Nah, I'm not gonna start my very own Ogebness series. Although, do you think it will outsell the For Dummies series? Just imagine, The Ogebness of Hyperion, The Ogebness of Microsoft Outlook, The Ogebness of the Indonesian President, The Ogebness of Jehovah's Witnesses, The Ogebness of The Da Vinci Code.

Oh, and since no self-pimpin' is ever enough, The Ogebness of Dodol Surodol.

While we're on the subject of ogebness, what is it with all these earthquakes of late, huh? Until recently, I was never one sensitive to 'quakes. People like my mom -- because I tend to slip her into conversations, remember -- would look at each other and say, did you feel that tremor? And I would be like, huh, tremor? What tremor? They would then be all, oh, that's OK, we know you're not a sensitive guy.

At this point, I would usually pull out my double-barreled shotgun and blow everyone's head off. Well, in my mind, anyway.

There isn't a change in the year yet, as far as calendar is concerned, but I've experienced more 'quakes than I had in my entire thirty years of living. Once, we even had to evacuate, what the fish?!

Gotta give it to the Singaporeans. Despite all the talk of their kiasuness, those around me barely panicked earlier this evening, when yet another quake -- and one with such a long series of tremors -- occurred. I mean, it was no joke when you were on the seventh floor.

But the lady behind my cubicle kept arguing with a vendor over the phone, without missing one single beat as far as I could tell. Two other ladies on the other end of the room joked about how they had shaken. Another nearly dropped a cup and later proudly announced it to everyone within earshot.

Noone made any attempt to climb down the stairs.

Well, to be fair to them, it wasn't any more ogeb than our reactions. Nor were they more ogeb than yours truly this time -- who kept compiling and deploying his application, stubbornly refusing defeat by some ogeb web services.

Then again, as a Javanese would say, I was lucky enough not to have been at home during the 'quake. I can only imagine what being on a thirty-seventh floor must've felt like. I guess I have those ogeb web services to thank.

You know, if I mention it often enough, they may find ogeb a worthy enough candidate for inclusion into the English dictionary.

So what's this Jogging Calculator, you asked. Well, it is a tool you can find on StreetDirectory.com. A pretty useful tool to plan your training program.

If you know how to use it, that is.

Yesterday morning, dunno what got into me, I was determined to wake up at six -- yup, six, a felony if you asked me -- in the morning and start my training. If you look at the program, I was to complete two miles this first day. And so, I happily went to that SD Jogging Calculator to plan my route. Tens of clicks later -- oh yeah, I was very precise -- it told me 1,700+ meters to go around the few blocks I had chosen. All right, fine, I thought, I'd do two laps, giving away 200 meters for free.

Sure 'nuff, after four hours of sleep -- The Simpsons Movie to blame -- there I was, by the road, stretching like a true athlete. I suppose it wasn't entirely a good sign when you started by crossing a road and nearly crashing into a van. But I purposefully kept my pace.

Didn't check my watch -- one I bought especially for last year's training program -- until I almost completed one round. When it showed me twenty minutes, I almost hit another vehicle, an auntie's trolley this time.

The fish?! I knew I must've been slow -- after all, I last ran somewhere in Jan -- but twenty friggin' minutes for what wasn't even a mile? I realized something was definitely up, but I couldn't help increasing my pace thereafter.

As a result, by the time I completed the second lap, I was breathing so doggy-like my tongue almost on the road. Exaggeration, as always, of course, no need to panic.

To cut what was supposed to be a short story but not quite short, the first thing I did as I hit my cubicle was to open that Jogging Calculator thingy. Several clicks on, I realized there was something wrong with the tool. I suspect the bug was something to do with a map spanning a few screens. Try it yourself.

So, here's a tip: to calculate the distance of long enough a route, don't click all the way to the end point and calculate the distance. Instead, calculate the distance after five clicks or so, and definitely before you have to move to the next screen. Then start a new calculation from where you have stopped.

Ogeb, indeed but hey, it's free, what do you expect? And it's actually all right for me, 'cause I need to put a mark every 400 meters anyway.

If you must know, my morning lap turned out to be 3,000 meters. Which means instead of 3,400 meters as planned, I actually ran 6,000 meters. On my first training. On the very day where we later played badminton for three straight hours.

Oh well, I guess that's why they say, train wisely.

As opposed to, you know, ogebly.

On another note, my apologies for writing such an insensitive entry on the eve where a disaster struck home and had people killed, injured, and missing. My heart goes to everyone affected.

Updated Sep 13 08:27 WIB
OK, now I know what it feels like being on a 37th floor during a 'quake. Nothing. In fact, I only knew another 'quake has occurred thanks to an SMS from Roni.

Which is a mystery, considering I was apparently fully awake and getting ready for shower when it happened. Hmm...

Current music: One Way - Janji Pasti
Current mood: not so happy now