Learning and Earning by Doing

It has been two weeks since I decided to learn foreing exchange business to understand the realm deeper. By the fifteenth of April, I saw an advertisement in my Yahoo! Mail page. Curiousity took over my mind and I ended up signing in this account. I was half-hearted back then. I was afraid that it was a fraud to take my money. Yeah, cybercrime. Yet again, I believed Yahoo! wouldn't grant any untrusted source to make advertisement in their page.

Five minutes later, I still hadn't finish my deduction, but an international call came in to my phone. I was shocked, so I ignored it. I bet it was a call from the forex company. Then when it came in again about ten minutes later, I decided to pick it up. I was right! It was a call from the company. After half an hour of talking, I decided to have it a try. I deposited US$ 100 to my account, and the game was just began!

I was so excited, so I opened a position. After several minutes, I lost US$ 20. Perfect! However, I managed to gain US$ 41, made a a net profit of US$ 21. Wow.... A beginner's luck, maybe. Along the time, I've made profits and losses inconsistently. But that's the point of learning and earning by doing, isn't it?

Since then, I received at least two emails about strategy and economic information from them. It made me easier to know what was going on in the market and thus what position to be opened. And the best thing about that was they also conducted webinars -- a web-based seminars. I hadn't have any idea what was that about. And the tricky thing was I had to adjust AEDT (Australian Eastern Day Time) with GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), which was claimed +10 hours, but when I synchronized it with the forex platform, it was +9 hours. The schedule was 7PM GMT, which was 4AM AEDT. So if I followed the formal GMT, I would've been too late to join the first webinar. Well, it happened to one of the attendant.

They used Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro to perform the webinar, so the moderator interacted through audio-visual and chat mode. Moreover, he also could control slides and examples and showed them in the middle of the screen. It was very interactive. We only could comment or ask any question through chat mode, but that was more than enough to make any point. Before attending the webinar, I had never imagined that I could join a web-based seminar while the moderator was on the other side of the world and he responded to me directly. It was kinda funny because we used different mode -- I asked and commented through chat mode, while he responded audio-visually -- and yet, it was so unimaginable.

Now, I've already mastered the way to use platform, but I am still struggling to find out on how to read the trends of the market whether they are going to rise or fall. One of the main difference between speculating with foreign currency and stock is we could make money when the currency rise or fall, whereas in the stock, only some people could profit by the fall of the price (the method is known short-selling). I've been spending a lot of time in front of my laptop just to monitor my profits and losses, and it is becoming my habit. But so far, I've been enjoying it. I'm looking forward to master the way to read the trends and make some money through it.

Avatar: Welcome to Planet Pandora

Warning: This posting contains some details from the movie. For everyone who haven't watched it but love to enjoy the movie without anyone tell you the storyline beforehand, I suggest to pick the reading wisefully.
James Cameron is surely a master of break-the-record movies. He was the man behind "Titanic", the worldwide highest-grossing movie of all time, at least until the beginning of this year, before he broke another record through his recent masterpiece, "Avatar". Also, many movie criticists suspected that Avatar had the highest budget of all time. One movie with multiple records. Splendid!

For me, Avatar made my record too: watching the same movie three times in two weeks. Twice on my laptop, and once in 3-D IMAX Theatre. Why's that so special? Well, because usually I am too lazy to watch a movie after I watch it once. But there are just too many factors made me fond of watching this movie.

The other-worldly Planet Pandora was as far as 5 years of light from Planet Earth, which in this movie was succumbing into its destruction, thanks to humankind greed, indeed. 'Twas occupied by six-legged and four-winged creatures as well as glow-in-the-dark plants, and most importantly the blue-skin humanoid: the Na'vi. Na'vi was the human in its own world. Well, not real human, but at least humanoid. Its body was more evolved than human with bones reinforced with naturally occuring carbon fiber. I didn't really know what's the significance, but essentially its bones were seriously harder than human bones. Also, Na'vi had intelligence, speaks advanced language, granted control on its nature, and had complex culture. The cultural details were explained in quite thorough way: how they accepted newcomer, how they acknowledged one's maturity, how to behave as a good Na'vi, and also how they made bonds, i.e. Sa'helu, with horses and Ikrans.

Na'vi's goddess, Eywa, was another ethereal touch in the story. She was so real that Na'vi interacted with her almost directly, and more importantly, Her rule in a decisive battle with the bad side: human. Yeah, human. The fact that human was not always being the most righteous side was one of the most important thing that made this movie very special. Not like most of human-versus-alien movies, human was the main villain in this movie. As if that wasn't enough, human also took part with the good side, most notably, Jake Sully

Favorite moments

There's several moments I liked best, and I sort them based on my preference.

1. Jake implemented his hypothesis about the Toruk. Jake believed that because Toruk was the king of the air, it became too proud of itself and though that there was no reason to be afraid when it flew on the air. So he tried to prove it by jumping right on its back. Good job, Jake!

2. Jake fled away from furious hungry Pandoran tiger, Thanator. I loved the slow-motioned moments when he fought his way to lose the tiger, especially when he jumped off the cliff while the tiger tried to catch him right by the edge of the cliff.

3. Tsu'tey led three young Na'vis -- included Jake -- to find their Ikrans. They ran and climbed furiously through roots and jumped to another roots with the risk of losing their lifes. Classic.

4. "Seeds of the secret tree" covered Jake's body. Neytiri believed it was a sign from Eywa that Jake was special and thus decided to bring him to Moat.

5. Jake's survival game in the forest. The first time I watched this movie, I thought he would surely not make it through the night without any serious injury. He was surrounded by two dozens of dogs, for God's sake! Luckily, the "good Samaritan", I mean "good Pandoran" named Neytiri arrived to save the night.

Flaws

Despite its complex features, I always think that the movie could be done more than it had. Here are the things I considered as flaws in the movie.

1. Pandoran creature limbs. The fact that Planet Pandora had less gravitational force than earth made it rational for Na'vi's posture to be as twice as human, but it was slightly out-of-track for another creatures to have extra limbs for lower gravity than earth's. Luckily, Na'vi didn't have four legs.

2. Na'vi's language fluency. I love the way Neytiri spoke in English the first time she met Jake. "This is sad. Very sad, only," she said it with awkward pronunciation and structure. That's it. That's the first and last time she spoke like that. It was strange for me to hear Na'vis talk English very fluently, considering they only practiced it with Jake and Grace. She even spoke English more fluent than me, whom have learned English since elementary school. I would like to hear them speak stutteringly like: "You... who?" or "You... come... from... where?"

3. The "sex" element. I think it's extremely absurd to put the element into this movie in the way a human made out with a Na'vi woman. How come they did it exactly as human do? Kissing, hugging, etc. Moreover, it wasn't even Jake's real body: it's artificially controlled by him. Yet again, it's Hollywood, man! That's the way they've always done it. There's almost no Hollywood movie except with sex or nude scene in it.

4. Tail and Sa'helu of Na'vi. Why did it had tail and Sa'helu? What's the purpose of the tail other than to be stepped by another Na'vi? Also, the Sa'helu was alogical. Na'vi's head was covered by hair but it had Sa'helu by the end of its queue/ponytail? And it could even made Na'vi blind if it touched the eyes? "It's kinda creepy," Jake said.

Despite the flaws I mentioned, I still think the movie is spectacular. James was surely supported by consolidated geniuses. They worked very hard to make this film with sophisticated technology to bring CGI evolution to the extent that animated expressions were so realistic. I really loved the movie, and it was the best movie I've ever watched. Four thumbs up!

Meet the Na'vis and the Avatar Riders

Sam Worthington as Jake Sully

Zoe Saldana as Neytiri

Laz Alonso as Tsu'tey

Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine

CHH Pounder as Mo'at

Wes Studi as Eytukan

Joel Moore as Norm Spellman

Trivia

1. To make this movie, James and friends spent about 10-15 years from research and brainstorming until the finishing touch to release it. Isn't that just insane? Luckily, James live long enough to finish the movie.

2. Avatars, like its riders, had five fingers and toes whereas the real Na'vi only had four.

3. Inspiration for the Na'vi people was from indigenious tribes, especially traditional African. It explained the familiar body paints and loinclothes, didn't it?

4. Even Na'vi's skin color was blue, their blood was red.

5. Average height of male Na'vi was 3 meters. It was as twice as male human height.

6. Their strength was three times than normal human strength.

And then there was only me!

Five of us started a subject together; one confronted the lecturer, and then there were four.
Four of us studied in the city campus library; one became lazy, and then there were three.
Three of us discussed on Net Present Value; one lost her shoe, and then there were two.
Two of us dealt with great uncertainty; one turned crazy, and then there was only me!

Girl in Pink

A short story by Faris

Walking down the street is her my eyes have been staring at. She is how I describe “elegant”, everyway a man could say, I'm convinced. Her way to walk, her way to laugh, her way to speak, and her way to take a glance, so clear even when I see her from distance. Well, I don’t know her name. I don’t even know nothing about her... just yet. I just know that she fonds of something feminine, explained by everyway she appears. Pink. It perfectly fits her prettiness. In the pink, she looks sparkling that my heart always feels her presence, even if she is hidden from my view.

Girl in pink… that’s what I’ve been calling her in my mind! I want to know everything about her, everything she would want to share with me. And as the time goes, I want her to know everything about me as well, everything she would want to know about me. She loves to smile and laugh. Yeah, she is so cheerful. But still, I want to make her lips stretch wider than they usually do, until she forgets how to cry, or even just to feel a slightiest touch of sadness. I want to protect her from this harmful world -- even they've never stop calling me "weak fry" -- until she forgets how to be scared.

Girl in pink… how untouchable she is. Guys approach her, but none of them can get any closer than just a talk. So, could you tell me who are you waiting for, my Lady? Is that someone for you to share your happiness or your disappointment toward the world craziness? Is there none of them can do you those favors? Is that “right man” hasn’t yet to be appeared before your very eyes? Well, if that's the case, I would never have any idea who's that luckiest man going to be. But I know this for sure, I am not “that” man. Nope! Not yet! I am no one for you, I believe. I’m still looking for the perfection myself -- the so-called self-actualization -- even sometimes I think I might accomplish it by knowing you. But I can’t, I just can’t... Somehow my heart keeps saying that I would be the last man on earth that deserves you.

Girl in pink… what is going on with me? Why am I feeling this way? I’ve never feel it before. So strange! I am surrounded by family and friends, but still am I feeling so lonely. And... what is this? My heart pounds faster and harder everytime I see her. I breathe harder everytime she talks with those men, as if I want to bury them into nothingness. Is this the meaning of “that” word? All this time I’ve been denying its existence, without even realized that someday I would have to feel it too. All this time I despise those couples flying in ecstasy, as suppose this world is theirs. Well, I would dare to lick my spit and swallow those thoughts if by doing so could bring her closer to the bottom of my heart.

Girl in pink... how unbearable this feeling, hurts my heart as if it's going to be bleeding. Ahhh... how I want to let you know that someday I would be "the right man" and gain the courage to yell the words out loud to this mere world: I LOVE YOU!

Globalization

Question: What is the truest definition of Globalization?

Answer: Princess Diana's death

Question: How come?

Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend, crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whisky, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi on Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines.



PS: The idea behind this is not originally mine. I quoted it from my lecturer's pinboard ;-p

Well done! Yamaha YZR Paper Craft

Uhm... Actually, it's a bad time to share it, really. It's because I post it late by 2 months off!

I started it by 6th February and finished it by 17th February. But just because I was in a rush to went back to Medan the next two days, I hadn't had a time to post about this. Whatever it was, here I am, showing off the finished work of my Yamaha YZR paper craft model (white).

Is it cool? You tell me. But everytime I see it, I always think I could do it in a lot more better look. Well, it has a lot of weaknesses, but this one big weakness keep bothering me: the colour is ninety-nine-percent "white"! That's just because I was really excited to start it right away even before I found out the way to print picture in colours at my campus' computer.

How did I find out about this stuff? Please read my previous posting titled Paper craft.

So, this is it, my paper craft creation of Yamaha YZR and... enjoy!











You think you can make a better one? Please try it by visiting Yamaha paper craft website.

Zombie

There is no doubt that most of gamers and movie-lovers around the world are familiar with it, but I bet less than half of them aware that the origin of the word "zombie" was derived from Kikongo (Congo's language) word zumbi which means god or divine entity. There are just too many zombie-related video games and movies. Among them, the most famous franchise is clearly Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), which was produced by Capcom and made its debut in 1996 as one of Sony PlayStation's earliest 3-D video games.

The history of zombie emergence is arguable even today. Most people doubt their very existence other than a mere Hollywood fiction, whereas some believed the traces are left in some part of Africa. So, long time ago, the West African believed that dead people could be revived by a sorcerer through voodoo power. These "undeads" were then controlled as laborers to work at farm or garden.

In 1937, Zora Hurston, an African-American author, found a case of a woman who had died and been buried yet appeared in a village in Haiti. She found out that the awakening of the dead woman was due to the use of some medical secrets. However, she was not able to finish her investigation as she could not find any further information.


In 1982, another investigation – again, in Haiti -- was done by Wade Davis, a Harvard ethnobotanist. He concluded that a living human can be turned into a zombie by using two special powders. The powders were coup de poudre (French for powder strike) and datura. By inserting these powders into the vein, a victim can be turned into a death-like state in which a shaman is able to control him/her. From his research, he wrote two books to explain this phenomenon, The Serpent and the Rainbow (1985) and Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie (1988). However, his works had been heavily criticized. Terence Hines, an expert in neurology, doubted Davis’ claim that the powders can induce the death-like state. He also stated that Davis’ reports of Haitian zombies is viewed as overly credulous.

The description and concept of zombie we know today are assumed to had been greatly influenced by George A. Romero's film Night of the Living Dead. In this 1960's film, he related zombie with vampire which resulted on a new hybrid of powerful yet messy monster with a never-satisfiable hunger on human flesh. He was inspired by Richard Matheson, the first author of the genre with his first novel I Am Legend (1954), which had been adapted several times by Hollywood producers.

Paper Craft

By the midnight of 6th January 2010, when I red Stella Lune's blog, I unintentionally found a posting written by a guest blogger Ninjatoes. Well, as far as I know, there were nothing special about him... until I found his hobby: paper-crafting!

What is paper craft? Well, Ninjatoes described it as:

"...when you print a page of parts (preferably on some thicker paper) cut them out and fold them, and then glue them together to make your very own 3D paper model of your favourite game/anime/movie character/whatever!"

Looking at his creations, I was astonished and started to wonder if I could also made such things. At a glance, I know that this hobby needs at least one thing, described plainly by one word: determination! Why's that so? Because it takes quite a time and also a lot of effort to cut papers -- which sometimes so small or difficult to cut -- and stick 'em up with a glue -- which sometimes too liquid and hard to deal with -- and finally assemble them up with right spots and angles to be united. Even if you are provided with the templates and detailed instructions, I can guarantee you that they are not as easy to be done as it may look.

Among Ninjatoes' creations

Also, Ninjatoes mentioned about a tool called Pepakura Designer. This tool enables you to import a digital 3D model and unfold it into a 2D template, obviously assisting this paper-crafting hobby in an even easier way and enjoyable to do.

Actually, paper craft is not wholly new stuff for me. I had been acquainted with them when I was still a child. I still remembered that there were some children magazine which provided these kinda stuff to play with. I also remembered that I tried to make one in vain, because it was real hard for a child, for God's sake!

Therefore, I started to find anything paper-crafted in the internet until I decided to have a try making Yamaha YZR model. I chose the white version because I just wanted to try to make it, not to make it as perfect as possible. Let's see if I can finish it at all!

Here are the sneak-peak for the work-in-progress parts:

Prologue

Hello and happy new year 2010 to all!

Herewith, I am delighted to join as one of millions of bloggers around the world!

This blog will take a role as a medium where I will share my thoughts, informations, news, short-stories, reviews, or anything that attracts my interest, which I hope attracts yours too. This blog will also be a medium in which enable me to enhance my English writing skills and vocabularies, and more importantly, my English skill itself.

So, the background on this blogging hobby of mine. My interest in blogging started to emerge when a guy motivated me to participate more actively in a club mailing-list back when I was doing bachelor degree. After a couple of postings, he humbly praised the way I write and thus recommended me to start creating a blog and stuffed it with whatever I want to write. Therefore, I started my first blog in a Friendster account. But then, I tried to find a better, more publicly-available blog provider, in which eventually I find Blogger as an attractive one. And then here I am....

Enough blabberings, enjoy the blog and feel free to leave comment or suggestion!


Faris