46 = 23 * 2

Duh! You knew it right?

But for me this easy mathematical expression means quite a bit more..

First of all this post was supposed to be posted on 30th July 2018 but that summer was quite bummer, and several things, of the bad kind, happened, starting with BBPV. Then followed by other ridiculously depressing news that so far I have refrained from writing about here (I will, eventually). But since I am going through unposted drafts, here we are 🙂 …

Anno bisesto, anno funesto!

Leap year, sad year!

It is a typical Italian saying, but we are not the only ones thinking that the weird things happen… some weirdest than others! and just judging from these first few months, who can disagree with me, right? Movies, series, video games, mobile phone apps, books have anticipated situations similar to what we are seeing out of the window nowadays. Who would have believed it? Of course nobody could have except maybe for politicians (Trump for example?), green environmentalist nuts, I-know-it-all average Joe (Trump for example?), conspiratorialist (Trump for example?), end of the world visionaries with too much time on their hands ((Trump for example?) that now say to everyone that would listen to them that they knew it, it would have happened, this is the slope where humanity has been rolling down for ages, and they knew it! And of course they could not stop the roll because of the momentum acquired by the added mistakes of all other people!

So much blabla around these days that I decided to stick mainly to crude numbers from the news (just read that UK PM after dismissing the pandemic as exaggeration has tested positive to the virus.. karma? or just merely stupidity? Nor for me to say..). On other hand, I am an engineer and I believe in numbers. So far:

Covid-19 – Humanity: 1 – 0

BPPV: not a Minion language happy birthday!

Yesterday it was my birthday, 46 years spent around this funny world and I was supposed to be in Italy for celebrating the wedding of a special friend Valentina and her partner, Ivano..

Kein Risiko, kein Spass

Kein Risiko, kein Spass

4 Uber + 2 Grab equals…

…a very interesting first night in Jakarta, to say it in the most positive possible way… Typical of course of my usual positivity!

That was Sunday night…

After a great seafood dinner in a bit of remote place in Jakarta north I had to get a bike to go back to my hotel, in Jakarta west. 

Amazing seafood

Like in Vietnam I like the motorbike taxis more than the cars, because of the crazy traffic and jams in this overpopulated city! In fact the only Indonesian word I know is “macet”, meaning traffic jam.

On the roads of Saigon

So I sent my request for Uber bike referring to the location given by the Internet signal…

Uber

The first 2 Uber after apparently riding around my position with the time for arrival changing from 2 minutes to 15 than 3 and randomly increasing again cancelled.

I take this as a partly personal mistake since then I realized my position was about 50 meters wrong. So I corrected it and try again..

One of the first 2 Uber driver accepted again but then after 20 minutes he canceled again.. And the same happened with the 4th attempt..

Then I gave up on Uber…

Grab

….and tried my favorite application for my Vietnamese time… but here more expensive than Uber, still… it was time to change!

I must admit that the drivers seemed to get to my location easier than Uber ones, maybe even too easily: the first driver was a little too eager to pick me up, and start drinking.. Maybe he had a hot girlfriend waiting for me at home, or a hot meal or both..

But after not even a minute when I ask him if he was sure of the direction (I know nothing but I can read maps and I know the cardinal points) he showed me his application with the destination and clearly it was not my hotel…
He had picked up the wrong person!!! Bad luck the first 3 digits of the license plate were the same as for my real ride…
…that luckily arrived a few seconds after the wrong one brought me back…
You might think the adventure was over, right? That was my thought.. and of course I was wrong..
I realized that even if all drivers have a special holder for the mobile phone to put on the front of the motorbike, they are not so good at following the GPS! He stopped 4 times to ask indications to other riders until we got to an area I thought to recognize, I took out my phone with my own Google maps and told him where to go…
After about 1.5 hour (instead of 20 minutes max that I took on the way to the restaurant) I was back to the hotel..
FUNNY THING OF THE DAY – Today I noticed my Uber rating is going fast downhill! That is not good: I’ve been rating almost all drivers with a 5, even when they got lost or I had to support with my own maps… And I wonder why hey have been rating me low.. Occasionally I hit my helmet on theirs with the sudden breaks and accelerations (I always think, hypothetically, a Kaya driver turning and punching me in the face) and most of the time I need help to latch/unlatch the helmet straps.. But these are not so negative points I think.. Once I even gave one driver the laugh of the day putting on the helmet from the wrong side (no, I had not the back of the helmet in front of my face, but the latch was not under my chin but over my forehead… I have no idea how I managed..). Today I tip the driver (almost the same amount of the ride,still cheap for us.. but… not common I think) and he gave me a 5 (my rate was higher than before)… I must carry some change for my rating!!!

My Uber rating Sunday

My Uber rating today before tipping the driver (after it was 4.42)

Trust hurts…

Finally, after ages before too late, tonight I am going to the concert of Megadeth!!

Lost in a dream
Nothing is what it seems
Searching my head
For the words that you said
Tears filled my eyes
As we said our last goodbyes
This sad scene replays
Of you walking away
My body aches from mistakes
Betrayed by lust
We lied to each other so much
That in nothing we trust
Time and again
She repeats let’s be friends
I smile and say yes
Another truth bends,
I must confess
I try to let go, but I know
We’ll never end ’til we’re dust
We lied to each other again
But I wish I could trust
My body aches of mistakes
Betrayed by lust
We lied to each other so much
That in nothing we trust
God help me please, on my knees
Betrayed by lust
We lied to each other so much
That in nothing we trust
How could this be happening to me
I’m lying when I say, “Trust me”
I can’t believe this is true
Trust hurts
Why does trust equal suffering
Absolutely nothing we trust

…I do trust thought it’s gonna be a great concert!

What does matter at the end?

I tried so hard and got so far

But in the end it doesn’t even matter

I had to fall to lose it all

But in the end it doesn’t even matter….

#linkinpark #rip