THE BAD IMPACTS OF MODERN BODY PIERCING

Many people go to pierce their body parts these days. They pierce their ears, nose, and even some other parts that I am not even brave enough to mention. They have many different purposes to get their not-in-proper-place-piercings done. Some only follows the trend and others argue that they can explore the beauty of their bodies through this kind of piercing. They say that this is art. Honestly, I don’t think so. Because actually, piercing (except ear piercing) brings bad impacts for ourselves instead of showing beauty.

First, body piercing may leave unhealed ulcer if the process of piercing is not hygienic. Our body is very fragile. If we pierce our body on improper place, means that we force our body to have something that it should not. Moreover, piercing is identical with injury. Once you do not treat it well, your body will struggle. The wound will get infection and it will become worse and worse. Imagine if for example we have piercing on our cheek and then the wound become ulcer. Then we will lose our pure face! That’s terrible.

Second, if the needle used to pierce is not sterile or has been used to puncture other people, we may be affected by HIV/AIDS. As we know, this disease cannot be healed perfectly. We can die suffering from this disease because our immune system is weak. Furthermore, we may not socially be accepted if people know we get this disease. Actually, not only in extreme piercing, this problem can be happened also to people who do common piercing. A small pleasure can bring a huge disaster.

Third, some of piercing may be dangerous for our nerves. I have heard that eyebrow piercing is risky. Once there was a person taking the ring off from his eyebrow. He found something around the eye that he thought as a thread. He pulled it and then he became blind. Later, the doctor said that he broke the optical nerve around the eyebrow. If for instance we pierce our face and it causes us not being able to move our face muscle. It is so lucky that we will not be deaf if we pierce our ears.

Fourth, some piercings may disturb our daily life. If we have our tongue pierced, it is not easy to eat because it hurts when something stuck on the ring. We can even swallow the ring coincidentally. I say that because my friend did it three times. For extreme piercing on the lips, it is also hard to eat. We cannot chew food easily because it is difficult to close our mouth. Some of the extreme nose piercings may also cause breathing disturbance because the air stream in and out through the nose be blocked by the huge rings or sticks.

Last but not least, the “hole” remains from piercing is absolutely far from beauty. It even looks terrible. One may make our ear as long as Buddha Julai, but with a large hole on the lobe. For extreme lip piercing where people put something as big and round as needles box, we will find a hanging lip on the chin. The big plug on nostrils may cause us having four holes on the nose. For short, all of these holes do not reflect aesthetic value at all.

In conclusion, piercing does hurt. How can people hurt themselves only for a trend? It leaves wound, it may contaminate our body with disease and illness, it disturbs our daily activities, and the hole remaining not good. But it is only the matter of choice. You just only need to think about the consequences before practicing this kind of “art”.

Hahahaha

Every year, Balinese celebrate Nyepi, the new year of Hindu. Nyepi is the day when Balinese should do Catur Bratha Penyepian consisting of Amati Gni (means not to flame fire), Amati Lelungan (means not to go anywhere), Amati Karya (means not to do anything), and Amati Lelanguan (means not to eat anything). A day before Nyepi is called Pengrupukan. This day Balinese should do a kind of ceremony to avoid Butha Kala (a kind of unseen creature that can be good or bad but it is not ghost). This day, there will be the show of Ogoh-ogoh. Ogoh –ogoh is a big statue reflecting the Butha Kala or Devil which has scary face. This thing will be carried around the village or town, go along with Balinese traditional music instruments called Gamelan and Tektekan.
Like everybody else in Bali, I myself also celebrate Nyepi. I really like the part of watching the Ogoh-ogoh festival. My friends and I used to stand up in the edge of the street while waiting the Ogoh-ogoh to come. It was like another day of pengrupukan. I also watched the Ogoh-ogoh with my sister. She was a little child at that time and it was her first time to look at Ogoh-ogoh directly. She had ever watched Ogoh-ogoh on television but that’s all. I never took a risk to bring baby to that festival.
In the evening, the festival began. One by one, the Ogoh-ogoh passed us by. She was shocked because she had never expected that the Ogoh-ogoh could be that BIG. Her face was so funny that her eyes got bigger and her mouth opened and made a form of big “o”. She got stuck on her standing spot, maybe wanted to move but she could not. I was confused that she was silent like a statue. Then, I called her name out, but suddenly, she shouted, “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa….!!!!!!”
I was so shocked that when she screamed, everybody’s eyes were on her. They might be wondered why she screamed that way. Then I asked her, “What happen?”
She slapped my shoulder and replied, “You made me shocked! I thought that you were one of those monsters!!!”
“Huahahahahahahaha! You’re very funny, honey…” I laughed again and again until my stomach hurt. Even until I got home. And everytime I remember that moment, I laugh by myself just like a crazy person.

Dreamland Beach

Dreamland Beach is one of the beautiful beaches in Bali. This beach is located in Pecatu, on the South part of Bali Island. You will need about 45 minutes to reach this beach from Ngurah Rai Airport, or 30 minutes from Kuta beach, or 20 minutes from Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) Cultural Park. To get into this beach, you just need to pay 5000 rupiahs for parking. It is very cheap compared to the happiness brought by this beach.
The panorama in this beach is absolutely beautiful. Hills and rocks surround this beach. Therefore, to reach this beach, you should go downstairs through the hill. On the way, you can see how wide the sea is. You will realize that God has made a pretty world for us to live in.
From the hill, you can see the fantastic view. The white sand glistens shone by the sun. The waves run after each other. And in the evening, you can see the sunset through the hill. It is just awesome.
On the beach, you can do many things. You can just walk along the beach, seeing the wonderful scenery. You can also sunbathe, play beach volleyball with your friends, play with the sand, and so on. Sometimes, there is also shooting of movie or music video along the beach. So, do not be surprised if you see “camera, roll on, and action!”.
There are also some facilities in this beach in order to make you more comfortable to enjoy your holiday. There are umbrellas you can rent if you want to relax without getting dark because of the sunlight. If you want to swim but you do not bring any swimsuit, you can buy one there. If you are hungry or thirsty, just go to the restaurant or buy things in the stands selling food and drink. There are also toilets to change clothes in. For more entertainment, you can even play golf near the beach! And if you want to stay longer, there are many resorts and villas you can sleep in which provide the wonderful panorama along the hill. Café, souvenir shops, clothes shops, anything, spread in this beach.
Those beauty and comfort make people interested to come. There are many people visit this beach every day. Most of them are foreigners. Sometimes they drink alcohol or sunbathe topless. But they do not against the law because International law is used in this beach. Many surfers also like to come because the waves are big and strong.

HALAL BIHALAL

My neighborhood consists of people from different background and religion; Hindu, Islam, Buddha, and Christian. As we know, every religion has its own big day. Hindu has Nyepi, Islam has Idul Fitri, Buddha has Imlek, and Christian has Christmas. In my neighborhood, there is a kind of tradition that we do on that big days. For example, like last holiday, Moslems celebrate Idul Fitri. At that time, they will hold a “open house”. They invite their family, relatives, including their non-Moslem neighbor to come to their house. They will prepare a lot of food and drinks, such as cakes, cookies, fruit salad or asinan, meatballs, “lontong” plus the “opor”, etc. When my family and I come to their house and congratulate them by saying “Happy Lebaran, minal aidzin wal faidzin” or something, they will serve us, eat, and talk with us. This tradition is called Halal Bihalal. I do like this tradition because we can make us closer as neighbors, we can talk more than usual with our neighbor after getting busy with our activities, and the most important thing is we can get some food for FREE.

GHOSTS ARE IN THE HOUSE!

The ghost house I’m describing is located in Jawa Timur Park__a place like Dufan or Taman Festival Bali__in Malang. It is not a deserted house which has many kind of ghost flying inside. It is just a “game house” which provided many fake ghosts to entertain the visitors. The house is like a cave which has an entering point and an exit. At the gate of this house, you will see the poster “DO NOT ENTER IF YOU HAVE A HEART DISEASE!!!”. As you enter the house, you will not be able to see anything because it is very dark. After a while, you will realize that it is a scary place. Perhaps you feel that you are in a wrong place and maybe you will consider getting back to the entering gate. But don’t worry, it is very challenging inside. The first challenge is a three junction. And if you choose the wrong way, you will get lost. Several ghosts will greet you along the way to get into the exit door. Kuntilanak with her long black hair and bloody white dress, Pocong with his white suit, Vampire with his sharp cane and black coat, Tuyul with his bald head, or if you are lucky, a bloody mummy will show his face. All local and international ghosts appear. They will wave their hands or do fearing movements, but they will not chase you. There is also a very narrow bridge on the way out. It is sufficient for only a person to walk on. Some bloody things are__still__waiting beside. You will have no idea what will happen if you fall because it is all black under the bridge and smoke comes out from below. At the end, there are five doors. You can read a frightening letter above. “CHOOSE THE CORRECT DOOR OR YOU WILL GET LOST HERE FOREVER!!!”. Well, it is very easy to get out because the four others are only closets that have ghosts in it. Just prepare yourself when you decide to get in.