I ask because I've now got something else to do with my 'spare time'.
The lass in Carrefour had a very seductive way about her. It wasn't her smile or her come-hither eyes. Oh no, Jakartass is beyond that sort of thing when shopping for the weekend's supply of Bintang.
What attracted me was her special offer; a FREE satellite dish from Indovision. Yep, Jakartass is a sucker for freebies. Above all, I'd missed the pleasure of watching neanderthals doing grievous bodily harm to each other as they smack each other down. There was also last night's England match to look forward to. Or not, as it happened.
Our Kid is happy with the 50 or so channels as he can now watch SpongeBob Squarepants in English. I'm not sure if I should give him unrestricted access to the remote however as, according to James Dobson, founder of the right-wing Christian group Focus on the Family, SpongeBob is seen as an icon for adult gay men in the US, apparently because he regularly holds hands with his sidekick Patrick.
Still, no problems with 'Er Indoors as I suspect she'll stick with her regular diet of cinetrons (soap operas) on local TV.
SpongeBob is always happy and gay.Another reason for retiring is that over the past few months here in Indonesia more folk have joined the blogging fraternity. I'm not referring to the 'I kissed my cat, hit the boyfriend and went shopping tribe' but to those of us who have assumed a role as citizen journalists.
I've already linked to A. Fatih Syuhud who uses his allotment of hyperspace to create a mini-directory of Indonesian and expat bloggers who focus on Indonesia.
I'd love to see many more Indonesian bloggers blog in English, the most-widely-understood world language. So that the world knows and understands more about Indonesia by reading anything written by Blogger Indonesia.
One commentator Fatih has yet to discover is Thang D. Nguyen, a Jakarta-based columnist and a prolific and provocative writer, Thang pens frequently on Indonesian and Asian affairs for international and major Asian newspapers. He is also the Director of the United in Diversity Forum.
He is also a blogger in that he has posted some of his columns online - here.
The British scientist Francis Bacon once rued: "Knowledge is power." The ignorance of your rights, therefore, becomes somebody else's power that can be used against you.
Rights on, Thang.
I have the feeling that we are reaching a critical mass of critical commentary. The Indonesian blogosphere is being monitored by the mass media and my referrers include the Guardian and the BBC who kindly commented that the excellent Jakartass blog is well worth a read for coverage of events in Indonesia.
Aw shucks but why stop there?
There is still plenty to keep me going and more praise to accrue. I've also now got Indovision to rail against. Well, not yet, but I would like to know why they don't offer broadband Internet access.
I'll keep you posted.
