A Story : "Green Pants"

 Joey O’Leary, an Irish boy, lived in a very small town with his
mother, father and two younger sisters. He was born many years ago,
even before the invention of the computer, maybe as much as twenty
years ago.

 Joey’s father was a school teacher and his mother, most of the time
was a homemaker, though she did sell cosmetics from their home, to
earn a little extra money.

 School was starting in just a few days, and it was customary for the
O’Leary children to get a new set of clothing each year, so they would
look well dressed on the first day of school.

 Joey’s little town had no clothing store, no bank, no restaurant, or
even a swimming pool. The only store in the village was a small
grocery store, a post office, a gas station and a barber shop.

 It was Saturday, the last free weekend of the summer, and mother
said that it was the dreaded day of school shopping. Beth and Carole,
the two younger sisters were up early, happy as a couple of larks, as
they giggled and chattered over breakfast, anticipating the “day of
glory and excitement” in the big city mall.

 Joey, on the other hand, was not that enthusiastic. He wanted to
stay home and ride his bicycle, throw rocks in the pond, or do
anything but go shopping. He finally agreed to go, however, after his
father gave him a talking to. It seemed for ever, but thirty minutes
later, mom, Carole, Beth and Joey were in the big town, entering the
huge shopping mall.

 Following the girls around in the shopping center was sheer torture
for Joey. He was tired and crabby. He wanted to sit down, but he
couldn’t. He wanted to go to the sporting goods store but he wasn’t
allowed. He wanted a new baseball, but mother wouldn’t hear of it.
All he could do is follow and watch the girls as they tried on new
dresses.

 Finally, after what seemed like hours, mother and the kids
approached a boy’s store. With little enthusiasm, Joey tried on a new
shirt, new shoes, new underwear, and a pair of green pants.
 He didn’t like the shirt much. He didn’t like the shoes much. He
didn’t like the underwear much, but he did like the green pants. Joey
said, “If I ever get out of this mall alive, I’m going to wear these green
pants for ever.

 School started the following Monday, and Joey put on his new green
pants. All the other kids had new clothes too, but his green pants, in
Joey’s mind, was the most handsome of all. He continued to wear his
green pants every day. Even when they were dirty, he would insist
that they be washed and ready, so he could wear them the next day.

Mother looked at him kind of funny every morning at breakfast, but
said, “Well, as long as your pants are clean, I guess it’s OK.

Months went by, and soon the school year was about over. Joey still
liked his green pants, but a small problem had occurred. He had
grown over two inches in the last year, and his green pants were not
growing with him. Joey was now ten years old.

One day, mother asked Joey to go to the grocery store to pick up
some things for supper. She told Joey, “Here is some money. Run to
the store and pick up some hamburger, some tomato sauce, and some
noodles. We’re going to have spaghetti tonight.”

 She also said, “And Joey, don’t let me see you in those green pants
anymore. They’re too small for you and they’re looking thin in knees.
Don’t you dare go to the store looking like that.”

 Joey went to the store alright, but he ignored what his mother told
him about his green pants. He jumped on his bicycle and quickly
peddled down the street to the grocery store. He was really hungry,
especially for spaghetti. It was his favorite dish.

 Entering the store, Mr. Jenkins, the store keeper, said, “Hello Joey.
How are you today?” Joey said, “Fine, Mr. Jenkins. Here’s my
mothers list of stuff that she needs.”

 Mr. Jenkins read over the list with one eye, and looked at Joey with
the other. With a slight laughter in his voice, he asked, “Aren’t those
the same green pants that you wore last year, and last week, and
yesterday?”

 Two little girls in the store started giggling, pointed at Joey and said,
“Yes, Joey, aren’t those the same green pants you wore all year in
school?” They teased..

 Joey didn’t say anything, just picked up his groceries, hopped on his
bicycle and headed home. A few minutes later he was in the kitchen
placing the heavy sack on the table. His mother took one look at him
and raised her finger in the air.

 “I thought I told you not to wear those green pants to the store,” she
raged. “You disobeyed me. 5ow you are going to bed without your
supper. And I do not want to see you in those green pants again.” She
was one mad mother.

 The next morning, Joey’s father felt sorry for him. It was Saturday,
and he told Joey that he had a good idea.

 “Joey,” father said, “let’s go fishing and take those green pants
along. We’ll get rid of them once and for all.”

 And so they drove down to the river with their fishing poles and sat
on the riverbank. It was a beautiful day. “Here’s my idea,” he said.
“let’s put a couple of plastic half gallon milk jugs, one in each leg of
those green pants, and float them down the river. Maybe we could
put a note in one of the jugs, so whomever found them, would know
that they were your favorite pants. You could put your name and
address on the note, and possibly you could hear from them
someday.”

 Joey thought that it was a terrific idea, and so they did just that.
The green pants floated away, just like father said they would. Joey
said, “goodbye green pants.”

 The green pants floated down the river for weeks. In days to come,
the river current took the floating green pants into the Missouri, and
then into the Mississippi. Finally, the slow moving Mississippi carried
them all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

 One day, much later, a Mexican boy and his father were fishing in a
small boat off the shore of the Yucatan, near Cancun. They were very
poor and had little to eat, only one banana. They had fished all day,
but had not caught anything that they could eat. Pablo, the little boy,
spotted something bobbing in the waves.

 “Look father,” Pablo said. “Let’s snag that green thing to see what
it is.”
 Pablo tossed his hook and line over to the floating object, hooked it
and reeled it over to the boat.

 “Look father,” Pablo said. It’s a pair of green pants. They’re just
what I’ve always wanted.” And to Pablo’s surprise, two large fish
that were living in the pants, fell into the boat as he pulled the pants
from the water. Pablo’s father dried out the pants for a few hours,
and when they were ready, Pablo tried them on. They were perfect.
Then they discovered the note in one of the jugs that had Joey’s name
and address plainly written on a piece of white paper.

 Pablo’s father was excited. 5ot only did they find a pair of green
pants, but also caught two fish for supper. “It’s a miracle,” Pablo’s
father said.

When Pablo got home, he immediately wrote a letter to Joey, stating
that he had found the green pants in the Gulf of Mexico. Soon Pablo
and Joey were writing letters to each other every week. They became
good friends.

 Many year later, Joey and Pablo met at the University of Kansas.
Pablo came to America as an exchange student and graduated with a
doctor’s degree in medicine. Joey wanted to be a science teacher and
a basketball coach, so he graduated with a teaching degree.

 Pablo went back to Mexico, and is a doctor. Joey is a teacher and a
basketball coach in a small town in Missouri. Both call each other by
telephone and now, a new invention, called email, and are life-long
friends. And it was all because of a pair of green pants.

Life is a puzzle, ain’t it.

A Story By Glenn Dykstra

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Sundanese Festival : Matswapati

27th September 2014, the Matswapati Fest is held. It's a Festival from SMAN 3 Bandung. The festival itself is to celebrate the Anniversary of the city of Bandung, it's 204th years anniversary man, damn! so yeah the festive is also held to preserve the sundanese culture, the mother of Bandung culture. I'm a sundanese too by the way :p

Okay, the fest actually opened for public @ 9 am, but me and my classmates was joining the Culture Parade  @ 7 am. It was a long walk tho, but it feel awesome. At 9 am the Mayor of Bandung city, Ridwan Kamil was there to open the Matswapati Festive officially, yeah man Officially. I really respect the mayor, he was there and participating the fest.

The fest is on and of course, i was going to the "Jajanan Street" or we can say it the Food Street. It was a sunny bright day, so i brought some cold Fresh drinks. Refreshing the day yeah. Oh, @ 10 am my friends was painting some banner for our stand.

Makin' Banner, with GOLD Poster Paint

Did i tell you that my class have it's own stand? Well our class have a stand named "Arjuna". Arjuna itself is a knight that love to wandering, meditating, willing to help the others, smart and humble person. What a nice theme for our stand.

Our Stand, yay!

The stand was intend to teach us organizing something, the stand is the beginning. By the way, our stand was holding a "Puzzle Games". It was a really challenging, mind-blowing puzzle.

The Puzzles

@ 11 am to 7 pm is the show really started. There was some performance by our extracurricular, The Tiloe's Theather (our Thather extracurricular) and Kelompok Pecinta Angklung (KPA/ Our Angklung Extracurricular) and some guest star like OSD (Sundanese Parody/Comedian group), Samba Samba Junior, Saung angklung Udjo, Indonesian Bamboo community (still angklung performance tho, not a real bamboo lover :p) and the Main star, Barsena & KV. For the Grand Finale, Matswapati invited Glenn Fredly, wow. 9 hour of Great performance. By the way, if you wondering "what is angklung?" angklung is a traditional sundanese music instrumental, with the main materials is a bamboo. Ok back to the topic. it was a great show but unfortunately i missed the Indonesian bamboo community and Barsena & KV performance. But i was happy i can still watch the Grand finale, Glenn Fredly.

OSD Group, bringing laugh to us all

The Grand Finale!!

 And that's the matswapati, i hope next year SMA 3 will hold another great Festival. I just love festival

(Un)forgettable moments

                Okay now I will tell my (un)forgettable moments, why i use () in the “un” word, because I forgot some parts of it, maybe I have to use my “animus” to get some memories :p (AC fans will know it)

                Well my unforgettable moments when I visit Pangandaran Beach, one of many beautiful beach in Indonesia. I was spending some holidays in there with my family. You know beach is one of many awesome place to spend holiday.

                In the first day of my holiday, I went to the beach, swimming in the sea is so refreshing and salty (lol) and I like the bodysurfing too. Too bad I can’t try the banana boat or “flying fish” ride because it’s so crowded with so many people. In the evening I and my family try the seafood in there. Pangandaran is famous because of the delicious and wallet friendly seafood. My grandpa tries some grilled sea fish, he say it’s the best fish he ever ate, really.

                In the second day I rented a bicycle and go cycling in the beach. It just like an nature trials simulation. The sandy beach makes a perfect course for cycling. In the afternoon I and my families went to the national park near the beach, the air in the forest feels so refreshing. It’s rare to get the fresh air in the city. The national park is crowded with people, and monkeys. The fact is the national park is a natural habitat for monkeys, so don’t get surprised when you see some monkeys in there. The national park is connected with the other beach. In there the water was so clear like crystal. And the sand is nearly white.

                And that’s my 2 days (un)forgettable moments, sorry I can’t find the other parts. But well overall it’s unforgettable for me

My Best Friend

                I have a best friend, His name is Dimas Laksana Yudharaputra, just call him dimas. He was born in Bandar Lampung, 12 march 2000. 2 years younger than me. He has a sister, her name is Digita.

                He really likes sport such as badminton, tennis, and ping – pong. He sometime really like to sleep and take a nap, typical student habit just like me. He wants to enter a college in Germany, because the living cost in there is very cheap and almost free if he can get some scholarship in there. He learns Germany language in school to archive his ambition. Oh yeah, he really likes to study some foreign language such as Spain, France, and Russia. Dimas has joined some Olympiad, especially in geography and social ones. He also joins the international one, such as in Russia.

                His activities is kinda normal for a student in Indonesia, waking up in the morning, praying, ate some breakfast, and going to school, almost late entering to class every day. In the first break, he always going to buy some food or playing some set of chess with other friend. In the second break, well he’s praying, and then doing something like working on homework (?) to reduce his homework, or playing chess, again. His favorite thing is when the class ends, he always go home with a car.

                Well this is my best friend, gold medal in Indonesia geography Olympiad is a great achievement, and going to Russia for the international one is the best one you know. Making Indonesia people proud.

My Autobiography

          Hi mates I’m Muhammad Faris Aslamahadi. Born in Bandung at 24 December 1998.  I live in Haji Alpi street no. 69. My father works as a Saler for Nia Fahira boutique, and of course, my mother as the designer. I was the first child of 2 brothers. I have 1 little brother. He’s age is 3 years old. So yeah 13 year differences.

          Now, I’m studying in 3 Bandung Senior High School in West Java. I have a lot friend there, from the “Master-of-Everything” to “Crazy-Everyday” friend. Sure they’re have a lot unique things in their head. That’s why I feel happy to study here. I really have a lot of hobbies, such as playing games, computer stuff, listening or maybe make music, playing basketball and driving cars. Well for driving cars I’m still doing it in games, but when I have my driving license, I would like to drive a real one. Hmm ‘bout my nature, well I’m a humorous person, really like comedy and jokes, sometime I can’t control my laugh. In my live. And my dream is to be an Computer Specialist or maybe we can call it an IT Master. Well I want it because I really love computing, it just like my half soul. Because of that, I want to enter the ITB or Institute Technology of  Bandung. Or maybe, the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Hopefully I can enter both of it.

Okay next one is my favorite of everything, my favorite cartoon Is SpongeBob Squarepants, well strangely it still funny till now, and my inspirational character is Patrick Star. Why? Because he’s always happy, even if he don’t have any money and live in a rock, literally. Next my favorite colour is blue, especially sky blue, it represent freedom, just like my personality. Oh and about music, I love classic ol’ but gold slow rock, catchy EDM music, and Japanese music, especially from vocaloid Hatsune Miku. My favorite food is pizza, rendang, burger, tofu and tempe. Well basically I like everything in terms of food, but of course the healthy one is the priority . That’s all for now mate, if you want to know more, just ask me, I will happily answer your question.