Renowned ‘timnas’ – a temporary euphoria?

Along with their constant victory in 2010 AFF Cup, tremendous support and admiration are attributed to Indonesia’s national football team. Indonesians are now spellbound as the football euphoria spreads across the country, making ‘timnas’ an overnight sensation, the audible song ‘Garuda Didadaku’ reverberate in every corner, and names such as Christian ‘El Loco’ Gonzales and  Bachdim emerge as long-time coming heroes.

 

My husband and I were passing Senayan yesterday and were quite astonished to see an incredible number of people cramming in Gelora Bung Karno trying their luck obtaining the 3rd class tickets of the AFF Cup final between Indonesia and archenemy Malaysia in the coming 29 December 2010. We’d known from TV the more expensive tickets had all been sold-out and that ticket buyers willingly spent the night waiting in front of the booths.  

Crowds were also around Senayan flocking the street sellers selling fake timnas outfits. My husband indeed gave me a significant gesture to pull over and buy, but I told him to get it from an authorized dealer, as we are such bad bargainers and God knows how easy it would be to get us into buying stuff much more expensive than they should be. Besides, the material of the genuine uniform would be much better, I reasoned. But apparently it has become one of the most hunted merchandises, because in every store the outfits had been sold out. He was quite dismayed. 

Some say timnas Indonesia was in their golden era in the 1950s, when the players played due to their passion towards football itself, the era when the team could hold back the mighty Russian team. I am very much proud to say this for the timnas captain at that time was my very own late grandfather, Chris Ong. 

Despite the fact, though, I am never into football, let alone being a nationalist. But this football fever is contagious and I find myself bewitched in this excitement and have actually been praying for our timnas’ success to become the champion of AFF Cup 2010. But I know, once the football season is over, I am no longer a timnas fan. By far, this is the proof that most people, including me and even the government, are suckers for victory, and that the escalating popularity of timnas may remain only if they keep on winning. 

But for this time being in this country of ours, where nationwide triumphant is once in a blue moon, timnas has been singled-out as the spearhead of the people’s solace after so many hitches in this country, and is thus hoped to not only provide consolation to the dreary hearts of the people but to also become a capstone to perk up the country’s image.  Go timnas!

Close the toilet lid when flushing!

Have you ever realized the importance of closing the toilet lid when you flush? Lots of people don’t. A close friend of mine once told me about the importance of closing down the lid but I never took it seriously, as it comes from the person who always overstresses in sanitation by bringing her own tissue and toilet-seat paper and gel-cleaner whenever she feels the urge to visit a public restroom. She claimed the bacteria could fly up to 6 meters, leaving the walls of the restroom full with the bacteria of our crap (including on the paper-toilet provided in the cubicle). Hmmm, she’s exaggerating, I once thought.

So, I did a little research on the net myself, and the result is quite surprising. In Mythbuster episode 12, it was proven that the toothbrushes hung everywhere in the bathroom are with specific bacteria found in our ‘disposal’. Ugh, gross! I just can’t imagine brushing my teeth with an extra ‘toilet ingredient’!

In this matter, it’s true then that hygiene begins from the bathroom. Health-freak might bombard himself with lots and lots of expensive vitamins and precautions to keep healthy, but might neglect the necessity of closing down the toilet lid. Come to think of it, why bother consuming tons of megavitamins if you’re sprinkled with mushrooms of toilet-germs at least three times a day!

I don’t know how accurate this experiment done by Mythbuster is, and many people claimed the germs should not be dangerous for human. But isn’t it something to brighten up your day to know you might actually live a healthier life (for free!) by doing an effort of closing down the toilet-lid? After all, closing down the toilet lid will leave you with lots of advantages. Apart from averting things dropping to the toilet (that's how my ex-student Vicky lost her cellphones - two times!), it’ll look prettier when the lid is closed, don’t you think? And in my case, it prevents Hazel drinking from toilet.

Woof! It's Hazel.

I was wondering if a dog could have autism, but if it could, then Hazel, our beloved Golden Retriever would be a perfect example. This five-year-old, one-balled adorable dog can turn into a Greek-hydra, having the time of his life decapitating all in his sight: balls, fish nets, slippers, you name it!

We all know that munching is a habit of a puppy, so I’ve found his way of expressing himself atypical. We had a professional dog-trainer train him when he was a year old, but little fruit can be seen now as the lessons seem to vaporize as he gets older. He understands the basic command ‘sit, down, sleep and stay’ and in many cases that is what you can expect from a dog. However, as a Golden Retriever, known as “pet with brain”, he’s quite a dim-wit. Well, munching being one of the many reasons. I wonder if it has anything to do with his being a one-testicle male. ;-) duh!

As an adult dog, he's often assumed as a one-year old, mostly by looking from his not so big bone structure and his lack of mane. His behavior doesn't help either: very hyperactive – a puppy character. He'll captivate everyone around him with his innocent cute Golden Retriever face, which I couldn't agree more, but again, looks can be deceiving. In this case, I think I'm one of the few people who can relate well to John Grogan, the author of Marley and Me. Marley was a wholesome, and Hazel is too: the attention seeker, very playful, ball-blaster Golden Retriever!

Putting all his misdemeanor would be an endless list. Maybe I should narrow it to what he did in this past week:
- stealing warm bakpaos (which were supposed to be our dinner) from the dining table in stealth mode
- drinking from our new fish aeration
- munching chocolate pie left-over from the coffee table
- lurking our koi fish and presumably swallowing a small one (as we found a fish scale in his mouth)
- snitching a sausage and fish from the kitchen table
- chewing a bundle of tissue from the bathroom
- blasting a neighbor's ball
- escaping from the window to another neighbor's house
- tearing two door mats to pieces

- scratching our livingroom floor with his gigantic paw nails (as a result of trying to dig a bone underneath, perhaps?)

As we live in a cluster-type neighborhood and so it's without a gate, we usually have him tied to a 40-kg block of cement in our garden. I'd love to see him unleashed at all time but unfortunately Hazel's wayward, fun-loving attitude made it impossible. He's easily distracted and will dash out of sight once he sees something interesting (that includes leaf falling from a neighbor's garden, cat passing or kid running). But, I really marvel at the power he possesses; he can drag the block of cement with him! There's this guy living in front of us, and he's always picking on our dog playfully, with a ball sometimes. Once Hazel chased him while being leashed, dragging the cement block to my neighbor's door for the chance of playing.

Like what Marley had done in John Grogan's life, Hazel has brought colors to our life; he's both a nuisance and blessing. He's may be a transformation of a hellish creature in a comical way, whose meal portion equals to that of five persons'. But for me and my husband, he's more than that. He's literally one of a kind son of a bitch, a happy-go-lucky furry friend who'd willingly serve himself as a living carpet and follow us whenever we're with food.

On the hindsight, the blame should not be put on him. Maybe this is the result of having lots of negligence since he was a puppy. He was originally my husband’s family’s dog and used to be put in the porch. He didn’t get many people to pet him, except my husband, who also spent limited time with him – after he got home from work. Now that he lives with us, we’ve been trying to make ‘talking to pet’ a habit, and have seen a good progress: when he comes to his senses, it’s really easy to communicate with him, though there are still times when he’s more than what we can handle. It’s frustrating for us and I know it’s also exasperating for him too, being talked in a stern way.

But then, how could you be really angry when he shows this face:

Assuming his hyperactivity is a gesture of attention seeking, I hope in the near future there’ll be time when it’s no longer impossible to put towels or food in his reach, without him trying to snatch it. Let it be soon, please..