Isolated Paradise Again

There she was sitting alone in the cafeteria again. To her left sat a group of unruly boys busying themselves by seeing who could choke on their peanut butter and jelly sandwich the fastest and then guzzle it down with milk. And to the right sat the most evil of the schools inhabitants, looking up and down into their little pocket mirrors to find a patch of skin that wasn’t covered in make-up. Looking backward, you could see the group of nice girls who always smiled as they looked in her direction but never invited her to sit with them. And, forward, was the group of shy boys who never spared a passing glance, since they were too busy exploding paper bags.

She sat in the middle of the congested lunchroom eating her ham and turkey sandwich, chocolate pudding, and juice in peace. It was comforting, it was as it had always been, and to her, it was right. Her place, right outside of the ninth grade social circle, was something she looked forward to. Everyday she sat down and enjoyed not having any arguments to settle, any friendships to maintain, and any meaningless conversations about lip-gloss. Although others looked down upon her as the antisocial girl, she didn’t care, she was proud of it.

But one day, it all changed. The day started out normally. The morning passed by and soon everyone was racing down the halls to get to the cafeteria, taking their seats, and shaking their heads from left to right to catch up on rumors with friends. She sat down at her private little table and was finally isolated from the nonsense of the teenage world. It was right then that he came, straight down from the blue, walked up to her lunch table, and sat down next to her. He smiled and she frowned wondering why the new kid was sitting with her. As if that wasn’t torture enough, he began to talk uncontrollably. It was as though he looked to this period of the day to pour out his life story to this poor, annoyed girl who wanted nothing more than to be left alone for forty-five minutes. He traced back his life to five years ago and started there, ending with his future plans, all the while smiling and glancing backward to see if any of the boys were throwing something at him.

This went on for the next few months and there was nothing special about the lunch period to her anymore, nothing that kept her hopes up. There was no quiet, isolated island left at her table, just an annoying voice that never let up. And as she sat down to another forty-five minutes of torture, he smiled, but she could easily see that it wasn’t the same smile. It didn’t reach his eyes and didn’t light up the rest of his face. He told her that he left his history book back in the last class, and that he would return after he got it. To her surprise, he never came back to her table. The next day he sat down at the boy’s table and didn’t speak to her. He didn’t smile at her, and didn’t grab her some extra napkins. And she sat in her isolated paradise once again, just like she always did, all by herself.

THE JAVANESE

               The area of Java is very vast covering central and east Java island. In ancient time Mataram kingdom which are now the the special district of Yogyakarta and Solo in Central Java were the center of their culture. In 1755 the kingdom was splited into 2, one is the Sultanate of Yogyakarta, and one other is Kasunanan of Surakarta ( both are Islamic kingdoms ). Javanese speak complex dialect which introduces social status. In general the dialect is divided into two levels that are "Ngoko" dialect which is spoken among known partners, and "Krama" dialect which is spoken among those who are not known each other and for those whose social status is considered higher. Both Ngoko and Krama have more further variations, when it was spoken for palace member, higher status level, or more senior people, or for lower level, etc.

Java land is the most densely populated in Indonesia. Many big cities are still developing such as Yogyakarta, Semarang, Solo, Surabaya, Blitar, and Malang. While dozens of medium to small cities still heavy with population. So the welfare of the people is still a tremendous big works. Still a large part of the population working on the land cultivating rice, cassava ( marlihot utilissima Phl), corn (zea mays L), yam (ipomea batatas poir ), Kacang ( vigna sinencis), gude (cjamis cajan), soya ( glycine soya Bth ), bean (arachis hypogen L), etc.

Some people work in government offices, private companies, trades and especially near the beaches as fishermen. Personal ownership of land in Java is the same as other areas in Indonesia. The ownership is transferred down from generation to generation, divided among the heirs. That is why in Java most family has a small land for farming.

Kinship system in Java is almost the same as in Bali, that is forbidden to marry between brother and sister, nephew, and children among brothers and sisters, and marry older woman. There are many ways a man and a woman come to their marriage status. First the family of the man come to the family of the woman to request their daughter, and this is the normal procedure. Second is when a man after dedicated himself to the parent of the woman, than is given as a present to marry their daughter. Third is the present from royal family. Fourth is the family of the woman come to the family of man to request. Fifth is when a marriage is arranged by both parents, in this case the marriage will be an imperative and forced by both parents. This way is become very rare and might be disappear in the future. Divorce in some reasons is accepted due to the absence of child, inability of husband to give welfare to the wife, and other reasonable causes.

In Javanese society there is class considered high status such as "bandara-bandara" consist of royal family lineage, and the "priyayi" the government workers and learnt persons. In contrast to above 2 groups is a class called "wong cilik" means small people, those are the common people which is mostly poor. Based on religious characteristics there are "Santri" and "Kejawen" Santri is Moslem that is very obedience with Islamic rules, while Kejawen is Moslem but they are not praying nor have the idea to go for a haj to Mecca.

Organizationally, the smaller unit of administration is called Desa or Kelurahan with head called "Lurah" Once again the understanding of Desa in Java contains much different affairs compared those a Desa in Bali. A Desa in Java is an administrative area as a bridge between Indonesian government with local organization.

Islam has been is the majority religion in Java, not question about that as at every corner of the land we can see mosques. Not all Javanese practice religious rituals according to the Islamic doctrines. As already mentioned there are "Kejawen", and also many people are Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and others. The Moslem-Kejawen believe that there is an omni-power incomparable wherever and whenever it does.. This supreme power is called "Kesakten" Below kesakten there are ancestor's spirits, good and evil spirits which can affect human life. In conjunction with this power and spirits they make an offering and a feast for the blessing ceremony. Those rituals such as:

1. Life circle rites including many ritual after death. Basically there are ritual from Pregnancy - Birth - Life - Death - After Death.
2. Various ritual for the Desa, Rice field, and Land cultivation,
3. Various ritual for the Moslem holidays,
4. Ritual for special event such as opening new house, diseases, long journey etc.

During the ritual they make an offering and is dedicated to supreme power and the lower invisible beings. Even, after death they have ceremonies after 3, 7, 40, 100, and 1000 days.

In their ritualistic tradition it is very clear that influence of Hindu is still very strong observing from the names they use, and some specific beliefs which arises such as (1) a belief of good and evil spirits, (2) a belief mixed between Moslem and Hindu, (3) a belief showing Hindu characters, (4) a belief in mystic. They are all in search of human welfare.

Various tourism interests are spreaded over Java from western tip to eastern tip of the island. Lately the security concern is arises due to the economic crisis of the country which is not last yet.

''Two Blind Pilots''

Two blind pilots both are wearing dark glasses, one is using a guide dog, and the other is tapping his way along the aisle with a cane.

Nervous laughter spreads through the cabin, but the men enter the cockpit, the door closes, and the engines start up. The passengers begin glancing nervously around, searching for some sign that this is just a little practical joke. None is forthcoming.

The plane moves faster and faster down the runway and the people sitting in the window seats realize they're headed straight for the water at the edge of the airport. As it begins to look as though the plane will plough in to the water, panicked screams fill the cabin. At that moment, the plane lifts smoothly into the air. The passengers relax and laugh a little sheepishly, and soon all retreat into t heir magazines, secure in the knowledge that the pl ane is in good hands.

In the cockpit, one of the blind pilots turns to the other and says,"ya know, Bob, one of these days, they're gonna scream too late and we're all gonna die."

Illegal and Illogical Story

After having failed his exam in "Logistics and Organization", a student goes and confronts his lecturer about it.

Student: "Sir, do you really understand anything about the subject?"
Professor: "Surely I must. Otherwise I would not be a professor!"

Student: "Great, well then I would like to ask you a question. If you can give me the correct answer, I will accept my mark as is and go. If you however do not know the answer, I want you give me an "A" for the exam. "
Professor: "Okay, it's a deal. So what is the question?"

Student: "What is legal, but not logical, logical, but not legal, and neither logical, nor legal?" Even after some long and hard consideration, the professor cannot give the student an answer, and therefore changes his exam mark into an "A", as agreed.

Afterwards, the professor calls on his best student and asks him the same question. He immediately answers: "Sir, you are 63 years old and married to a 35 year old woman, which is legal, but not logical. Your wife has a 25 year old lover, which is logical, but not legal. The fact that you have given your wife's lover an "A", although he really should have failed, is neither legal, nor logical."

Reading But not murder

               I was being tested for a driving licence for the thrid time. I had been asked to drive in heavy traffic and had done so successfully. After having been instructed to drive out town, I began to acquire confidence. Sure that I had passed, I was almost beginning to enjoy my tes. The examiner must have been pleased with my performace, for he smiled and said,’Just one more thing, Mr Eames. Let us suppose that a child suddenly crossed the road in front of you. As soon as I tap on the window, I want the car to be stopped immediately.’ I continued driving and after some time, the examiner tapped loudly. Though the sound could be heard clearly, it took me a long time to react. I suddenly pressed the brake pedal hard and we were both thrown forward. The examiner looked at me sadly.’Mr Eames,’he said,in a mournful voice,’you have just killed that child!’