Opa Johan On Rating

Opa Johan On Rating

Here is his letter to “Help us to improve. Please rate our/his service”:

Even the service of a paid account wouldn’t do it better than the excellent service for my free account, as I think of the patience, the very quick response, clear detail, encouraging words to ask, explaining clearly, help what I did not know despite my many blunderings and ignorance as layman. That’s more than I ever could thank. Your/his rating is “excellent” plus, not to say of your superb expositions and inspiring thoughts which I just know a bit.

But that was of installing the tracking (visitor’s) code in a blogspot com website.

While installing in my wordpress com blog though he assured, it could be done once, just by pasting the tracking code in the widget, I couldn’t do so as my wordpress provided no widgets, no side bars. He offered to do it for me, grateful with my having high expectations he would succeed. But he just succeeded to paste in one post only. Still he assured me that it is sufficient to paste only once, not on all the pages and posts, then he gave me yet another chance, way out, saying: “Using our installation instructions, you need to install it only once.” I failed and again, so very grateful, he kindly offered to do it for me but he just pasted it in one post as before, which I easily could do it my self. And he said “Should we go ahead and install html only counter code on your first post?” “Sure if it means you could paste it just once, sufficient to cover all my more than thousand posts and pages.” Something like that I said. His reply was that he succeeded, sure, but it covered only the pasted page, not all.

All this is recorded in your excellent support system.

I could rate a runner as I’m myself a runner before but I’m no expert in how to provide stats (visitors statistics), how could I rate him? He is my teacher. Besides am I reluctant to rate, judge, sentence someone as I might be doing worse than he does were I in his place, while I, N.B. his pupil, am inclined to rate him, my teacher, even less than “very poor” and so including rating myself were I in his place.

Now will I stop torturing him with an impossible(?) request, he, your staff couldn’t do. Yet, I’m still confident that some day it could be done.

May these thoughts help improve your venture.

February 2009

The Choir Conductor's Thoughts On Singing

The Choir Conductor’s Thoughts On Singing

The jury of a church choir festival said a lot on good singing. Observe all the advise would make singing something like a dreary exercise, a scare instead of a joy. It’s fortunate, there’re no conductors ever performing exactly the same.

I’d rather like the jury set as an example how they would conduct and hear their choir sing rather than hearing their advice. We certainly could sing better if we took easy pieces but we readily took the risk singing more difficult, better music, incur many mistakes, “accidents”, while it’s improving our ability and our having a richer repertoire, like the risks, beautiful views of climbing a mountain instead of a hill.

I almost never could hear, understand the words a choir sings, except we’ve sung it before. And I thought, what if it was in Latin or Italian or Russian. Even the conductor and the singers might not understand. I don’t believe a conductor of an orchestra always took the time to go deeper into the lyrics of an opera or oratorio as he has almost no time for it. Besides it isn’t certain that he masters the language, the philosophy, the lyrics. So what’s singing in a foreign language, even with a wrong pronunciation or vocalized just in “Ah”. It would be as beautiful as playing the organ or piano. Isn’t it the music that should “speak” eloquently? And we sang Mendelssohn’s “Songs without words”.

And why should it be church music? Did the pastor, the congregation know that a lot of church music was not church music before but a loved, beautiful song. It was later on provided with lyrics suitable for the church service. My wife said, “just put there a word of God, or Jesus in an opera song and they wouldn’t complain if it were sung in the church.“

Hearing Gospel songs, I might think they’re love songs. We deliberately sang love songs and we said, insisted, these are Songs of Solomon of this age. Did you ever read his love songs? And we even sang Ave Maria in a protestant’s service. Don’t we decorate the church hall with flowers. Isn’t that also something as worshipping, praising God? I said to them.

I conduct the way I like, exercise my members the way I think best, not the way the jury, the teachers, professors think it should, as I never could, ever would, do. And I’ll still sing with my choir, though with only one member left. Ha, ha, ha.

February 2009

One Earth, One Sky, One Humankind

One Earth, One Sky, One Humankind

Somewhere on a mountain roadside from Sentul via Bukit Pelangi to Cipayung, there’s a little notice “One Earth, One Sky, One Humankind”. The village people there don’t read, nor speak English.

And I mused: the rich, the poor, theist or atheist, white or black or yellow, from the pope, president, general to the household maid, from the grandparents to the grandchildren, from the saints to the drunkards, gamblers, cheaters, traitors; or… through all the ages, all are of one humankind.

The Creator created earth, one earth, not only Indonesia, England, America, Russia, Australia, Argentine, Africa, Iran, Iraq, …

And I should say not only for humankind but for all being, all the creatures, citizens of the earth, living on land as well as in the water.

Not only the earth but also the heavens with the sun, the moon the stars, planets clouds are for all being.

And I wondered, who is the wise man who said it and placed it there?

Bali And The World

Bali And The World

“If he has peace within him, Bali deepens it. If he has beauty within him, Bali enriches it. If he does not carry both within him, he will not recognize them here and he will go away unhappy, as he came.” Some one said in The Jakarta Post.

Well, I don’t want to be blessed with what is called peace and beauty, if they keep other people that haven’t, doomed from sharing in the happiness. I’d rather stay doomed to be unhappy with the people.

Having had my say to the “world”, I’ll be happy and regain my peace of mind.


The Jakarta Post, May 12, 1986

Funny Sights

Funny Sights

A father taking three children for a ride on a scooter, two sitting behind and one standing in front of him, isn’t an uncommon sight. Four passengers on a scooter. But when they even took along their “ugly” dog into the bargain, sitting – with eight legs – crammed on the narrow board of the old two wheeler through the bustling roads to share their fun and danger, it must have been an adventures ride, perhaps better than in a comfortable motorcar.

The other day I also saw a couple beneath a tree as I wandered through a park. They were foreigners. The young man was peeling a pine-apple. He worked at it conscientiously. At last he hardly had anything left except its tasteless “spine” to offer his sweetheart. Yet I guess that it must have tasted sweeter than had they had the fruit served well in the Hilton Hotel.

Here is an occasion for foreigners to learn from us, not from our professors, but from our fruit vendors.

The Jakarta Post December 31, 1986

Unpardonable Blundering

Unpardonable Blundering

There was a picture of a beautiful necklace that won an international award at Milan, (J.P. March 29, 1986), but I’d vote for the lovely wearer. Seeing her dazzling eyes would be much more fascinating than a world-awarded necklace, the glittering fire in the biggest diamonds, the most precious stones and fire-works, as the radiant sun is to an electric bulb.

The jury should be fired for unpardonable blundering, blindness.

The Jakarta Post April 8, 1986

Hansel Und Gretel

Hansel Und Gretel

For days they were together, left alone, not in a forest but in a waste land beneath a tree of a hospital. They were so thin, so small. How they managed to eat, drink and sleep, I don’t know. Every day when on duty in the hospital I took some food and milk for them, How eagerly they ate and drank.

I wish I could take them home but we already had a foundling. But when I decided to take them home, they were gone. I, we all who went together felt bad in the car. Before driving for home we suggested to just try again almost with no hope. How we rejoiced as we found them still there.

I tried to find some one who would take care of them. But when I told them that Hansel is crippled and about Gretel’s itch and asthma they refused to take them, perhaps they’re business people. “What if they couldn’t be sold?” they thought. As I now think I’m so glad that they were rejected, otherwise … What if they took Gretel only or Hansel only. It would be cruel to separate them as they so love each other and always huddle, play, sleep together in my bed. And I thought of the orphans of wars, brothers and sisters separated from each other or from a mother when taken in families abroad and of slaves in former times when they were captured and sold. Hansel isn’t crippled anymore and walks, runs, jumps on all four, though sees with squinting eyes. Perhaps he’s got a violent beating on his head before and Gretel –she was near death, yet, thanks God, survived, three, four times revived by artificial respiration during a surgery - is a cute, funny, lively creature. I’ll never give them away, even when I have to go abroad.

That’s Upik her story.

February 2009

The Nicest Sleep

The Nicest Sleep

“What is the nicest sleep?” Opa Johan asked his wife.

“’Sleeping in a lover’s arms’, didn’t you say so?” she replied.

“Sure, except they stop loving each other. Then they slowly change into an honored husband and wife as barren and dry and dull as ever. But there’s a still nicer sleep. Just guess” he said.

“What kind of sleep is it when one doesn’t wake up even by the loudest bomb blast, even kissed by a beautiful woman? ??? That’s the nicest, deepest sleep. Do you get, catch it, you donkey. That‘s heaven. Don’t wake me up then. Ha, ha.”

February 2009