indonesia akan kalah saingan. Nanti kita lihat, akan sangat banyak produk 'imporan' dari Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, atau China berserakan dimana-mana (berserakan karena kalau sudah banyak ya.. overwhelming aja kali ya?). Dan bukan tidak mungkin, akan semakin banyak pemutusan hubungan kerja di Indonesia. Memang seharusnya Indonesia sudah mempersiapkan selama 10 tahun itu untuk menghadapi perdagangan bebas ini, tapi sepertinya ya.. ya sudah lah, pada akhirnya I just can hope for the betterment saja. Entahlah, ya saya sih percaya pada mujizat ya (Miracle is real, kan?) yang mungkin tiba-tiba saja pasar Indonesia mendominasi seluruh pasar ASEAN dan China (wow!) dan membuat nilai rupiah menguat (whoaaaa!).
Hhhh... sekarang banyak demo menuntut perdagangan bebas dihentikan. Yeah, mereka pasti sudah melihat prospek kedepannya seperti apa. Semoga saja, langkah-langkah yang diambil para petinggi bukan langkah yang salah.. I wish..

My Favorite: Happy Island on Facebook

A friend invited me to play a game called 'Happy Island'. Usually, I ignored unwanted invitation requests (especially for useless stuffs), but dunno why I confirmed the invitation and started playing the game.

*My island, LOL still (level 8)

Now, still I play the game. Simply funny. Developed by Crowdstar, this game allows us to build and decorate our own island. Also, visiting our friends is allowed.

But nowadays, hardly to be online so I haven't played the game for several days. I just play it again and see nothing changes a lot but my buildings have earned coins to be collected. I just click on the buildings and earn my money.

*Island Shop, enables us to buy some attractions and decorations for our island

There are some ways to earn money :

*Visiting Sendy's island

• Visiting neighbors. Then, clean their trashes and click on the treasure chest. It will earn money, also gain the XP points
• Clicking on the building. The indicator will show when the building is ready to be earned. Click the bag coin to earn money (it only works in your own buildings, not someone's building)
• Cleaning your island. Trashes also spread around your island. Earn money by cleaning those trashes.
• Selling decoration. This also can help you earning money.

 *NEW on Happy Island! If you have reached level 15, secondary islands are available! The picture shown above is about visiting Idoey's island

Something new on Happy Island. Secondary islands can be achieved if you have reached certain levels. I'm still in level 8 so I cannot achieve secondary islands. Also, higher level you reach, more attractions and decorations you can buy.

Suzuki Violin School: Violin Part, Volume 2

*Giggling*

*Same cover layout as the first one, nothing changes a lot

Poww!! (Falling from the ceiling like a spidey LOL) The second book of Suzuki Violin School books by Shinichi Suzuki. The songs included are (a bit) more difficult and more challenging than the first one. Still, song names and composers are written in 5 different languages (English, Japanese, French, Italian, and German).

Here is the songlist below :

• Chorus From "Judas Maccabaeus" by G.F. Handel
• Musette by J.S. Bach
• Hunters' Chorus by C.M. von Weber
• Long, Long Ago by T.H. Bayly
• Waltz by J. Brahms
• Bourree by G.F. Handel
• The Two Grenadiers by R. Schumann
• Theme From "Witches' Dance" by N. Paganini
• Gavotte From "Mignon" by A. Thomas
• Gavotte by J.B. Lully
• Minuet In G by L. van Beethoven
• Minuet by L. Boccherini

Several comments by me come to several pieces

*Hunter's Chorus, 3rd piece from the book

The piece should be played in Allegro, with catchy tunes at last 3 bars. Legato and staccato are also available here. The first favorite piece in this book.

*Long Long Ago, new variation part of the piece

Still, we can find this piece in this book. But, now played in G major (related to the first book, the same piece is played in A major [3 sharps]). The part above shows the variation part of this song. Legatos and staccatos applied to those notes make me dizzy. Down, up, up, legato, double up-staccato. Rrrrraarrrr...!!

*Bourrée, find this piece in this book

My second favorite piece in this book. Played in medium tempo (Allegretto), I can play this one well (but not perfectly). An ascending scale can be found in the first and the last part of this piece.

*The Two Grenadiers, I found some stupidities in this piece (together with my cousin)

Hahaha, here is a piece which has made me and my cousin laughed stupidly. Firstly, I didn't really like this piece until my cousin visited my house and said, "Wow, listen to this song. This is so stupid but funny!". I listened to the song firstly and it sounded a bit awkward, then she commented in some parts of this song :

"Listen! This sounds like.. rrrarr!!What's that?"

"Yay! I remember! This is like a song which has phrase like this, 'Tempat pahala dan dosa bersaksi..', right?"

"Hahahahahahaha!"

So stupid we were talking and laughing. Then, we found another stupidity at the last part in which is sounded like a song we have known before.

Yep! It sounded like one of Indonesian folk-song, "Dari Sabang Sampai Merauke!"

*Note : It might be sounded different for different people, just a speculation

*Gavotte from 'Mignon', I love the pizzicato-ed notes at the last bars

The third favorite song from this book. Still, the tempo in medium speed (Allegretto), but it has several bars which contains demi-semi-quaver notes and they sound like trills. Also, last bars which contain pizzicato for the notes. A bit cutie, like its name : Gavotte from 'Mignon' (Mignon means cute in French).

*Minuet in G, composed by Beethoven

The last favorite piece from this book. This is the second-last piece contained in this book, the last piece is Minuet by L. Boccherini. Nothing's really special here, but I love the way in moving the bow at the middle parts (legato and 4 up-staccatos).

This book can be found or bought at Amazon.com (possibly available in your bookstore or music store). I really recommend this book, and you gotta try it yourself :)