Forest Fires in Pontianak, West Borneo, Indonesia 2015

Road condition at noon.
(I hope the camera captured the haze clearly)

Among the citizen of Pontianak (West Borneo), we have the inside joke saying that we are living in an area with 3 seasons: the dry season, wet season, and smog/haze season. 

(We only have dry and wet season, obviously)

Hot spot spread mapping in Indonesia.
This is the natural causes of the forest fires that causes haze all over Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
The human causes is the forest clearing for industry purposes (palm oil and paper) by unauthorized company (illegal)
The island on the far left is the Sumatra Island and the island on its left is Borneo Island.
Both are the main hot spots areas.
The worse area of the haze is Riau, Pekan Baru, Sumartra.

Haze is not uncommon as is anticipated each an every year during the peak of dry season. By this time of the year, the air will be so filthy that it looks pretty much like the movie Silent Hill. 

Silent Hill

Pontianak Grand Mosque

HOW IDENTICAL!!!! 

Was Silent Hill Movie shot here?

Schools are closed as the air is very unhealthy. Face masks are being distributed every where. People are advised to stay at home. The visibility on the road is pretty bad that people are turning on the vehicles light even in mid noon. The visibility on the sky in worse as dozens of flights are being cancelled and airlines company are making loses everyday. The fisherman cannot sail as well. 

I am not joking about how bad it is. It was in the news every single day now (even on international news, like bbc) and this years haze is might be the worse that we have ever experienced so far. 

Indonesia Forest Fire

Due to the fire, the forest coverage areas in Indonesia is getting smaller and smaller. 

The level of deforestation in Indonesia is the second after Brazil.

The Borneo Island of Indonesia. We can see that the forest (green areas) are is getting smaller and smaller each year. This is caused by illegal logging and forest fires.

I actually got an eye infection from the haze and there are a lot of people are getting lungs infections (ISPA: Infeksi Saluran Pernapasan Akut/Acute Respiratory Infection). Here is the report from the local newspaper about the hazardous air. Pontianak, West Borneo (KalBar) is where I lived. I provide some translation.

This table is on the local newspaper 2 days ago (15/9)

Pink Highlighted is where I live

Here is the report of the air quality in Pontianak by 16 September 2015 from BMKG (The National Meteorology and Geophysics Department)
Green (Good), Yellow (Medium), Brown (Unhealthy), Red (Very Unhealthy), Purple (Dangerous)
Now we have exceed the purple areas by a super-huge-skyrocketing margin

Pontianak Haze (taken from the local newspaper)

This is no joke. The moment you step outside your home, it is difficult to breath. The air is so acrid and there are a lot of white stuff (like burned stuff) flying in the air. There are less people on the street. It feels like a semi-apocalypse from a dystopian movie where the zombie will suddenly jump out of no where. 

Local government is trying hard to solve this issues by making the artificial rain (which is expensive). Senior executives from large companies suspected of illegal forest clearing are being caught. Our military personals (ABRI) has been assigned to help extinguished the fire at the forest. However, not much changes happens.

Our Military Personals are being assigned to help extinguished the forest fire. 

I just hope that it rains soon and the haze ends soon. I am tired of having a difficulty only to breath. I thought 'air' is suppose to be free. But may be in the near future, we or our children each have to carry an oxygen tank as our backpack because the oxygen level on earth is not enough anymore. 

I understand that we cannot do anything much about the natural causes of the forest fires. We are living in tropical areas (passed by the equator line) and it is a dry season. Even slight scrapping of dry twigs due to wind blowing can set a whole forest on fire. However, I am very sad, and disappointed and ashamed by the human caused of the fire. #prayforindonesia

Update: 
It finally rained on 18/9 and 19/9 and since then, the air started to clear a little bit. Now the sun rays can penetrate the layers of haze. I think the temperature has gone higher now. 
The haze returns on 22 September. The white dust flies in the air and I think it is going to be worse in couple days. 

Glamglow Supermud Review

GLAMGLOW! A mask from Hollywood, California. It comes in couple of variant. Youthful Mud (Anti-aging), Power Mud (Deep Clean), Thirsty Mud (Hydrating), Flash Mud (Brightening), and Super Mud (Clearing for trouble skin). 

Apparently its an Award Wining products.

Glamglow was originally exclusively designed for professional backstage use in Hollywood, until 2011 when it becomes available for public consumers worldwide. In no time it has become one of the hottest products on earth. 

I will be reviewing the Supermud which I personally owned. I bought it on Luxola last year on sale. It is actually quite expensive. On normal price, it costs Rp 780.000 or around USD 55 for a tiny 34 gram product. I save it on;y for special occasions (all face) or when my blackheads are too much for my eyes to bear (nose area only). 

Closer look to what Glamglow Supermud is:

I found myself agreeing to the results as I personally experienced them.

Glamglow Supermud's Ingredients

The product comes in a small white tube and it is literally mud. It is somewhat creamy with black/dark gray flake and it smells somewhat mint-like scent. 

        

The texture is mud-like.
It turns from dark gray into soft gray after usage.

When I first applied it on my face, I felt a little bit of stings and my face felt like it was pulled and my pores was squeezed shut. The scent is minty but I haven't decided whether I like it or not. 

I know for sure that the product is working as after around 3 minutes of using the mask, It change colors from the thick gray to lighter shades of gray. Leave if for another minutes, it turns lighter with black dots all over. Those dots are supposed to be the impurities (oil, dirt, make up residue, etc) left on your face. As you can see in the picture below, my nose areas are filled with most dots, as I have lots of blackheads there. 

Psychologically, I think it was good that a product actually shows some sign that they are working, even if they are not (like tooth paste). It is just the psychological thing, tho. 

It dries into softer gray and forms dots of impurities after couple of minutes.
I usually leave it longer then wash it off with warm water.

I would recommend to wash your face with warm water then cold water afterwards. The mud is not easy to rub off and it left black residue all over the sink. I usually mask before I took my bath, so the waste is all washed off in the bathroom.

After washing my face with warm water, I applied toner and moisturizer and I noticed immediate changes on my skin. I pores was visibly smaller and almost all of my blackheads were gone. My skin felt so smooth and it glowed healthily!
I took the picture for before after but not much changes can be seen from the photo alone. I zoomed and zoomed but the difference of blackheads existence cannot be seen clearly. So, decided not to post them. LOL.


Price: Expensive! Rp 780.000 or around USD 55 
Pros:

• It delivers its promise
• Clear, Soft, Smooth, Blackhead-less skin

Cons:

• Price is high

Repurchase: YES! I am saving my money for it.
Recommend: YES! Even if the price is sky high, it worth the investment!

The Failure, The Acceptance, and Hopefully the Success (part 2)

If you haven't get the full story, read part one of my story here.

Back in my hometown, I was left at a terrible state. I was ruined, psychically and mentally. 

By the time this post started to be written, it was already 9 months passed since the incident. I need that long to regain my composure and to have a more positive perception towards life.

I honestly put so much pressure on myself to excel. I keep on thinking that with my qualifications, I can achieve more! This is lacking! What other people will think of me?? I am such a disappointment. 

For a time being, I was stressed. Feeling hopeless, useless, worthless and traumatized to the point that I do not even feel like working anymore. 

I want to just restart everything, by going to study for master degree or language degree. But, after long period of thinking, and re-thinking, I decided that "re-study" is not worth the investment. I have seen a lot of my friends who go to re-study/pursue higher education to avoid working who actually find themselves back where they started: going nowhere in life and worse, some become too lazy to even start working. 

So, I decided that is just wasting money. I need to start living. 

but how???

Of Course!

Opportunities, opportunities.. Opportunities come for me to learn about stock market. The lesson that I couldn't get when I was in University and the hot topics of people around the world about investment. I want to invest. I do not want to be a broker. Please do not get me wrong. 

I kinda felt more relax after couple weeks at the broker's office (my aunt's office), feeling optimistic, I try to find a job... again... at Jakarta... 

Sadly, YES! 

Feeling so philosophical, naive, and positive, I retried my luck in finding a job at Jakarta. I actually find a pretty decent job that I refused. But for months, I have always tried to find excuses and I judged the potential job too harsh, even before I start to do it. I try to take a-too-save-road after failing soooooo hard. Still traumatized, may be??

I was staying with my aunt, grandma, and uncle and it was uncomfortable. I felt so much pressure while staying at their home, I don't feel at home at all. I felt very uncomfortable as all my actions are questioned and counted. There are unnecessary dramas every single day. To the point that living at that home feels more difficult than finding a decent job. 

Yeah, IKR

I think I lose hell lot of good jobs, looking to a better ones. 
In the end, I fail, AGAIN.

This time, I began to think:

• Is this the road that I am suppose to take? 
• If it is, why am I failing, over and over again?

I looked at my friends. They are perfectly fine. Having a great job, leading live full of hope. Why am I here? I am not a stupid person. So why can't I be like them? Having the good job, leading a good live. Is this God's way of saying that this is not for me? That I have to face this trial to excel? I don't know.

I went back to phase one, the failure. Now with the slump deeper than the previous one.

It was hard back then. I was unemployed for months! I used to support myself ever since I graduated from University. Now, I have to be supported by my parents. It was such a major step back!! I kept comparing myself with my friends, my cousins, and judged myself harshly.

Until one day, after I tried talking to my mother about it, I realized that I have put too much pressure for myself where no one expect me too. It was an eye-opening moment, to realize that I am actually creating problems for myself. Instead of living my life within my capabilities, I took someone else' measurement of success to force myself to fit in. That is the main reason that I am unhappy. And stressed.

I finally have the courage to look back at myself and told myself that I failed again and this time, I dare to say to myself to quit trying to find job at Jakarta because those life, those success is not for me. 

'The end' is just a beginning to another story.

To be able to re-start my career journey, it felt necessary to admit to myself that I failed. So that I won't find any excuses to not doing anything and look only at the past. Failing is one thing, but keep trying is another. I keep saying to myself that the defeat is not final. In fact, there is nothing final in this world. 

As written in the Paulo Coelho's THE ALCHEMIST: 
the secret of life, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times. 

People never look at the process, they look at the result because the history is made by the winner. Only the winner's part of the story will be heard. 

Anyway, I gave up all of my kinda "American Dream" in the big city and I came back to my hometown, a small city called Pontianak in West Borneo where I hope, my success story will actually begins, if God allows me.

This is the end of my second post.
Check out my third post here.