Friday, 12 May 2006 @ 11:32am. I’ve been dealing with the flu and am now feeling better. The Ibu and family at my boarding house think I got the flu because of the “weather change.” A person at the office suggested I got sick from working too hard and it’s an indication I need to take a break. Both are probably correct. I don’t feel that I’m working all that hard actually, but if I take a step back and look at my situation, I might be!

Last Sunday, I attended a rally organized by the Prosperous Justice party (PKS). The rally campaigned “one man, one dollar” to support Palestine. According to The Jakarta Post and Antara newswire, PKS collected around Rp. 700 million (USD $80,000) in donations. PKS will establish a bank account and then purchase food and clothing with the help of the Indonesian government and a Palestinian representative. Direct bank transactions are not allowed at the present time.

In a previous posting, I mentioned that rain may have put a damper on the May Day labor protests. Apparently, hired rainmen might have been behind the weather that day.

A recent text message: “Nomor Anda telah terdaftar sebelumnya. Terima kasih atas partisipasi Anda dalam registrasi pelanggan prabayar.” This basically says thank you for registering your handphone number. All prepaid cellular phone users must register with the government due to a ministerial decree from October 2005. Registration consists of texting your name, ID card number, date and place of birth, and address to 4444. The government instituted the registration process to prevent or minimize criminal activities (e.g., scams and terrorism). April 28th was the original registration deadline, but the deadline has been extended for a couple more months because of technical difficulties (e.g., operators have been overwhelmed by the millions of users trying to register). Failure to register means loss of service.