Why I Deactivate My Facebook Account

Yes, I deactivate it. It’s hard to delete it, that’s why I deactivate it. Just so because I’m fed up of its disadvantages. My lovely country, Indonesia, isn’t ready for Facebook. Let’s just say I need to take a break from it to keep my sanity because I terribly need it now that I’m doing my graduation project.

First, it distracts you. Oh yes, all the games, the quizzes, applications, photos, etc are resistance-proof  temptations. And even if you’re not tempted by it (I kept a healthy amount of playing there), you just can’t  get away because…

Second, ‘your friends’ make you distracted. I’m not an antisocial person. It’s just people seemed love to talk  and more importantly, being talked about almost anything. Those trivial matters like  ’My heart hurts me’ is  boring and useless. And it’s crazy seeing that those ‘controversial’ sayings can be baits to hundreds of even  more useless comments. It makes you feel you should comment too. If you don’t talk much in Facebook,  you’ll be deemed ‘antisocial.’ My not-so-close friend thought I didn’t like her just because I seldom  commented at her status. I didn’t hate her, I just didn’t feel a need to comment. Why can’t Indonesian people  be objective?

Third, and when you want to talk about scizophrenic people or waste problem, nobody wants to talk about  it. They often say, ‘Let things go,’ or, ‘What use talking about it anyway?’ I sometimes think Indonesian  people are only wastes to a supposedly blessed country.

Four, believe you me, but I have many poetic ‘friends’. So poetic that my timeline warrants instant suicide. They filled my timeline with melancholic or pessimistic thoughts (often about love). I started a day cheerfully & full of spirits, until checking my Facebook ruined my mood all day. I tried not to glance at the timeline, but a friend talked to me about another depressed friend and said I should check him/her. They were like ghosts, always finding a way to reach you!

Makes me think that Indonesian people can’t separate things that should be said in direct, daily conversations and things that should be typed in a public, indirect conversations. They seemed to have no shame, telling the world all things about them & it irks me.

But Facebook has given me its biggest advantage, connecting me with distant friends. I have friends in Central and East Java, Lombok, US, Pakistan, etc and it’s great to keep our bond close. I don’t mind talking about trivial matters here and there to them, because I can’t do daily, direct conversations with them while I want to feel as if they’re still close with me. So, yeah, I’ll be back once I graduate, for my friends.

Egypt is In

‘Goodbye the peaceful and romantic travel destination image!’

Egypt is in.

Not because of archaelogical discovery (as I had expected), but because of a revolution! I was surprised when I found out about it last week. For me, Egypt seemed like, what, the only country in Middle-east that was not identified with war and chaos? Except at the borders, yes.

From what I’ve seen in Egypt’s popular culture, they’re not like most of Middle-east countries. Their soap operas have women dressed in lace tops with bare shoulders and shorts, which are very short. That’s for example. I think Mubarak has tried to Americanized Egypt and it’s what makes the people angry.

Okay, I disagree with the people killing Christian Coptics in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. And don’t label those people ‘moslems.’ They are NOT moslems. Moslems are not the kind of people killing anybody around! They’re just murderers!

But I agree with whoever wants to topple Mubarak. It kills me to see any country being like a dog licking United States’ shoes, begging for bones. And to think that my country is being like that too! United States is not the governess of the world and should stop nursering other countries! It makes me sick to see US feeling like I-know-all-better while it actually only knows what’s better for itself!

And what have we here? McCain just agreed that Mubarak needed to go off the show. Ha! Makes me suspicious if they already have a plan to put yet another puppet on Mubarak’s chair? Time will tell.

Not that I hate the US. I’m sure there are many good people there. It’s just the government, I think. See, I like Broadway. I like their national parks, the way the preserve nature is a thing I always admire, I admire their health system (not completely, though). I’m not anti-American. I’m anti-current-American-government. Ha ha.

What Have been Proved Facts in POTO

Truly, this matter is debatable. This has been a nice hobby, but as this matter is too complex for me to solve, I won’t research about it for the time being. I have other pressing matters (including my graduation project).
So now my conclusion on what are facts in Phantom of the Opera:

1. Palais Garnier (and its infamous underground, though I’m not sure about how it looks)
2. The chandelier incident (even though it was only one of the counterweights)
3. The Punjab society & their use of ‘lasso’
4. The curious structure of Yildiz Kiosk in Turkey & its torture chamber (said to be built by an unknown German carpenter, who received much of Sultan’s favor. I’ll let one’s imagination suggest the rest)
5. The phonographic records & a sealed room under the Palais Garnier
6. That the Palais Garnier management had sort of trouble with money at the time POTO supposedly took place
7. That Leroux must be blind to use Christine Nilsson’s as his inspiration for Christine Daae. No offense, but Mme. Nilsson was a diva in her time and she obviously knew it, she was stubborn, rather haughty, and more of a Carlotta type of woman. The New York Times Archives paid attention to her in her active days, even to smallest details of her relationships with friends, etc. This may be subjective, I know.