Too Geeky or not Too Geeky

WARNING: This post may contains segmented jokes, segmented stories, names of people you have never heard before. Anyone is welcomed to read but might not get the moral (if any) of what I'm trying to deliver

Greetings... this is a special edition dedicated to my good friend Gebeng. The 27th of this month will be a special day for him. After a VERY long and hard struggle, which I happen to witness from the beginning till today. The day has finally come to ask the bride-to-be's hand in marriage. Although to tell you the truth, I have had some doubts in the middle, but you have proven me wrong. As for the cheeky remarks... I guess love can prevail even in the most adverse circumstances such as this. So congratulation to the both of you. sorry I cannot make it to the wedding so think of this post as some kind of best-man speech on behalf of the group.

This post was inspired by Eky's invitation to a game of DOTA to celebrate the end of Gebeng's bachelorhood. I thought to myself... Wow... this is a new level of geekiness, an online bachelor party, playing DOTA. Then it occurred to me we were geeks even since 9th grade. From Warhammer-the tabletop game.... to Counter Strike.... to Warcraft III... and now to DOTA. I must say we are geeks. People can argue that everyone plays that. I beg to differ... Our social life is centered around these games. The 6 of us hanging out together just to play these games. Have we ever get to be as good as those people in competition? The answer is No. We were shit at these games and we are still shit now. I hope I'm speaking for everyone here :)

Btw I have to ask this... since out of the 6 of us, only 2 singles left. Tongga and I are the only one left who can claim the prize right? Not important...

I remember one of the many conversation we have about this day. Who would get married first out of the 6 of us. Well Agung passed away. but who would have thought that Aris was the first to decide to spend his life with someone. CMIIW He's waiting for Aris Jr as well right? The second one to go was Gebeng. I must say I'm very surprised by this. After the 27th theres only 1 'mere' left who's not married (not mentioning names but you guys know who I'm talking about)... and judging by his facebook status, he's very lonely. hehehehehe

Seriously now guys... What were you thinking? Playing Dota for bachelor party? You guys are such a geek. (this is coming from a person who played dota for graduation party) hehehehe. I remember the first day Gebeng are officially in relationship with the bride-to-be. I gave an idea to the group to have a bachelor party for you :) Details are omitted to protect the individuals implicated in the project. That is the kind of bachelor party you should have. Not Dota... tsk tsk tsk. I think you should watch beauty and the geek to learn more about life outside our geeky and peaceful life. You see, Gebeng need some experience, otherwise can you imagine whats going to happen in the first night? It will be hilarious if you ask me. As Aris put it "Harus diabadikan nich malam pertamanya Gebeng"

Theres an javanese poem about this the title is malam pertama "Malam Pertama kok malu-malu, Malam kedua matikan lampu, Malam ketiga nda boleh tau". But knowing Gebeng... I dont think on his first night he'll be shy. There are definitely some leather and whip involves on his first night. Am I right? In this sense he's not too Geeky... more of a mental than a geek. Then again... his choice and I hope the girl enjoys it.

To close this... I on behalf of THE group welcomes Ms. Yayah to the group So the G6 have now become a G7 (minus 1 plus 2). I hope she wont be so judgmental towards me. and Dont worry just because you have a wife doesnt mean that Aris, Eky and I will stop bullying you. The bullying will continue for a long time in the future. :)

So much for Rating Companies

In the midst of US sub-prime mortgage crisis. People blame the credit rating companies for not being able to foresee this. I personally thought that it’s the investors’ fault for believing them. Rating companies does provide a sense of security to investor. Having a myriad of tools and data at their disposal to analyze the risk of a particular treasury bonds they really should have known better. I give my sympathy to my friends who receive a blow on their portfolio because they believe in these rating companies.

Anyhow, I would like to tell you why I don’t take what these rating companies (the World Bank included) say 100%. The first one is the most crucial one. 2 years ago they underestimated Indonesia’s economic growth by 0.35%. 6 months ago Sarapan Ekonomi commented again that they also underestimated Indonesia’s growth by 0.25 %. Which I think is quite embarrassing. Is that really the quality we are looking for in a rating company and/or forecasters?

Second of all is my purely personal thought without any evidence. These rating companies are complicit at being biased. Most of the big names in Rating/ forecast providers are US based. Although one might argue that their loyalties lay with the dollar not the country. I think that it’s not 100% true. Their sense of patriotism (arrogance) is what makes overestimating their own economy and other estimating other economy, more specifically in the ASEAN region. To make matter worse, these ratings are what investors are looking at before they decide to invest.

You might say that the second reason might apply to me as well, and I don’t deny it, I might be biased to the ASEAN region. But let’s face it, America’s economy is in a downward spiral, they are experiencing a continuous deficit, their interest rates are climbing. Isn’t it time to call their bluff and become a more rational investor? In Indonesia, people are crying that foreign ownership have taken over, but its our own fault for not believing in our own economy. SBY once said “Kalo investor dalam negeri aja ga mau menanamkan modal di Indonesia, gimana investor asing bisa percaya” But now foreign investors have seen Indonesia’s potential, it is now time to build up our economy.