Goodbye…

If there was one thing I hate more than injustice in this world, it would be a goodbye.

I’ve always known that meeting always come in a package with parting; thus making parting is imminent to every meeting. But still, every time I have to say goodbye it will make me sad; reminiscing  the days I spent with that someone makes me don’t want to go anywhere. All that’s being said, maybe it is just human nature that makes me do not want to leave my convenient zone.

Now, I am faced with what I believe is the toughest goodbye I have ever experienced in my life.

Well, it’s actually a different kind of goodbye. It’s not because I have to go somewhere far far away and thus not able to see that someone again. But I have to say goodbye because I don’t want to bother that someone and disturbing her life.

To understand what I’m saying, maybe I should go back a little.

So, in short, I fell in love with this particular girl and for the first time in my life I managed to put all my courage together to tell her so.  I thought she was the best thing that ever happened in my life, and maybe it was true. But sadly, though not so shockingly, she rejected me.

Me, who’ve never been rejected (and of course never been accepted too in this matter :p) really didn’t know what to do. I was not ready getting the refusal, saying pompously that I will never give up on her and such. But, God, was she such a great girl. She did nothing about my behavior and continued to be my friend, pretending all of those never happened. She even made promise to see her whenever I get a vacation.

But, I was a fool. I took her kindness for granted and still wanted for more. And then the foolish actions was getting worse and worse as she always let me off the hook each time. Then one day, the inevitable came; she stopped responding to my mails, not picking up my calls, or even replying my messages.

You know, back at the days when I was still “freshly” rejected, I sometimes hoped that she would’ve hated me instead of kept befriending me. But now that the day has come and I can’t do anything about it, I feel so miserable. I feel lonely and tired. I wish we could get back to the what we used to be. I wish those happy days would last forever.

I know this is her choice and I have to respect it. Even today I still think that she is doing this for me, so that I can let go of her easily. Because she is that kind of girl.

I don’t know if someday me and her would read this post together and laugh at it, but now I have something to say to her.

Thank you for being there for me; like I said to you, those times I spent with you was the happiest so far I can remember. I am sorry for imposing on you and your compassion.  I am sorry for not being able to keep my promise to you. Please live a happy life. Good luck with your study and career, and may Allah bless you in every step you take. Well, I know you’ll do just fine

So, goodbye, my love. I know that there is a small to no chance that you would be reading this; let this be a silent goodbye, because I can’t bear not to say anything at all.

-Rio

My Work So Far…

Back in the days when I was still waiting for my first assignment with my current company, I was so anxious about what kind of job I would have to do (well, I know what the position was but I still did not know the job description) that I browsed trough the internet looking for the slightest clue of what REP in Transocean do.

Sadly, I could not find a really straightforward answer to my questions. Not only the information regarding Transocean on the web are scarce, let alone info about REPs, but also if I so happened to stumble upon a blog that discussed the matter, it was only a brief introduction of life on the rig.

I promised myself then that I would make a detailed blog about what I do after I go trough my assignments to aid my fellow comrade (I was even planning to do that on a day-to-day basis) but unfortunately I didn’t really have much time (=I got lazy) and til today, there was no single post regarding this.

In order to make that up, herewith I present you my work life so far, in a nutshell (well, a quite big nut I would say )

Okay, first my job and my position. I was hired by Transocean, the largest offshore drilling company, as an REP (Rig Engineers Program) Trainee. Well, according to the manual, REP is there to implement a structured approach to the development of future managers of Transocean.

The job of REP trainees is interesting I must say. Not so much mundane talk over the coffee machine everyday since you have to work both in the office and on the rig. The schedule is 4-4-2 (no, it’s not a soccer formation) which is 4 weeks on the rig (yep, full 28 days without breaks even on Saturday and Sunday, 6 AM-6 PM shift), 2 weeks at the office (just like a normal people, 8 AM – 5 PM), and 2 weeks off (in theory..in the real world, if I get a one week break then I have to be grateful). If you see the schedule, it’s not really bad, right? But we haven’t arrived at the fun part.

As an REP trainee, on the first stage (there are 2 stages on this training, I forgot to mention), I have to work on the rig as a Roustabout, up to Driller level. At present, I have only been on two positions, Roustabout and Floorman and I have to tell you that the work is not easy.

As a roustabout, you have to assisst on the main deck (that is where you lay your casing or any other equipments you need to perform the drilling work but would not fit on the rig floor) and almost every area on the rig aside from the rig floor and accomodation. That’s a tough job since the rig is big and I can assure you that things on the rig, no matter how small it is, can outweigh even me easily. So, it was a really a physically demanding job. I had to  rabbit the casing, assist in routine job, cleaning the deck, throwing garbage,  housekeeping..well, it seemed like menial tasks but can learn a lot about how things are working on the rig.

The Searex IV

At Helideck

Then, I went up to the drill floor (this is where the drilling operation is done) as a floorman. Floormen does not have such a big area of responsibillity as roustabouts, as their work area is just the drill floor. But the works floormen do can not be underestimated. Being on the rig floor, for the first time I knew that working on a rig is such a risky job. Almost anything on the rig floor, given that you’re not using them properly, can take away your finger, arm, or even life. So, if you do have to work on the rig floor, be careful.
The work itself is quite fun because I can see with my own eyes how a drill pipe drills a hole, making connection, breaking it up, in short, roughnecking . I still have to do those jobs for another 3 weeks though and I can even start feeling my back aching now :p

After Some Roughnecking

Well, from what you have read, maybe you would thought that this job is not so good (depends on what your preferences in work though), right? So what is this mofo doing keeping the job?

There are “bright sides” of this program. Firstly, as I mentioned above, you will get 2 weeks off after 6 weeks of working. That’s quite something, right? Normally, you will only have 15 days off a year in a normal company .

Also, since my rig is on Balikpapan, I have to go to Balikpapan office for my office tasks. Balikpapan is a nice city compared to another oil city like Duri, so it’s not too boring being here for 2 weeks. Not to mention I have a good accomodation while I am here (with an unlimited meal allowance! )

Balikpapan City

The Accomodation

I also can get some training regarding well control, and if I get lucky, hopefully it would be outside my home country. Consider it as a free vacation (I even met Emma Watson because of that, hehehe..)

I guess I’ll stop here for now. I hope whoever reading this can get a big picture of what I do right now.

Til next time.

Cheers!

Rio

Macross Frontier

After a long search on how to post a blog content via mobile device, I finally stumbled upon Flickr (at first I was trying to post via the wordpress mobile, but it only allowed me to post text, no photos whatsoever).

As of now I have completed all the setups required for blogging via flickr and here I am, trying my first post.

Hmm..actually I want to post something about rubik’s cube but because the image isn’t ready yet, I decided to bring you review about Macross Frontier.

Macross Frontier is the last installment of the Macross Series, set in the year 2059 of the Macross Time line (it’s actually aired 25 years after the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross, anyone here saw the original show?).

The story itself revolves around three youngsters, the bishounen pilot Saotome Alto, the galaxy songstress Sheryl Nome, and the lovable and then-to-be idol Ranka Lee.

Well actually the story is of no huge difference to another macross series which includes space fights when the lives of the humans living in the Frontier Colony is endangered due to the attack of the Vajra, of course with many plot twists that makes the show interesting, the amazing state-of-the art animation, and of course the love triangle between the three main character.

But what captivated me the most was the music. All of the battles that ensued in Macross Frontier always accompanied by songs from May’n (singing voice for Sheryl Nome) or Nakajima Megumi (seiyuu Ranka Lee) or even both and somehow they really flow nicely with the course of the battles.

It made the battles more interesting than your usual shoot ‘em up mecha fights and not to mention it also played nicely as the anime’s opening and ending theme. The tracks “Diamond Crevasse”, “Lion”, “Anata no Oto” are amongst my favorites.

All in all, I really recommend this anime for anyone who wants to see some ass-kicking mecha fights, breath-taking intrigues (lebay :p), or even just want to see beautiful animation with beautiful music

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.