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Monday 21 September 2015

An Elegant Evening in Batavia Marina

I was invited to my granduncle AB. Susanto's 65th birthday party and book launching of his new book "Potrait of an Ordinary Person Loved By God." It was  held in Batavia Marina, Ancol, where the building is right next to a harbour for goods. First we had a mass, and I played the opening song "Kasih Dari Surga" on the grand piano. Below is the picture of the mass. 


And this is the board at the front of the party showing the book he's launching.

After the mass, I played several songs that I had prepared for this day while the guests explored around and chat with their friends. The violinist joined me.

The violinist had to go, so I played alone.


This is the party outside with a "Sunda Kelapa"cruise as a background.

This is me with the boats out there.
 And this is the gamelan at the entrance. After playing the piano I and my father went around and took pictures.
This is the stairs at the entrance.


Tuesday 8 September 2015

The Story of Prometheus

The good titan, Prometheus, that I had mentioned before in the Coming of the Greek Gods, was asked by Zeus to create man out of clay, and teach them how to live on earth, the basics of life, and the gifts of everything. But he might not give them the gift of fire, for that belonged to the gods. Without fire, teaching mankind and mankind's life became hard and slow work. If he gave fire to mankind, he would surely be punished by Zeus. But he had to give them, to make the job faster. So before he gave fire to mankind, he asked his good brother titan Epimetheus, to take care of them when he was punished by Zeus. Finally Prometheus gave fire to mankind and was punished by Zeus.

Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him onto a rock and everyday an eagle would come and ate his liver. But then it would grow again and the next day the eagle would eat it again. Repital. But Prometheus told Zeus that the giants would one day overthrow him, and only he (Prometheus) knew the solution. Only he won't tell until he was realeased. Zeus had no intention realeasening Prometheus, so Prometheus didn't tell Zeus. (He would be released in another Greek myth)

http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html

Tuesday 1 September 2015

How Smart Hermes Was.

Hermes was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Maia. He was the gods' messenger, and also sent the dead souls to the underworld. This is the statue of Hermes:
Hermes Ingenui Pio-Clementino Inv544.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes



This is a famous myth about how smart Hermes was:

When Hermes was a little boy, a toddler age, he went to steal Apollo's 50 cows for fun. Apollo was a god, but a sheperd too.  He threw away his own sandals and made another, with the straps on the place where the heels should be. So when he walked, his tracks were showing backwards. He also brought and pulled the cows backwards, so that Apollo would not recognize the tracks and go the wrong way. He passed an old man and gave him several cows, telling him not to tell anyone if he passed. But he didn't trust the old man so a little time later, he dressed as a traveller and asked the old man if a little kid went this way. The old man told the truth, and so Hermes with rage changed the man into stone. Then he brought the cattle towards where he lived: a cave. Soon it became night and Hermes killed 2 cows, and divided it as an offering to the 12 gods, (except Apollo, of course, so the twelfth is for him), then continued on his way towards the cave. He hid the cows there. 

When Apollo found out that his cattle had been stolen, he tried to track it but wasn't able to. When he found out that it was Hermes who stole it, he went to the cave and found Hermes there. Hermes just looked at him with an innocent face, and when Apollo accused him for stealing the cattle, Hermes just said that he (Hermes) was still a toddler, how could he steal 50 cows all on his own? After argueing, Apollo brought Hermes to Zeus. Zeus was ammused by Hermes's theft, but asked him to confess his mistake. So finally Hermes confessed his mistake and showed Apollo what he just did. Then he played the lyre that he just made and learned how to play, and Apollo really wanted that lyre. So he traded his cattle wih Hermes for the lyre, and also gave him the Herald's Golden Staff, which was one of his symbols now. The other one was the winged sandals that Zeus gave him for he was the gods' messenger. Afther this exchange Apollo became the god of music, and Hermes became a shepperd, like Apollo's job before. 

https://xsmyth2012.wikispaces.com/Hermes
                       That's the end of the famous myth of Hermes.