Stars Wars in Jakarta

A few weeks ago there was a Star Wars convention here in Jakarta. When my neighbor Prateek asked if I wanted to go with him, of course I said yes. Who could turn that down? The chance to see a bunch of Indonesians freak out over Star Wars? Um, yes please. I imagined full on cosplay and people going ga-ga over Leia and Luke and Han... I had to see this.

Now before I get into detail, a bit of background on what Star Wars is to me. Honestly, it's never been that big of a deal. I like it, and I can vaguely remember my Dad taking my brother Jeff and me to see it (I think it was at the Harbor Theater in Lakeside), but I don't remember which of the three movies it was, nor did I have a bunch of Star Wars action figures or anything like that. I've just never been into it the way many guys from my generation tend to be. I mean, come on, Luke Skywalker is cool and all, but he's no GI Joe. Those guys were awesome. I definitely had those toys and I may or may not have strung rappelling lines down the stairs and across the living room of my parents' house. It was so awesome! But I digress... back to Star Wars.

I really wasn't sure what to expect here. Would it be small and not that big of a deal, or completely over the top and ridiculous? I was hoping for lots of Asian style geekiness and some good star wars ridiculousness. Only one way to find out...

Walking into a nondescript office building, the first thing I see is this banner, pointing me towards the festivities.

Star Wars Day Jakarta!

From there, it opened up into a series of semi-connected conference rooms filled with paraphernalia, collectibles, and other random Star Wars stuff. The first room was people in costumes posing for pictures.

Looks just like the real Luke Skywalker. No difference at all. None.

Is that a peace sign/gun combo hand gesture?

It's the world's DEFINITIVE imperial costuming organization. Duh.

In the next room we found tons of action figures, huge set props, etc.

This was my chance to turn the tables on all the Indonesians who normally take my picture.

These are all made of Legos. 

More Legos. Seriously.

Then there was the stuff for sale/trade (I think)

He's so dreamy 

Wait, what? Angry Birds Star Wars? Really?

Um, wrong convention?

This picture made me laugh. Yes I know I have a weird sense of humor, but come on, it's a storm trooper eating noodles. It's funny. No? Meh.

Storm Troopers gotta eat too!

So far, it was tamer than I was hoping. Very few people were dressed up except the official parts of the show. I was about to leave, but then Prateek mentioned that one of his friends was supposed to be running a booth and we hadn't seen him yet. So we ventured off and found him. He wasn't just running a booth. He had created an Imperial Academy flight simulator game.

It was the most impressive thing there, and of course Prateek signed up to play it. He was soooo proud he got the high score.

Prateek (in the helmet) celebrating his victory over a group of children.

Once we witnessed the glory that was Prateek's "victory", it was time to call it a day. Overall, it was a pretty tame experience, but entertaining nonetheless. Having never been to a Star Wars convention in the US, I don't have anything to compare it to. But, I'm going to go ahead and assume it was similar, just more Asian. Much like my entire life over the past year. Hiyo! 

Return of the Kept Man

Remember back when we first moved here? Back when I was still trying to get a job in Indonesia? Ah, those were the days. As it turns out, well, actually I'll let this video fill you in:



As you can see, I am making a triumphant return to the kept man lifestyle. Without going into every detail (I'll spare you that GRIPPING drama), here's the deal (as I've learned from the South Park underpants gnomes):

Step 1: Quit my job
Step 2: ???
Step 3: PROFIT!

Seriously though, I am very appreciative and grateful to my company for the opportunity to transfer here and work in management consulting. But, I learned the hard way that I am not cut out to work in strategy. It requires too many unknowns and too many grey areas for me and my brain is more process driven and analytical. I'll use photography as an example: I am not the most creative person, nor do I have the gift of seeing the world as artistically as the most talented photographers do. But, I do understand the processes of how the camera works and I can put it to use to take some pretty good pictures. I'll never be an artistic photographer, but I can still do some really cool stuff with a camera.

There were other reasons as well, but the bottom line is that the job was unfulfilling for me, and every day I came home unhappy. At this point in my life, I'm not going to spend time doing things that make me feel that way, especially when I have the option to pursue other opportunities. It's an option I am very fortunate to have, so I'm choosing that path.

So what does all this mean? I already have an idea of the path that is right for me - something ops/process driven. I've spent my entire life learning how things work, taking stuff apart, etc. I went to school for engineering because I like figuring out how things work, and when I worked in a factory for a summer, I passed the time watching the machinery and figuring out all the steps each one carried out. That kind of stuff is (and always has been) interesting to me. (NERD ALERT!!)

It's been very much a series of "well duh" moments for me as I've come to these realizations over the past couple months, but better late than never. From here, I'll be reading a bunch of books, trying to learn as much as I can about the types of roles that I am best suited to, and then once we know where our next location will be, I'll start zeroing in on potential opportunities for me.

But until then, I'm back to living the life of a kept man. I'll be keeping this blog more frequently updated, playing around with some more photography stuff, reading books on personal development, going to the gym, cooking, cleaning, etc. Gloria's really hoping I don't look like this in a couple months:

Mmmm Zingerman's....

All we know for sure is that I'm done working in consulting, at least for now. I won't say for good though, because none of us knows what the future holds. For now, I'm just going to keep moving forward and try to put myself (and Gloria) in the best possible position for our future. It's exhilarating, frightening, nerve-wracking, exciting...but we're in it together and whatever the future holds, we'll be just fine.