I just realized I haven’t blogged for quite some time and I have been wallowing in some kind of unhealthy-type of doomscrolling (isn’t doomscrolling always been unhealthy?) and putting myself in inexplicable rage on… everything. Mostly because of the haze caused by Indonesia’s forest fires (which, I believe, is not accidental. In Indonesian, we say it “dibakar, bukan terbakar”.)

Ugh.

Because of the haze, we have been having a really limited time to do outdoor activities. Even going outside for work, school, or simply sightseeing the city became a health hazard. The demand for mask is increasing again, and I never imagined that I would pull out my LG Puricare mask, that obnoxious electrical gadget mask with literal air purifier on your face, for Ari to use on his way to the office. Bonus, that mask makes you sound like Darth Vader.

Also, it’s scored 168 on AQI at my place, and it’s bad already. Imagine how it feels like at places where it’s nearby, or even at, the hotspots located. Some even hits >1000 AQI points. Screw this current Indonesia administration.

In some ways, the despair feels like the pandemic all over again. That kind of “I’m so powerless”-feeling. You see the forest fires blazing for days, even weeks, then at the next scroll, you see that disgustingly stupid “1980s trend using genAI” trash. Right now, my consolation is reading this book:

I got this book years ago, at a BookXcess store, and I just got my hands on it recently. I’m familiar with Terry Pratchett by name and some of his quotes, but I was in a… bad time when I first learned about him, as in, he was introduced to me by someone that I would rather not remember fondly. It took years until I finally made peace with it and opened this book, which I’m so glad I did that.