year end reflection

dec 31, early morning. well not so early.. but i'm not a morning person so i consider before noon to be pretty early. :D i don't usually write in the morning but since this is the last day of 2009, i thought i might look back and see what 2009 has given me. i don't write resolutions though. never can remember what they are anyway, so what's the point of writing one?

let's see. 2009. hmm.
+ i was skinny in the early 2009. woohoo! dieting was not my strongest point and as far as i can remember i always feel like i have problems with my weight (although not necessarily so. i have normal weight until i went to oz for college, where i gained 10 kilos in just less than 6 months. scary). in 2002-2003 i was totally skinny, but in an unhealthy way. i weighed only a mere 45 kilos and i remember how i felt when i bought a pair of cool pants from the sale items and it was a size 6. :D i gained the weight back in around a year or so.

+ getting re-acquainted with an old friend who now turned out to be my husband. he sent me a box of presents for my birthday (but only because i sent him a xmas box in 2008!).

+ went to spore with my parents to see CATS in esplanade. it was a short but fun trip. i think all trips with my parents are fun. i like going with them, although sometimes i do have to be patient (biasa, orang tua banyak maunya). we stayed at ymca and flew valuair. fun fun fun.

+ flew to oz for a holiday with my then-only-friend hubby. it was fun fun fun. went to cairns, sydney and melbourne (to see my old friends). whilst there i tried scuba diving, which turns out to be so much fun. i had a blast.

+ gaining back all the weight i lost during end of 2008-start of 2009. *sigh*

+ ketemu then vice president JK.

+ went to jogja (2x!), one for work and the other for fun. i love jogja. oh, i also went to bali and flores with my hubby. went snorkelling yang berakibat sangat fatal terhadap punggung gw. sampe skarang masih belang and i really don't know how to fix it. :(( oh.. btw, kalau mau honeymoon, pergilah ke lovina. nginep di hotel yg namanya frangipani. huahahahha. masih terngiang2 itu hotel sampe skarang. so niceeeee, so secluded. perfect lah. :D :D

+ i got married, which is .. like the most happening event of this year. :D small party, small church, small gathering... but perfect. padahal plan nya kacau balau. i didn't do the planning except the date. semua serba last minute (including nyari cincin kawin buat my hubby, cos i didn't know i had to buy for him!!) but it all went well. phew.

+ move to arizona. hence start the adventure. from living in a big city, i now live in a small city (itupun agak di pinggiran kota). gak ada mall di sini kecuali walmart. gak ada chinese restaurant kecuali yg buffet (kalo buffet ada 3 biji, but they don't do ala carte menus). but there's plenty sights for seeing. plenty national parks to visit (for free). plenty of things to do outdoor.

+ last but probably most exciting: i'm expecting. woot! so next year i'm gonna be a mom. really can't imagine that happening when i started 2009 but .. here i am.

who knows what 2010 brings (other than the baby, for sure :P) i can only hope it'll be as good as 2009.

feeling rather blueish

well what can i say. it's been a hectic (almost) 2 months in the US for me. i've grown accustomed to having my parents around me that now the house seems big and empty without them. :( even gendeng max miss them (i can tell, cause this morning he came into the living room expecting a lot of "hello maxxxx.." and kisses and hugs and snacks.. . instead he found an empty house. boo.)

anyway, now i'm left with a house so dirty i don't even know where to begin the cleaning up. :P i suppose it's good that i have lots to do to occupy my mind. yes, my new year's eve is gonna be spend cleaning up, reorganizing the kitchen, and baking probably. luckily i have some ingredients to make blackforest cake, so i'm gonna make that for new year's dessert.

yesterday we went to tucson. partly cause we have to drive my parents and sis to the airport. but after that we spent the rest of the day looking at minivans (i still think honda is the best :P), raiding asian grocery stores (i stack up on dry egg noodles, shin ramyun, and charsiu marinated stuff.. haha!). bought a couple of sandals for me (cause max chewed mine to pieces) at payless shoe store, and then had wonderful dinner at the indian restaurant at east broadway st. delicious. i don't know whether that's due to the fact that we're starving or was the food really that good though. :P

oh well, i suppose vacation's over. welcome back to reality life.

obgyns in comparison

seumur hidup gw belum pernah ke obgyn, kecuali pas terakhir2 ini. di indo krn gak punya referensi, akhirnya memilih untuk pergi ke siloam hospital kebon jeruk. kebetulan dapetnya dokter kandungan yang masih muda, bersuara merdu bak penyiar radio, dan kalem. ruangannya sih kelihatan nakutin, dengan banyaknya instrumen2 ultrasound dan lain2 sebagainya. suster kerjanya agak lambat, mungkin sambil ngelamun juga secara pasien lagi sepi. dokter gak banyak tanya, dan gak banyak menganjurkan apa2 kecuali vitamin.. udah. preksa pun cuma ultrasound doang. itupun lamaaa, kayak menikmati banget gitu. ibaratnya kalau makan coklat, pake di emut dulu.

di sini baru 2x ke obgyn. pertama kali cuma di pencet2 doang. soalnya belum punya insurance. tadi datang lagi karena sudah ber insurance (ngikut suami). jadi langsung di papsmear. oh my ... rasanya tak enak skali papsmear itu.... huiks. tapi yang bikin kagum adalah cara kerja si dokter. sangat cepat. ibaratnya makan coklat, dikunyah pun gak.. langsung telen.

jadi kita dateng berdasarkan appointment. tapi nunggunya lama. setelah ngantuk, baru dipanggil masuk oleh suster, untuk nimbang berat badan dan ukur tensi. lalu suster akan mengajak masuk ke ruangan periksa, sambil bawa2 notebook kecil. lalu tanya ini itu, ketik ketik sedikit.. sudah. lalu tunggu lagi sampai kembali ngantuk, baru dokter masuk. dulu pas pertama kali dokter masuk 5 menit, sudah, selesai. padahal nunggunya 1.5jam. kali ini dokter masuk, ngomong dengan cepat kalau akan papsmear, lalu keluar lagi krn gw mesti buka celana (!!) dan tiduran dengan manis. setelah itu dia masuk beserta suster. sambil dia nerangin test apa yg harus diambil minggu depan, suster bekerja dengan cepat menyiapkan spatula blablabla dikasih gel dan lain2. lalu dokter suruh saya ngangkang, mundur mundur mundur yak pas, lalu cuma bilang "relax aja, saya bakal masukin spatula agak dingin tapi gak sakit..".

yeah right!!! emang gak sakit tapi rasanya tetep GAK ENAK!!!

pas selesai gw komplen ke suami masalah gak enaknya itu. suami dengan kalem cuma bilang "but i do it all the time........."
err... ya tapi kan GAK GITU CARANYAAAA!! at least he takes more than 2 minutes to do it. :P

anyway, the doctor was done in less than 5 minutes. si suster pun dengan sigap udah selesai bebenah pas si dokter selesai pereksa dan catet2. habis itu ya sudah. boleh pulang. nunggu 2 jam untuk periksa 5-10 menit. gak kebayang harus bayar berapa krn insurance yg tanggung. tapi dulu waktu pertama kali datang untuk konsultasi aja bayar $300. padahal di indo udah pake ultrasound bayar 300rb. bikin mau nangis.

sayang penderitaan ini belom berakhir. minggu depan masih ada banyak test yang harus diambil.. termasuk blood tests. oh my... i hate blood tests. :(

L = lebay

lagi seru baca kasusnya luna maya vs infotainment. gara2nya ternyata simpel tapi kok ya merembet kemana2. kok ya kebetulan juga di ex kantor lagi ada masalah yang menurut gw serupa tapi tak sama. mungkin cocok buat perbandingan, i dunno. lagi gak pengen nulis yang ribet2 juga secara ini masih pagi. (alasan doang sih.. sebetulnya mo pagi atau gak juga emang gw gak hobi nulis yang ribet2. hihihi).

jadi di mantan kantor ternyata lagi ada masalah antara 2 orang yang berseteru. gara2nya juga simpel, gara2 si A komplen soal si B yang pas lagi syuting kok sambil BBan. tapi ntah gimana nyampe ke kuping si B sudah ditambah2in dengan bumbu2 yang bukan dari si A (biasa kan?) jadinya si B sensitif. lalu berkoarlah si B di status FBnya dengan menulis kalau dia gak pengen syuting bareng si A lagi (nyebut nama). wah, gegerlah orang sekantor yang membaca status tersebut. timbul berbagai macam komentar.. yang dari dia2 juga, yang makin lama makin merembet ke hal yang sebetulnya bukan pokok permasalahan alias masalah penyakit si A (jadi si A ini emang terkena penyakit pernapasan, jadi dia selalu pakai masker ke kantor) dan dibilang si A ini kena rabies. hiyaaa.. berbalas sensi dong si A. tulislah dia email klarifikasi ke intranet, meminta orang yg bersangkutan untuk ngomong langsung gak lewat fb.

panjang toh? belom. karena habis itu dipanggillah oknum B oleh atasan2, yang akhirnya keluarlah titah bos bahwa bb, notebook dan hp dilarang dipergunakan selama syuting. sekarang si A jadi gak betah karena berasa di judge oleh orang sekitar hanya krn dia pakai masker, dan si B pun jadi jarang bergaul di kantor, .. makin sibuk dengan BB nya mungkin. :P

ngedenger cerita ini gw kok jadi miris ya. kebebasan berpendapat sih bagus tapi kalau berpendapatnya gak pake otak kok rasanya ya mendingan gak usah berpendapat. dari dulu gw emang suka heran ngeliat ada orang yang bawa2 kerjaan ke dalam status fb. sebelumnya yg kayak gini juga pernah kejadian di kantor. oknum yang berbeda tapi kasusnya sama. brantem sama temen se tim, trus dibawa2 ke fb. panjang masalahnya, sampai di sidang sama bos.

mungkin semua masalah ini (baik lunmay maupun A dan B) gak akan terjadi kalau gak ada yang lebay. kalau si B gak lebay nulis2 masalah tegoran biasa ini ke dalam status fb, mungkin gak akan jadi panjang. kalau lunmay gak lebay nulis kekesalannya di twitter pake bahasa yang menurut gw emang agak bikin panas masalahnya gak akan sepanjang ini.

but honestly, gw juga gak bisa nyalahin lunmay karena gw tau gimana ngeselinnya wartawan (?) infotainment can be. mereka bisa merasa tersinggung kalau ada artis yg gak mau diwawancara atau gak mau jawab pertanyaan atau bahkan gak ngasih mereka ngeliput event pribadi si artis. tapi kenapa mereka gak mau ngerti kalau si artis tersinggung dipaksa2 jawab padahal lagi gak pengen ketemu wartawan, lagi gak pengen jawab, lagi gak pengen mikirin kasus, ataupun sekedar ngejawab rumor2 gak penting. dan kenapa juga sih kalau nyodorin mic mesti pas di depan muka sampe kayak mau nempel gitu? apalagi ada anak kecil di sana. gak ngerti deh.

dan gw lebih gak ngerti lagi sama undang2 teknologi itu. maksudnya mau ngelindungin siapa dari siapa? prita dituntut sama omni karena katanya mencemarkan nama baik.. sampai disuruh bayar ratusan juta krn merugikan omni. merugikan dari apa? itu kan sifatnya keluhan pribadi. kalau memang pelayanannya bagus kan tidak akan sampai terjadi keluhan. orang ngeluh itu kan gak puas, lah orang gak puas kok dituntut? bukannya berbenah diri... malah ngomel balik. aneh.

kakak gw kerja di restoran chinese siap saji di amrik sini. setiap hari mereka dapat puluhan keluhan. yang ruangannya terlalu dingin lah, terlalu panas lah, dagingnya keras lah, terlalu asam lah, staff gak ramah lah.. semuaaa ada aja yang di komplen. tapi apakah restoran menuntut si pengkomplen? gak tuh. malah mereka menghargai setiap komplen karena dari situ mereka bisa berbenah. rapi2 diri supaya gak dikomplen lagi, dan supaya makin banyak orang yang memuji. makin banyak yang muji makin banyak yg dateng toh? dan ternyata ini berlaku di setiap usaha jasa.

lantas kenapa konsep seperti ini gak bisa ditiru oleh indonesia? apakah karena pimpinannya arogan merasa mereka paling benar sehingga yang komplen pasti salah? dalam kasus prita ini saya setuju kalau omni sangat lebay dalam menanggapi kasus komplen biasa. coba kalau dia dekati si dek prita ini, urus masalahnya baik2, lalu kalau si prita puas, kan dia akan menulis lagi tentang kepuasannya .. lalu semuanya akan beres. tidak perlu ada kasus pencemaran nama baik karena nama omni akan menjadi lebih baik di mata orang.

oh well, mungkin udah sifat orang indo demen yang lebay2 kali ya? :D kalau gak lebay rasanya kurang afdol.

after mrs.

kalau dipikir2 life's been treating me good this year. i'm never the one who usually do new years resolution and stuff, but here's what i've been blessed with this year: good job, good family, good friends, health, good fortune, great vacations (australia, indonesia and US all in one year, who could beat that?) and marriage.

speaking of vacations, i went for a roadtrip for my honeymoon. hubby has a trailer so we went from florida to arizona bringing a trailer with us. jadi tidurnya di trailer. at first agak cape juga, secara trailer sempit pisan, tapi lama2 ya biasa. jadi ahli nyari2 rv park yang oke di guide book (buku tebal setebal yellow/white pages). trus juga jadi ahli baca peta.. lumayan lahhh. :P terutama untuk nyari rest area dan tempat makan.

of all the places, i probably like san antonio, texas and carlsbad cavern, new mexico the best. bagussss banget. galveston, texas was a bit depressing krn mendung dan hujan terus. but the historical houses were so cute to look at. reminded me a bit of england. :P new orleans, texas was just too loud and too crowded for me. i wouldn't wanna go back, although the food was yummy. love southern food.

right now i'm still so tired from all the moving and going, i just wanna sleep or munch. my butt's expanding at a very alarming rate right now. sialnya hubby lagi night shift... so not helping. hrgh. ok this will definitely be my last nastar.... after this i'm brushing my teeth and go to bed! really! last one!

*munch*munch*

...

ok another last one........

things you can't find

here in safford arizona, there are some things you can't find.

- macet. no traffic jam whatsoever. jangankan macet, mobil ngantri aja hampir tak ada. wow.
- lubang di jalanan. nope. makanya di sini mobil kalau jalan bisa ngebut. gak perlu kawatir mesti rem mendadak krn ada lobang di tengah jalan.
- motor bebek. AHAHAHAHHA gw seneng banget yang satu ini kagak ada. jalanan terasa legaaaaa........
- mall. sadly there's no mall in this small city. tapi ada walmart (actually i prefer target, but walmart will do lah). barang2nya cukup bagus2 dan murah2.
- sampah di pinggir jalan. so refreshing to see nature free from garbage/litter.
- pembantu. hiks. agak sedih sih. tapi secara gw nganggur juga di sini, jadinya ya gak papa deh. walaupun i still hate doing ngelipet2 laundry dan vacuum (soalnya kena static terus).
- teman. yg ini bikin bete sih, secara jadi gak punya temen ngegosip. and it adds to my misery that waktu lokal di sini mundur 14 jam dari wib. jadinya pas gw pagi, mereka malam. pas gw malam, mereka siang. tetep gak bisa chatting deh. i don't know how i did it with my guy before me coming here.
- pemulung, pengamen, tukang minta2 di lampu merah...
- ABG jalan2 di mall (ha! no mall, no abg?) sambil bawa2 froyo. :)) di tucson mall juga penuh abg kok, tapi setidaknya gak bawa2 froyo.
- bakmi GM, bakmi pinangsia, bakmi medan 61, lomie kangkung, kwetiaw siram, ......
- 14045 dan kawan2nya. gosh.
- truk2 bak terbuka dengan kondisi bobrok dan dengan bak belakang bertuliskan kata2 mutiara yang kadang2 suka bikin ketawa saking garingnya
- public transportation of any kind. kok belum liat satupun ya? except a school bus. i saw stop signs for the bus, and the bus itself at one time, but no school.
- kecap manis, indomie, dan sambel.
- tanaman hijau dan bunga warna warni. it's a desert, what do you expect. ada sih tanaman gede hijau2, just not on my yard. :P
- speaking of yard, i don't have grass on my yard. it's all sand and stone. thank God hubby's thinking about getting a garden made in the backyard. the dogs will be happy. and i too, considering the dogs'll bring less sand and stones into the house. :p
- sinetron2 sialan yang biasa merajai tv2 indo. ahahahahhahahahahhaha.
- bayar parkir. di sini parkir gak bayar. dan lahan parkir gedeeee, ga perlu rebutan.
- jajanan pasar indo. lumpia, risol, gorengan, nagasari, lemper.. arghhh..
- cats. no cats in this house. hahahahhaha.

i suppose the list will keep on growing. at least i'm settling down here. and my hubby is so nice he works hard to make me like it here. he takes me to places, and when at home he lets me watch whatever i want, except on saturdays. :P

oh gosh i'm so lazy this past two days. i should be doing some laundrying (benci deh ngelipet2 laundry...!) and vacuuming (oh it's never-ending) but i'm lazy. i just want to read the book i'm reading (my lovely bones by alice sebold.. really good and moving). hmphhhh. lazy lazy lazy.

:(

between mt. graham, gila box, and chiricahua

there are things i love about jakarta/indonesia, but there are many things i can't get from sweet old jakarta. and luckily i can get them here quite easily. national parks, clear deep blue sky, fresh air, clean environment (i haven't seen a single litter, at all!), and traffic jam free roads. :D

di hari pertama sampai di tucson kami berdua langsung jalan2 ke target untuk belanja baju dingin (for me). i looovveee target. you can find really good fashionable clothes with just a minimum amount of money. setelah itu pergi ke tucson mall. luasnya paling cuma segede pim1-2 tapi 2 lantai doang but it has 4 big department stores: jc penney, dillards, macy's, sama satu lagi lupa. gosh i've never shopped so much in my entire life before. of course, it's more fun when it's not your money. :D

di hari ke dua suami langsung ngajak jalan2 ke mt. graham. ini adalah gunung yang keliatan dari backyard rumah. kira2 1 jam perjalanan sampai ke basenya, lalu 1 jam lagi untuk naik ke atas. beruntung kita pergi hari itu, karena ternyata hari minggu road ke atas sudah ditutup untuk umum, karena winter (yes, it snowed up there). the view was magnificent. the weather, although freezing cold, was so fresh that it makes you wanna curse jakarta's polluted air. :p

di hari berikutnya suami, saya dan max si anjing/kuda pergi menjelajah gila box (baca: hi-le box, it's spanish for hi-le canyon). ini jadi sebetulnya adalah national park yang mencakup sepanjang sungai gila tadi. ada banyak stops along the park, but we only went to a few of them. berhubung lagi winter, airnya gak banyak. so max can waddle and play in the water (yup, he's not a natural born swimmer). kalau summer ternyata kita bisa canooing / kayaking dari atas sampai bawah. i'll definitely try that.

lalu besokannya kami berdua (kali ini minus max) pergi ke chiricahua national park. biarpun isinya 'cuma' bebatuan, tapi tempat ini buagusssss banget loh. breath-takingly spectacular. i can't believe ada tempat kayak gini di dunia, let alone noting the fact that it's only about 1-2 hour drive from my house. very interesting.

untuk masuk kita harus bayar $5 per person, and get a member card. (i don't know how to get the member card, but it's valid for a year). i think, eventhough we have to pay, it's worth every penny. di sana kita juga bisa piknik dan camping. it's fun.

setelah itu on the way back home we saw a full rainbow. bright shiny colors, end to end. at one point we could even see 1 1/2 rainbow. lovely. i think it's God's promise that my life's gonna be good here, so i don't need to worry or be homesick. (iya, masih dikit nih..).

oh, and i just found out my parents are gonna be here to celebrate christmas!! YAY! and my sis's probably gonna be here too, cos hubby has to work during xmas. but that's ok, cos i'm gonna be busy anyway, with mom, dad, sister, max and the new baby boy brady in the house. oh yeah did i tell you, hubby's getting me a puppy. we're gonna name him brady and we're gonna pick him up when we got back from florida. yaaay. max's gonna have someone to play with, so he won't be so bored.

ok i better take max out for a walk. he's bored.

28 jam, 5 airport, 4 pesawat

setelah semua itu akhirnya nyampe juga gw di tanah amerika. cuapenya setengah mati, jangan di tanya. but i got thru it all, dan berhasil sampai dengan selamat di rumah masa depan *halah*. :D

so far so good sih. although i'd have to admit, it's not easy moving halfway across the world. apalagi ditambah fakta kalau safford itu beda 180 derajat dibanding jakarta. di sini antar rumah itu berjarak agak jauh. yaaa sekali naik mikrolet lah. *lebay*. trus, biarpun sama2 punya anjing, anjing di sini (kebetulan di rumah ini aja) gede banget. anjing gw yg paling gede di jkt kok jadi keliatan kecil, paling cuma seukuran 1 paha si max. ckckck. padahal si max ini umurnya belom ada setaon. gak ngebayang ntar kalo udah adult kayak apa. mengerikan. trus di sini sejauh mata memandang, yg keliatan ya cuma ... the horizon. gak ada gedung yg lebih dari 3 lantai (jarang itupun). bahkan saking kagetnya pas malam pertama di sini, gw agak norak ngeliat begitu banyaknya bintang di langit. seriously, di jakarta gak ada apa2nya tuh bintang. di sini ratusannnn!! sampai orion2 pun keliatan. damn!! it's gorgeous.

selain itu yg bikin kaget adalah .. there's no noise. heniiing banget, apalagi kalau malam. siang aja hening, malam sih gak ada bebunyian. so peaceful. gak heran sih kalau laki gw betah di sini, .. gw juga betah. dan udaranya gak sucks kayak jakarta.

satu2nya yg bikin kangen sama jakarta: probably the convinience my house provided kali ya? kemana2 deket dan gampang cari makanan. gak kebayang kalo di sini gak ada mobil.. trus malem2 laper gak ada makanan. huwa.. mana bisa tuh telp 14045 atau tereak ke depan rumah mesen nasi goreng tektek. :P

oh well.. everything comes with a price. i just wish my parents could live here too. aww man i'm still homesick. grrhg.

H minus 3

yesterday while having dinner mom said "wah minggu depan hari ini kamu udah gak di sini lagi ya.... yah, sepi deh.."
and i nearly almost cried.

i hate goodbyes.

i hate toko perhiasan

sebagai orang yg gak pernah kawin dan gak pernah berhubungan dengan masalah teknis perkawinan (kecuali jadi WO ya, itu lain perkara) gw sama skali gak ngeh dengan apa aja yg mesti di siapin untuk menikah. untungnya sih gw menikah di luar, jadi gak ribet2 amat. sialnya, krn meritnya di luar jadi gak tau apa2 dan gak ada yg bisa bantuin siap2. calon suami? jangan ditanya. namanya juga lelaki, mana ngurusin hal2 tetek bengek.

yang sempat bikin kelimpungan adalah pas dia nanya ukuran jari, untuk beli cincin kawin. sebagai orang yg gak pernah pake cincin gw tentunya gak tau ukurannya berapa. setelah tertunda2 selama bbrp minggu akhirnya minggu kmarin gw memberanikan diri pergi ke salah satu toko perhiasan yang ada di mall puri.

"mbak, kalau mau ukur jari bisa?"
"mau pesen di sini?"
"loh ya belom tau. mo ukur dulu sama liat model."

mbak pun kasak kusuk sama yg punya.

"gak bisa.. kalau pesen sini baru diukur."

grgmrgrhgruhgrgmrhg. >(

ok. pindah mall. besokannya gw ke TA. kan banyak tuh toko perhiasan.
masuk toko 1, kali ini lebih pinter dikit, pura2 nyari cincin kawin.

"yg polos ada gak, ci?"
"ini semua polos."
(pura2 nyoba, kok semua kegedean...)
"gak ada yg ukurannya pas ya?"
"nanti kalau pesen kan diukur jarinya. semuanya dibikin sesuai ukuran."

grhgurhgruhgrgm.

pindah ke toko 2.

"yg ini harganya berapa?"
"oh yg ini blablablabal juta, kalau yg ini blablablabalablablaa juta soalnya blablablablablablababiablaiblabalibalablaiba."
(ok, kayaknya mesti gombal2 dikit).
"kok semuanya kegedean sih? ini ukuran berapa?" (tentunya dengan harapan jari gw diukur.. ternyata... dia cuma ngambil cincinnya, trus diukur..)
"oh ini nomor 13. gak papa nanti pas pesen kan dibuat sesuai ukuran jari mbak."

udah, gitu doang?
RGHRGHRGHRHGRHGR.

begitu juga di toko ke 3. pengen rasanya mengutuk2 dalam hati.
akhirnya setelah menenangkan diri di metro (walhasil beli baju dan celana deh!! padahal tadinya gak ada niat belanja loh), gw memberanikan diri untuk masuk lagi, kali ini ke frank n co. this time dengan tekad bulat.

setelah pilih2 cincin.... si mas pun membuka percakapan dengan bertanya ...

"calon suaminya gak ikut dateng untuk pilih?"

AHAA! pucuk dicinta ulam tiba! saatnya ngayal.

"nah itu susah masss. saya ini jadwal shiftnya beda sama suami. dia kerja siang saya malem. jadinya gak pernah bisa bareng kalo milih cincin. stress saya."
"oooh.. kerja di mana emangnya?"

tingkat khayalan makin tinggi.

"di rumah sakit. saya lagi kena shift jaga malem, dia jaga siang."
"ooh.. susah juga ya kalau begitu. rumah sakit mana emang mbak?"
"medistra"

if you wanna lie, pick the best one! jangan nanggung2.

"oh kalau begitu gini aja. sekarang mba pilih mau yang mana, nanti calon suami tinggal dateng trus bayar.. sekalian jarinya diukur. gimana?"

YESSSSS!! FINALLYYYYY!!!

"ohhh bisa gitu ya mas. jari saya jadi diukur sekarang?"
"iyaaaa.. gitu aja."

si mas pun dengan sigap mengeluarkan selembar kartu pesanan, menulis cincin mana yang gw suka, lalu mengukur jari gw. apparently, i'm either a 9 or a 10. hallelujah dear God.

jadilah akhirnya gw pulang dengan nomor ukuran jari, dan sebuah kartu pesanan yang seharusnya ditebus oleh calon suami. huahkahkahkahkahkahakakh. pulang sampe rumah nyokap nguakak setengah mati ngeliat gw udah pesen cincin. gak cuma 1, tapi DUA! dah gitu si mas2nya pun gak nanya no telp kek apa kek.... gak tuh. oh frank n co, you guys have the BEST service in the industry. honestly. ntar kalau suatu hari gw punya duit, gw akan beli berlian di tempat kalian deh. ^___^

on leaving home

pepatah home sweet home sangat berlaku buat saya, yang gak pernah meninggalkan rumah sedikitpun (well, kecuali untuk 3.5 tahun waktu saya kuliah di australi). jangankan ninggalin rumah, pindah rumah pun gak pernah karena rumah ini dibangun di saat bersamaan saya lahir, .. jadi umurnya sama. in fact, gara2 rumah ini juga saya diungsikan ke surabaya untuk dirawat oleh opa-oma dari umur 2 bulan, krn rumah kontrakan terlalu sempit untuk menampung 3 orang anak kecil.

sewaktu berbenah untuk pindahan ke australi pun saya tidak terlalu kawatir. karena saya tau ini hanya temporary.. setelah lulus akan kembali ke indonesia. dan memang benar, secinta2nya saya sama melbourne, tetep aja saya memilih untuk tinggal di rumah dan kerja di indo. and i love my parents, tinggal sama mereka (walaupun kadang ngeselin) banyakan enaknya daripada gak enaknya kok. sure, they have rules and they can be annoying sometimes. but they're one of the coolest parents on earth, and they're funny. so i like living with them (not to mention it's cheaper too.. :P)

now it's time for me to move out of the house again. and this time i know it won't be temporary, and somehow, although i'm excited about moving and getting married, i'm also sad about leaving my parents and home behind. sengesel2innya ni rumah (panas lah, banjir lah, debuan lah, segala macem apalah) tetep aja ini rumah ternyaman yang pernah gw tinggalin. liat aja, secara lokasi rumah ini strategis sekali. dikelilingi 3 mall (TA, citraland, puri indah) and soon to be 2 more malls (central park, puri pavillion, atau disingkat PX). ke sudirman deket. ke airport deket. ke kelapa gading tinggal naek tol, deket juga. mo ke tol jagorawi/cikampek, tinggal lurus2 doang. malem2 kekurangan makan, tinggal keluar pager. daerahnya aman. cukup bebas banjir kecuali setaun sekali, itupun gak sampe segenteng.. paling semata kaki. kurang apa lagi???

of course, a home is a home karena konten/isi rumahnya (besides my parents of course). ada anjing2 gw yg oh sungguh lucu2nya, walaupun suka dodol. ada si bonni yang manja banget selalu minta peluk kalau pagi2, ada ciko yang takut gelap dan hantu, ada dede yang udah mulai budek dan buta (gejala penuaan), dan suka curigaan kalau ada yg meluk2, disangka mau guntingin kukunya. belom lagi kucing2 tolol yang setiap siang dan sore ngantri di depan dapur, minta jatah makan. trus ada pembantu gw yang selalu setia mencarikan makanan kalau gw lagi lapar.

tapi tentu aja yg paling berat adalah mikirin nanti bonyok gw tinggal berduaan aja.. gak ada kerjaan gitu. dulu kan masih ada yg bisa diomel2in (me :P) dan dijadiin supir. gosh i worry a lot about them, especially my dad yang udah mulai tua. gak bisa lagi nyetir jauh. mom yang harus ngurusin semua rumah berikut ngerawat bokap yg udah tau diabet masih aja kekeuh ngemil coklat dan makan enak. dan belom lagi mesti kemana2 nyetir sendiri krn bokap udah gak kuat nyetir jauh. duh.

ternyata emang gak gampang ya ninggalin rumah. i hope they'll be alright though. and one thing's for sure, i'm gonna miss this house and my parents a LOT.

keluh...

dengan adanya twitter, kok sekarang jadi pada jarang nulis blog ya? blogwalking jadi gak seru. :( ayo dong pada tulis blog lagiiii... biar gw jadi gak nganggur. bingung nih mo baca apaan di internet kalo gak ada blogwalking. masa fb sama twitter doang.. pendek2 gitu kaga seruuu.. :(

*keluhan orang egois yang maunya baca doang, gak mau nulis.. :P*

woohoo!

tsk. got so many things to write but somehow am too lazy to write. :p
anyhow... here's a few updates.

1. i'm getting married. woohoo! finally. there wont be a big party though, cos i hate big-and-overly-charged wedding receptions. besides, i'm getting married in the U.S so there'll only be a small party there. wish me luck guys.

2. i'm moving out from jakarta (again, woohoo! finally!) and move to arizona to my future husband's house. it's a small town but i think i'll like it. there's zero (nada, nol, none, null) mall in town but at least they got walmart. :p

3. and for those two reasons, i have soooo many things to do within a month (yes, i'll be leaving on mid nov guys). find/buy/make white dress for church wedding, resign from job, disconnect phone services, buy plane tickets, make arrangements for family to fly there, work (yes, until i resign i still have to work, and work's pretty hectic right now), and so many other things i can't remember. hmph. i don't know how other people do it. right now all i wanna do is clone myself so i can do multiple jobs and the same time.

4. hmm.. apa lagi yah updatenya? oh ternyata gak ada deng.. baru itu aja. :P

things i love...

about being with someone:

- the way we talk, laugh, tease, mock, share secrets...
- knowing i'd be there soon, he already subscribed to 3 different magazines, just for me.
- waking up to his texts, asking me if i'm already up.
- sharing food. he eats what i don't like and i can eat his if i want (which is often..)
- travelling to various part of the world.

*midnight ramblings*

lebaran bow

akhirnya, makan ketupat juga taun ini. :p
tadinya sempet putus asa secara yang biasa ngasih donasi udah pindah sejak 2 tahun yang lalu. taun lalu sih memang gak ketupatan.. terpaksa ngerayain lebaran dengan menu standard. tapi tadi sore dapet surprise dari tukang handyman.. ketupat lengkap pake rendang, sambal krecek dan lodeh + kacang bawang 1 toples. YUUUMMMMM. i loveee ketupat. sayang gak ada opor ayam. ah yang penting masih bisa makan ketupat. be thankful for your blessings. :)

tapi seharian gak enak feeling deh. ini mungkin gara2 dada kiri agak ngilu dan detak jantung rasanya kok jadi kenceng banget (dunno why padahal tekanan darah lagi rendah). bikin ngerasa lagi deg2an aja, padahal gak ada apa2. apakah ini efek makan mie korea sore2 padahal kagak laper??

dan hasrat makan pasta italia dan sate ayam madura kok belom juga kesampean ya??? hmph. sayang si abang sate udah mudik....

travel tips

+ if english is not your mother tongue, it's never a good idea to say "suckling pig" and "dirty duck" in one sentence (one breath). i ended up saying "suckling d*ck".

...

errr... yes, well..... . apart from the blunder, this trip was awesome. i went to bali - flores and then to jogjakarta. can't tell you all of it, so i'll just write the highlights.

bali.
- pura uluwatu: not bad. the temple was nice but the monkeys were not. i just found out that apparently i'm afraid of them. padahal udah siap2 dengan sebungkus pisang loh buat dibagi2in, gak taunya tiap mereka mendekat gw menjerit dengan kencang (oh so embarassing) dan pulangnya langsung stress berat. the kecak dance was magnificent though.

tips: bring a sweater. siang emang panas, tapi begitu sunset anginnya terasa dingin and you might have to wait for quite a while before the dance begins.

- babi guling bu oka: again, not bad. actually some bits were quite delicious and tasty. tapi after that while travelling around ubud area we stopped at a local sawah to take some pictures, and lo-and-behold, there was a warung pinggir jalan that sell babi guling. so we ate (yes, again). ternyata lebih tasty loh. believe it or not. si ibu yang jual even had a kind of sausage (dari daging tetelan).... ini sosisnya ENAK BANGET!! kalo titi kamal makan di situ, dia pasti bilang "MEGANG BANGET!". :p

tips: kalau makan d warung pinggir jalan yg kebetulan enak begini, mendingan lauknya aja banyakin. nasinya gak penting! dan berhubung bahasa indo si ibu agak terbatas, ngomong lah dengan perlahan. gw minta sambel diacunginnya malah sedotan..diiringi senyuman keibuan.

- bebek bengil: seriously not a resto to be missed. the view was excellent. the food were excellent. a bit pricey but i suppose you can't help it. bebeknya enak, baby back ribs nya juga uenakkkkkk!

- ubud & kintamani area: skip the usual tourist spot. tampak siring is quite ok, but skip gua gajah, monkey forest and other unnecessary tourist attraction, including bali bird park!! boy that bird park is so exaggerated!! udah harganya mahal untuk turis asing (271rb compared to 71rb buat turis lokal), isinya juga gak bagus2 banget karena burung2nya kebanyakan ada di balik kandang, jadi gak bisa di foto2. quite annoying. burung kakaktuanya juga gak se friendly yang ada di kuranda, so it wasn't as exciting. it's better to go straight for the shops (if you're into it) or the view (sawah terasering..) and the food. much much better.

tips: for shopping, kuta might seem a little more convenient with all the stalls and vendors, but i think ubud has better taste.

- bedugul: go to lake beratan. it's a must see place. more importantly, go to pura something2 at beratan lake. it's really beautiful.

- on the way to lovina: another must see places: gitgit waterfalls. kalau dari arah kuta, ada 2 git2 waterfalls. yang pertama, itu bisa lihat 2 air terjun, yang single dan yang kembar. both great, tapi di air terjun yang kembar bisa mandi2. it's really gorgeous. di git2 yang kedua equally good tapi gak terlalu bisa mandi2 karena bentuk alirannya agak bertingkat2 gitu.

tips: git2 pertama dari bawah: bring towels. might be better to hire local guide to help carry your stuff. if you're not carrying much, then no need to hire one.

git2 kedua dari bawah: no need guide cos you can just follow the path. but it's a bit of a walk dan naik turunnya cukup bikin cape, so bring something to drink. a can of cola there cost 10rb. and come early in the morning if you can, so no one is around so you can take pictures without having someone lingering at the background of your photos.

- lovina: trust me. when you go there, stay at frangipani hotel. it's really gorgeous. the website didn't lie when it said gorgeous view and private rooms. i simply loveeeeeed it there. the owner were a nice elderly couple. the food is mostly homemade (homemade bread, jam, juice..) and it is only a few minutes walk to the main area of lovina.

- tips: they have tv, but you don't need tv there. for dining, you can enjoy the jasmine restaurant. ask the locals, they know where it is. it served delicious thai food for reasonable price.

if you want to go dolphin spotting, don't count on it. the boat cost 60rb per person (can fit up to 4) but i didn't see any when i went out. it was a good morning to spent looking at sunrise though.

flores.
labuan bajo: to get there it's really easier to book a flight via travel agent located at bali, cos the flight is a bit unreliable. i took indonesia air transport to flores, and transnusa on the way back. they're a bit pricey, 875rb one way per pax. but you get snacks on board, and the view from top is magnificent. do reconfirm the flight one day before though, cos they only open the labuan bajo airport for check in (hence, once a day).

oh ya, di sana boleh nginep di bayview garden hotel. owned by a dutch. lumayan, 500rb per room sudah termasuk breakfast dan afternoon snack. kamarnya gak indah dan gak magnificent, but it's got decent room, decent bathroom, and MAGNIFICENT view of the harbour and the islands. apalagi pas sunset.... uughhhhh.... gak ada duanya deh. if the locals don't know the hotel name, mention "tempat pak adrian". they'd know it.

tips: ways to travel within labuan bajo: walk, ojek, or angkot (they call it bemo). bemo banyak, tapi gengges banget klaksonnya. ojek juga banyak, most usefull kalau udah lewat magrib (angkot cuma sampe magrib doang). to go to and from airport, hire an angkot for 25rb.

- diving and snorkelling: you could hire one of the many dive operators there. i went with divinediving. not as crowded as dive komodo and the crew were nice. the diving site: SPLENDID. clear water all around and the waves aren't as crazy as the ones in cairns, so you can swim with ease.

tips: if you're going snorkelling, wear your tshirt. mataharinya ganas bo.

- waterfalls: in flores, there are also a few more sceneries to die for. apalagi kalau habis nyelam, harus spend a day free of diving kan sebelum terbang. nah isilah waktu ini dengan a bit of exploring. ada cunca rami (cunca = waterfall), ada crater lake, dan lain2. i went to the cunca rami. apparently, "a bit of exploring" is a bit of an understatement. the trekking involved walking on path (1 hr more or less), then went thru a jungle (more or less 2hour), then after seeing the waterfall walk back to the car (more or less another 40 minute). the hike to the waterfall was so tiring, but it was worth it.

tips: really!! bring your towels and bikini!! bisa mandi2 di sini, walaupun airnya dingin. tapi after all those walks... i'm sure you won't mind getting a bit of fresh dip there. oh, and bring your camera!!!

jogja.
- food:
untuk dinner cobalah makan bebek goreng di gejayen. seblahnya resto gajah wong. mantep abis. baik dari sambelnya sampe bebeknya. sampe kebawa2 mimpi loh. beneran.
untuk lunch soto yg di gejayen (lupa sotonya pak siapa... ) juga bisa jadi pilihan. seger banget.

- temples:
borobudur is always a good place to go. prambanan is next best, although gara2 gempa taun 2006 kmaren candinya jadi super berantakan dan hancur. sayang sih.

tips: again, foreign tourist mesti bayar 10x lebih besar dibanding turis lokal. untuk di borobudur ini sudah termasuk welcome drink (tea coffee water).. jadi manfaatkanlah itu dengan membawa sebanyak2nya botol air ke atas. daripada beli kan bo? oh ya, kalau mau sih di borobudur bisa hire local guide untuk ceritain tentang reliefnya. i was more interested in the view though, so no need for local guide.



so far that's about it. i'll post photo2 next, kalau udah dapet dari si fotografernya. :p

heboh.. hepi booo(h)!

jadi, seheboh apakah program baru gw itu?
ternyata oh Tuhan... emang beneran ya cape banget ngurusin ibu2 terutama yang napsu bener pengen menang. hiks.

jadi seminggu syuting ini penuh dengan beban dan derita ternyata. alat yg di booking gak sesuai sama harapan. PAnya belum apa2 udah pada tipes. padahal cowok2. yang satu masih mending karena capenya dirapel dari program sebelumnya... tapi yg baru ini.. lah belom diapa2in kok udah tipes.. bagemana ini? mending brenti aja tu anak. huh. trus udah gitu yang namanya syuting pertama pasti kacau balau lah ya. tapi di hari ketiga kita udah berhasil syuting 2.5 jam untuk 1 eps berdurasi 1.5jam. not bad lahhhhhhhhh. hehehe.

udah mulai keliatan serunya juga. sayang hadiahnya kurang menarik kalau gw bilang sih. kurang jegeeer gitu. ya lumayan sih emang buat seseruan sesama ibu2.

kalau penasaran yah nonton aja senin-jumat mulai 17an ini jam 10pagi. i must say, segeli2nya gw sama bang ipul.... tetap di mata mami2, doski (halah!) juara deh! :p

saatnya mulai jambak2 rambut in frustration.

tsk. ngeselin deh ngerjain program baru. adaaa aja yg gak beres. apalagi mengingat akhir2 ini gw sungguh malas bekerja. :D hmph.

oh well, i've been busy, but i'll be even busier, what with the start of the shooting (this wednesday, insyaYesus.) i don't think i'll be able to write as often. kalau gw masih hidup for the next 2 weeks, it'll be a miracle. but on the bright side, it'll only be for 2 weeks. after that... i'm oooooffffffffff!!! yayyyyyyy. can't wait can't wait can't wait. can't wait to fly out of jakarta, can't wait to see him, can't wait to do the things i've planned to do... ohhhh goodie.

i do, however, seem to still have time to check my facebook and twitter. :D walaupun gak ada update yg signifikan, tapi tetep aja... rasanya gatel kalo gak bisa cek.

oh ya, ini ada dua gambar yg mau gw share. :D, 1 dapet dari fb, 1 lagi dari twitter.

ini adalah komik baru dari temen gw si vbi djenggotten. isinya ngulik2 soal facebook. salah satu contohnya:

(click to enlarge)

perhatikan note di pojok kanan bawah. ini pengalaman pribadi tuh.. secara di kantor pernah kejadian. tapi untungnya belum kejadian seperti yang dibawah ini yaaaa.. :

on second thought.... why not. i'm sure many people would dance jovially if this had happened to the 'istri pintar' in my office. :D :D :D

when i go nana

whenever i feel down or stressed, i always remember this song.
dunno why, i just do.

who is yasmin ahmad?

i don't know who yasmin ahmad is. i never met her, and i never will, considering that she'd recently passed away. i also don't know much about her except from what the wikipedia wrote about her.

but i've come to love two of her works i came across from this blog. i must say i really loveeee her works. they speak loudly. they're simple and yet managed to deliver complicated messages. i mourn the lost of this one great director. may her soul rest in peace.

shocking news for the week

omg omg omg omg.
someone i know just got kawin lari.

i know i should've symphatize with the family, but i also can't help feeling glee. old time resentment, perhaps. oh well, i'm just glad i'm in a much better relationship now.

anyway, back to the juicy news. apparently not only she (the wife) managed to 'steal' the son, but also managed to conceal the fact that she already has a 4y.o child from previous marriage. wow.

i have quite a big surprise myself, due in a month or so. but i don't know if i can top that news though. :D :D

on a lighter note, jogja was great.
really wished i had more time to visit beringharjo and shop. i only have time to buy one batik (nyesel banget gak beli yg satunya! huh!) but i managed to buy the bakpias (ran out of 75 so i bought 25 instead) and gudeg (yu djum's is still the best, i think). oh well i will be coming back soon so i'll make sure i stopped by at beringharjo, for the delicious street food if not for the clothes. :p (i was some street vendor jualan sate sapi di depan beringharjo. mulai dari daging sampai gajih.. ada semua. orghhhh.... sayang gak sempet beli yg banyak. hrmph). i did buy tas laptop motif batik and a cute jogja tshirt though.

btw, you know how you always remember one particular moment, the day you heard a bad news? i remember the exact moment the day i heard about princess diana's death. i was crossing the street, on my way to a friend's apartment in melbourne. i don't think i'll forget the moment i heard about jakarta's latest bombing. i'd just finished having breakfast and my colleague got a call asking about the bombing. it was 5min past 8, and i called my dad at home, told him to turn on the tv and watch the news. a few minutes later he told me ritz carlton and marriot was bombed. dang. damn you bombers! i hope you rot in hell.

while freezing in the office...

aha. got my permission to take leave again this end of august. of course i have a good reason for it, boss can't possibly say no. :)

i'm still trying to figure out how to fit the whole trip (bali - lombok - komodo island - jogja) within less than 2 weeks, with so much to do. i think i might arrange the whole trip using travel agent. i don't want to bother with looking for daily tours when i get there like i did in cairns. i wasted a whole day just wandering around doing nothing but looking at the so many tours and trying to decide which to do.

in the meantime i have a job assignment to go to jogja. that ought to be good. we're covering a beauty pageant contest and i'll be there for 4 to 5 nights. yay. except for the fact that i haven't got a mobile yahoo messenger with me. tsk. how am i going to go for 5 days without it, i don't know. i suppose i'll have to go to the SE center and ask them to fix my phone gprs again. someone should've open a BB rental...!!

orgh it's cold and am craving for pringles. :(

say what?

gak tau kenapa semalem bueteeee banget. mungkin karena efek habis meeting yang gila2an lamanya bersama bos2 antv, plus 1 jam kena macet walaupun pas pulang udah jam 8 lewat, trus eneg gara2 kebanyakan makan sop buntut. hrghrgh. saking ngeselinnya sampe betenya kebawa2 tidur terus sampe pagi. another rhghrghrhg moment. nyari2 hal yang bisa bikin seneng kok gak ada.... sampe ketemu artikel ini...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dirjen Perhubungan Udara:

Aneh-aneh Saja, Penumpang Pesawat Kok Berdiri

Ryanair tengah menggagas terobosan gila: membuka layanan "karcis berdiri."

Selasa, 7 Juli 2009, 12:02 WIB

Heri Susanto

VIVAnews - Dirjen Perhubungan Udara, Departemen Perhubungan, Herry Bhakti menilai usulan penumpang pesawat berdiri sebagai bentuk usulan yang aneh karena itu tidak akan pernah terjadi.

"Itu mikirnya kok aneh-aneh saja, mana mungkin penumpang pesawat berdiri," ujar Herry kepada VIVAnews di Jakarta, Selasa, 7 Juli 2009. "Itu kan membuat pesawat seolah seperti bus saja."

Menurut dia, usulan tersebut sangat membahayakan penumpang jika benar-benar diterapkan. Dia menekankan penumpang tidak hanya akan menghadapi situasi saat pesawat akan terbang dan mendarat dengan goncangan. Tetapi, mereka juga menghadapi goncangan, misalnya pada saat cuaca buruk.

"Bagaimana kalau terjadi apa-apa, misalnya pada saat rem mendadak ketika pesawat mendarat," katanya.

Apalagi, kata dia, kecepatan bus dan pesawat sangat berbeda jauh. Kecepatan bus kota misalnya sekitar 40-50 kilometer per jam. Sedangkan, kecepatan pesawat mencapai 800 kilometer per jam atau 15 - 20 kali lipatnya.

"Padahal, di bus saja, jumlah penumpang berdiri juga dibatasi," katanya.

Namun, Herry mengatakan usulan tersebut baru datang dari Ryanair, pengusaha maskapai penerbangan. Kalangan otoritas penerbangan tidak akan mungkin menyetujui usulan maskapai penerbangan murah asal Irlandia tersebut.

Maskapai penerbangan murah asal Irlandia, Ryanair tengah menggagas terobosan gila: membuka layanan "karcis berdiri." Dengan membeli karcis itu, penumpang harus tetap berdiri selama penerbangan berlangsung kendati harga yang dibayar bisa 50 persen lebih murah dari tiket biasa.

Untuk itu, mereka akan menyiapkan kabin khusus yang hanya akan berlaku pada saat penerbangan jarak pendek. Selain itu, bakal disediakan sandaran khusus bagi penumpang berdiri. Sandaran itu juga dilengkapi dengan sabuk pengaman yang harus dipakai penumpang saat lepas landas atau ketika akan mendarat.

Sejauh ini, Ryanair sedang mengajukan proposal tersebut kepada otoritas keselamatan penerbangan.

• VIVAnews

~~~~~~~~~~~~

what next, turunnya loncat? haiehiaeiaheiaheaea. boy this article really makes my day.

a detour

hmm.

my life took a sudden detour yesterday. a lot happened on one day, and most was sorta 'predicted' by a friend. at that time (when she said those things), i just laughed it off and joked about it. but now, i kinda wish she'd kept her mouth shut. lol. but something must've happened for a reason, so i'll just have to take a deep breath, and get ready for the ride. wish me luck. it's going to be bumpy. i'm also going to keep a separate journal on one of the detour. let's see what i can make out of it. :p

anyways, no, i didn't take the job offer. it wasn't such a good offer anyway and i was glad i turned it down.

and no, ice age in 3D still isn't as good as the first two movies. sure, it was funny bordering on hillarious at some part. but after a while you get bored of the storyline, and you can't really remember the 3D halfway through. so i ended up feeling stupid wearing a pair of glasses for a movie that doesn't feel like 3D.

oh, and because of the detour, i'm gonna have to cancel my half-planned trip this oct/nov. booo! :(

ring..ring..

guess what. i got a call back from the company.

it's the company i did the interview with in the previous post. actually i wasn't expecting to get the second call, so it came rather as a surprised. oh well, we'll see how it goes. :p

i need a pick-me-up.

absolutely have no desire no work whatsoever today. hmm. i wonder why. and lately i've been noticing that i keep waking up in the middle of the night, around 2-3am. trigger could be anything, ranging from hot weather, cold weather, cat fighting, weird dreams, etc. but the they always resulted in me getting up and can't get back to sleep for a while.

maybe i should've gone back to taking cough medicine everynight.

judes-mode: full on!!

terkutuklah semua mall pada saat2 berikut ini:

- weekend pertama film keren baru tayang. misalnya, weekend ini ada transformers. ngantri lebih gila daripada orang rebutan BLT. tadi di premiere puri aja baru setengah jam loket buka tiket sudah habis sampai yang jam 9an. di TA loket belum buka ngantrinya udah sampai skating ring. sinting.

- midnight sale. gak tau kenapa ya. padahal di jam2 biasa juga harganya tetep di diskon.. tapi kenapa mesti - sekali lagi - kenapa mesti datengnya malem2??? padahal dengan harga udah di diskon aja tetep gak kebeli tuh baju2. :P lagian gw bingung juga. sebetulnya mereka mampu gak sih beli tu barang2 diskon-anjing-tapi-tetep-mahal? kalo mampu, ngapain ngejar yg diskonan? kalau gak mampu... bo!! tau diri deh! kalo gak mampu beli barang merek harga normal, gak usah sok pake2 barang merek. beli aja di ambas!! banyak juga kok yg kece. *judes berat*

- liburan sekolah. mall2 jadi (tambah) penuh dengan abg2 gawol yang dandan maksimal, menggerombol di mana2 (terutama tempat2 makan yang dulu pas gw sma sih gak mungkin terjangkau kecuali kalau bapak gw punya pabrik). lebih ngeselin lagi kalau pas lagi kongkow2 pada saling pamer hp2 canggih yg dibeliin bapaknya. apalagi kalau sampai ada perkataan seperti ini :

"aduuh bb storm? gw pengen banget tuuh! tapi bokap gw gak kasih..jadi akhirnya gw dibeliinnya bb bold aja deeh!!"

anjrot! abg2 kayak gitu perlu dibasmi dari muka bumi kayaknya.

- habis nonton trus ngantri wc. b-e-n-c-i m-a-k-s-i-m-a-l!! tapi kalo kebelet, ya apa boleh buat terpaksa cari wc terdekat, which is wc bioskop. tadi malah sempet2nya pake acara judes2an lagi. abis.... habis bubaran bioskop, tentunya banyak lah cewek2 yg ngantri di wc. udah ngantri tertib2 (ngantri rapi di mulut gang sebelum pintu2 wc..bukan di depan pintu gitu ya..) tiba2 ada mbak2 nyelak pengen ngantri di depan pintu. kontan lah gw jutekin, dan dibantuin sama temen gw. si mbak saking mokalnya sampai mundur dan keluar, gak jadi pipis di situ. :p miss judes is in da house yoo.

speaking of judes, liat link ini deh. kok kayaknya LEBAYYYYY banget ya itu orang?? :p

questions of the day

weirdest questions on an application form:

1. vehicle: __________
type: _____ year: _________
who owns it: parents / self / rented / others: _________

(why does it matter? are you going to give me a car??? can i ask for another model then?)

2. have you been re-born? if yes please briefly explain.

(what the.........??? i know what it means, but .. please deh, what does this have to do with my quality of work?)

3. have you been baptized in water? if yes please briefly explain.

(hah? @#^@#$%!^???)

4. have you been baptized in Holy Spirit? if yes please briefly explain.

(sampai sini gw udah hilang minat untuk kerja di tempat itu. hihihiihi...)

weirdest office rule:

5.
she: "do you mind if you have to attend daily morning prayer in the chapel?"
me: "what, is it mandatory?"
she: "no, it's not mandatory. but it's required and the boss'd usually insist that you attend."
me: "sounds mandatory to me then."

(i don't even think it's legal to make someone attend daily morning prayer if they don't want to.., isn't it?)

and to think i drove all the way to lippo cikarang for this. *sighing dramatically*. i should've just continued driving all the way to bandung, did some shopping and relaxing, and headed back to jakarta.

...

come to think of it, i might do it sometime soon. planning a trip (yes, again) stresses me out. i suppose this is what you get when you try to compromise two working schedules, two different interests (outdoor and mall? come on... should we camped in the mall then?) and to top it all off, do all of the planning from half a world away. urgh.

family talks

the ganda-series family.

for those who happens to know me quite well know how small my nuclear family is. not many know that i also have a hugeeee extended family, both from my dad's and mom's side.

my grandparents from my mom's side for example. although my grandpa was an only child, my grandma was the oldest of 9. and from my dad's side, my grandma was the oldest of 7. and then the youngest brother got 7 children of his own. so you could imagine i have to memorize a LOT of names and relations. half of them live abroad, but many still live in indo, so i get to see them from time to time.

because of the confusing generation in my dad's side, (my dad was 9 y.o before his brother came along..and i think he was already in high school when his first cousin was born) i get to have babies and toddlers for cousins and my youngest uncle was only 5 years older than me. which is why i can call him by name, without the usual 'oom'. :D from my mom's side is better.. at least i have cousins of the same age. and we do have plenty of doctors from both side of the family. my mom's the only general practitioner, but all of my mom's siblings are dentists. and then on my dad's side..... we get more than 10 doctors in the family. some became academics (one of my grandma was a professor), many became specialists.

this was taken july 12th, 08. one of my uncle and his family (from my dad's side) visited indo from canada (he's a hand surgeon. his wife is a general practitioner. see, plenty of doctors!) most of us came to the reunion, although not all can make it. many has died (including my grandma/grandpa, and several other grandmas grandpas) but we do have a lot of additional to the family (hence the little cousins!!). for figurative purposes, hence the whole family showed up for the photo, it'll be twice as big. this was only half of the family member. :>

it took plenty of takes to get the perfect pic where everybody is IN the pic and not looking weird or got cut off the frame. :D this was the most perfect. :)


i can't imagine how the photographer would take the pic if everybody had showed up. :D

what i do when i'm bored

while blogwalking i stumbled upon this cute blog. i don't know who she is but she has some quirky sense of fashion. i don't think i like her personal choices, but it does look good on her. and then i found out she does art work. here's an example:


what more can i say by ~poop-art on deviantART

nice.

speaking of nice, i had a nice bordering on wonderful weekend too. started with a trip to the plasa senayan theatres to watch startrek (unlimited buy one get one free for mandiri debit? haha! move over bca!!), followed by shoe shopping and then dinner at pancious. i got myself a reebok to replace my broken nike. and since i've recently tossed out my old shoes and sandals, i have more room to buy new ones. i do need a formal shoes for work when it gets serious.

so on sunday after church i went to TA with my parents to go hunt for more shoes. i got two.. :p :p :p one red and white flats from choccolat, and another cute nude flat from yongki. i wanted to buy a formal looking flat from choccolat, but it doesn't sit right on my feet so i decided to buy the nude color, which is more comfortable, cheaper and cuter. :D and more. i love sale season. i just hope i still have money to pay for my credit card bills. :D

i get to see JK up close!!! :D

pertama kalinya gw bikin acara yang dihadiri oleh pejabat penting pemerintahan. dalam hal ini, capres pula! :D :D sayang acaranya sendiri kurang menarik (at least buat gw). tapi ada bbrp hal lain yg cukup menarik perhatian, terutama berkaitan dengan protokoler dan paspampres.

1. kira2 10-9 jam sebelum acara dimulai (atau sebelum pres/wapres dateng ke lokasi), beberapa orang paspampres berbatik sudah nangkring di venue. gak ngapa2in, cuma scouting area aja. oh sebelumnya malah sudah muncul sekitar 2-3 orang personil dari mabes polri.

sejauh ini sih panggung belom jadi (baru 30%). gw yg nangkring dari jam 7 lewat aja sempet kaget pas liat. hehe.

2. kira2 2 jam kemudian pasukan berbatik tambah banyak, menggerombol di pintu2 masuk menuju venue. tidak galak tapi cukup mengintimidasi karena jumlah yang banyak. biasanya mereka akan mencanangkan screening venue, untuk membersihkan venue dari segala hal-hal yang dibenci: bom, senjata api, senjata tajam, orang nekad dan lain2. kemarin sih dicanangkan waktu screening adalah jam 1. tapi by that time panggungnya baru berdiri basicnya doang dan masih banyak orang kerja. jadi nda bisa. undur ke jam 3.

3. jam 3, personil TAMBAH BANYAK. tapi gak jadi screening juga. karena panggung tetap belum 50% jadi......... bagaimana ini. mo live (in a matter of speaking, krn ini acara off air yang di taped) tapi panggungnya belum jadi. wings yg jumlahnya 8 baru naik 3... hihihi. panitia mulai resah, .. kita juga. :D

4. jam 5: semua area sudah di secure, pintu utama ballroom dipasangin metal detector, dan paspampres sudah menjaga semua pintu masuk area.... impressive. tapi tetep aja panggung gw belom selesai. keliatan banget tukang2 supplier yang bikin panggung udah pada mulai stress. hehe.

5. jam 6 peserta munas sudah pada ngumpul, terutama yang dari daerah, sambil nonton cek sound para artis yang akan manggung. panggung akhirnya jadi. itupun karena kita korupsi (ada wings yg gak kita pasang. hehe. proyek sangkuriang berhasil kembali). mulai banyak kerjaan. pasukan paspampres mulai nyaru dengan peserta munas karena semua orang berbatik. tapi tetep aja loh, motif batik paspampres paling bagus. hihihi. sayang mereka gak seperti bayangan gw. tadinya gw pikir mereka adalah pria2 berotot keker gitu.. kok gak taunya banyak juga yg tampangnya masih culun dan krempeng.

6. minus 1 jam dari schedule, kita belum dapat kabar kapan pak wapres akan tiba. jadi kita santai2 aja. kabarnya sih masih menghadiri undangan.. . jadi kita mulai aja dengan acara off air yg isinya adalah kangen band. ternyata tiba2 ada paspampres berdiri di seblah gw (gw di FOH) yang bilang "bapak sudah otw!! 15 menit lagi!" oh? ok. tapi itu diulang setiap menit.... bapak sudah di cawang. bapak sudah masuk tol. kapan ini lagunya brenti? bapak sudah mau sampe. bapak sudah di pintu tol. lagunya stop aja mbak. bapak 5 menit lagi sampai. bilang mbak monica lagunya diberhentikan saja (padahal lagunya emang cuma 1 itu doang dan udah mo abis juga. sampai sini gw udah mulai senewen). bapak sudah keluar tol dan masuk kuningan. bapak sudah putar. bapak sudah didepan.

by this time semua orang sudah berdiri siap menyambut pak wapres. pasukan paspampres dan panitia sudah membentuk pagar bagus (abis kalau dibilang pagar betis ya gak juga) dari pintu ke pintu. dan gw jadi grogi karena baru pertama kali bisa liat pak wapres dari deket. hihihihi. seriously, norak abis. sampe gemeter loh bo. hihihihi.

tapi bener aja loh. gak sampe 2 menit (walaupun rasanya lama banget) iring2an mobil pak wapres tiba di lobby.. dan pak wapres langsung masuk. hebat.

the rest of the show cukup lancar walaupun harus ada perubahan2 rundown karena pak wapres harus pergi jam 9 on the dot karena ada acara lain.

7. di tengah kericuhan peserta yang mendadak liar begitu disuguhi the virgin (eh bukan sebagai korban persembahan loh ya...) gw sempet2nya digodain sama peserta dari gorontalo yang berusaha minta no telp gw. halaaaaaaaah!! untung gak jelek2 banget orangnya, jadi gw gak terlalu eneg2 amat... hehe. waktu gw tolak dengan halus dia sempet bilang "apa perlu saya cari kamu ke antv?" berhubung gw yakin dia gak tau nama gw, ya gw bilang aja "oh silahkan aja pak." :D cari deh sana sampe bego.

ehaiwehaoeaiuehaoeha. aneh skali.

8. setelah semua kru bubar jalan, dan gw juga udah nyampe kantor dan akan pulang ke rumah, mendadak PA gw dapet telp: ada 2 cameraman ketinggalan di venue. LAH KOK BISAAA? pas yg laen ribut2 ikut angkutan, mereka kemanaaa? aneh sekali.

all in all, it was a job well done. and i get to see someone important up close. yippy.

australia part 3: rest of cairns & melbourne

the liveaboard ended on the 3rd day, so at 2pm we transferred back to the smaller boat that'd take us back to cairns. i still hate the boat, but at least there weren't so many people on board, and i didn't have to do anything but stare at the horizon. :D oh, i did buy some photos of me underwater. (actually, my friend bought them for me. hee hee).

the diving tour agent took us back to our hotel (a different one, this time rydges plaza located at the city centre, across the street from gilligan's). we took time to take a shower and only went out to have dinner at a sushi train restaurant. ergh, we should've picked another restaurant, cos the sushi wasn't very good. oh, and we also went to gilligan's tour shop to book our daily tours for the next day. we decided to do kuranda scenic train on the morning and peronella park for the day after.

day 6: kuranda
a big bus picked us up at the hotel at 7.15 on the dot. apparently this is a very popular tour, so the driver must pick up a lot of people before continuing our journey to freshwater, up north of cairns. at freshwater we'll board the scenic train heading to kuranda.

oh, there are actually two choices of how you want to do this trip.
1. train by morning, skyrail by afternoon.
2. skyrail by morning, train by afternoon.
i suggest that you do the first choice, cos the sun is better for taking photos and the view from the train is unbelievable.

the train ride takes about 50 minutes with plenty of scenery surprises. at the almost end of the track the train stops for 15 minutes so that passengers can take photos of the beautiful barron falls. after that the train arrived at a cute station.

from station to village it's only a 5 minute walk in nice weather, so we opted to walk and ditch the free shuttle bus. we got 5 hours to spend in the village (the skyrail departs at 1.45 or 3.30, which ever you booked). so after lunch and a bit of shopping (yes, they have all kinds of stuff there!) we went to see the bird sanctuary ($17). it's not large, but it's a whole lotta fun. you get all kinds of beautiful parrots sitting on your shoulder. you can buy bird food for $2 for a big bag. after that we went to see butterfly park ($16), which is equally breath-taking but not as fun as the birds. it's a bit hard to take photos of the butterflies. :D then at last we went to the wild sanctuary ($17) where you get to see walabies (can pet and feed them for free), wombat, koala, alligators, and a sleepy phyton. for $40 per person you get tickets for all entrance. and then you get another $2 per person discount voucher when you board the train. so it's a bargain you must see.

going home by the skyrail is equally breathtaking. you can board anytime you like around the time designated for your departure. the skyrail takes 50 minutes but you get 2 stops where you can walk around and take photos. since our bus (that'll take us back to the hotel) would leave at 4.30, we didn't stop very long, but it was still fun.

dinner was at a byo thai restaurant. food was excellent.

day 7 : peronella park, milla milla
i gotta say i can't remember all the names of the places we went this day, except the few names i mentioned above. basically for this tour, we went south of cairns to the top of the mountains (called tablelands) where they produce sugar and dairy products. the most memorable places are:

paronella park. a beautiful park you must see. it was build by a spannish engineer for his wife and 2 kids. it was simply breathtaking. too bad the tour was a bit rushed. i'd've loved to stay there longer. this waterfall is actually a dam, built for the owner's hydro electric generator (first of its kind back then). apparently in the old days you could swim there (i sat at the diving board), but nowadays you can't.

milla milla (aboriginal for waterfall waterfall). aboriginal language doesn't have adjectives so they merely repeat the word twice to emphasize. this is a quite huge waterfall. too bad you still can't swim there, although the water was very clear. (there's a dairy farm nearby, and they're afraid you might get bacteries from the cows).

we got home a bit late from all the excursions but it was fun. too bad we didn't have time to do the daintree rainforest and the capetribulation. oh well, we'll do it some other time. i'm sure we'll be back, someday.

oh dinner on the last day in cairns was frustrating. my friend suddenly had an epiphany that he had to eat indian food at a particular resto he's been seeing for the past week. so we went around the block to find this resto. apparently, he couldn't find it!! so we kept circling the city centre trying to find an indian restaurant. along the way we went past 3 indian restaurant, and he wants what he couldn't find. great. finally, after about an hour (it was almost 9, i was hungry and anxious that all the restaurants would be closed soon) he relented and we ate at a rather crowded indian restaurant. the food turned out to be excellent. lamb curry, prawn cooked in coconut milk, garlic canai... excellent!! he was still upset that he couldn't find the resto he wanted. i was just glad i could eat.

day 1 - melbourne
our flight to melbourne was a bit more disastrous than the previous flight. first we couldn't book the shuttle bus back to the airport at the $7 price, so we had to book from the hotel, which is $10 per pax. then the bus was late to pick us, so we were a bit worried. luckily we had enough time before check in, and managed to grab a bite to eat before boarding the plane (i don't know why i didn't fly with qantas domestic!!! should've!! much more convenient. ... oh now i remember. price. :D). we arrived in melbourne at 3pm, and waited for my friend to pick us up.

this time we stayed at the travelodge southbank, located at the lower part of eureka tower (the highest tower in melbourne now, i heard). room was a bit small, but it's nice. after that all four of us went further to southbank to grab a late lunch at a new indonesian resto called garamerica. delicious. i ordered sop buntut and gado2 for my friend. the sop buntut was delicious but the gado2 not as much. we met up with another couple friend of mine, have a chat, and then get ready for dinner (err.. yes, we ate 2 meals that day).

dinner was at sofia, an greek owned italian resto famous for its huge portion. too bad i forgot to take photos. at that time i was shivering really bad cos of the cold weather. i didn't even enjoy the walk from the car park to the resto (yes, a mere 2 minute walk) cos it was freezing.

day 2
we took a stroll down swanston st to buy some souvenirs. i'm mostly amazed at how the place have changed in 9 years i haven't been there. melbourne central is a huge crowded complex now. and dockland is beautiful... we took the free city circle tram ride to see docklands area. wish i'd stopped by now. it was raining in the afternoon so we just relax in the hotel room, eating churros with chocolate dip we bought earlier. it was nice. :)

for dinner we went to *jrengjreng*... another indo resto at the city. called es teler!! haha.. yes they have es teler there! too bad the otak2 goreng wasn't as good as the one in jakarta. but the food was nice. i ordered kari udang for me, and nasi goreng kambing for my friend. i gotta say it's good to see my friends again after all these years.

i don't know what's going on, but i heard and saw unbelievable things while in melbourne. first, when i was souvenir shopping, i overheard a girl said "hey there's a stabbing in melbourne central!! let's get the hell outta here!". great! melb central was only 2 blocks away. then at night on the way back to the hotel we saw a car crashed in front of flinders station. lots of police and fire-rescue there. whoa.

there! that concludes my travel so far. after melbourne i went back to sydney (a 9am flight... i was already jittery from all the packings and getting up at 5am in the morning) and we had to take the taxi back to the airport cos they don't have shuttle bus in melbourne, unless we go to the spencer st station. ugh. taxi cost $50 but under the circumstances, i'd take it again anytime.

in sydney airport we transfered from domestic to international ($5 train ride) so my friend could check in for his flight back to US. and then i went back to the city to do some more shopping. really. while walking along pitt st mall i heard a girl scream "THIEF!!!". whoa!!! then i saw a chinese guy running really fast, and the girl right behind him, and another 2 guys (one in satpam uniform) chasing after the thief. and the girl kept on screaming so more guys went after the thief. naturally i stopped to see what happen next. less than 5 minutes, the thief was captured. oh. :D what a drama. that's it, enough drama (and cold weather) for me. so i went to kinokuniya and bought some books and sat the cafe for about 2 hours.

dinner was at a japanese resto in world square. i ordered wagyu terriyaki .... aweeeesooommme!! must say i really like all the resto my bro picked. yummm. food in sydney doesn't disappoint.

anyways, what a great trip. it's nice to see almost all of my friends again after all these years.
:D


i'm already thinking about my next trip. :D

australia part 2: cairns & great barrier reef

located at the northeast side of australia, cairns is blessed with tropical weather, great sceneries, and good food. during winter it rains quite often, but whilst i was there (7 days), it rained only for the first 2 days. after that we got clear blue sky all the rest of the week. fantastic. some people might say port douglas is a better destination, but i think cairns is nice. it's not a big town, and the city centre is all about tourists, souvenir shops, hotels, restaurants, and tour agents. :D very easy to find food, arrange daily tours, and meet people. mind you, prices are a bit expensive.


day 1 - may 31.
from the airport you can take the shuttle bus to your hotel. just go to the counter (very easy to spot as it's not a big airport) and pay $7 per person. the bus would drop you in front of your hotel. being picky and demanding we chose to stay at the sebel harbour lights. the hotel itself wasn't very glamorous despite the 4.5 stars reputation, but the location was superb! pas banget di pinggir laut, dengan akses ke reef terminal only 5 minutes walk away. you can actually walk to the beach via the harbour walk, which is very nice when the weather is sunny.

it was raining when we were ready to find dinner.. so we ended up taking a stroll along the harbour walk, selecting restaurants as we go. the restaurants along the walk were expensive, so i don't recommend it if you have limited budget. however we were too lazy to walk 2 blocks to the city centre in the rain, so we ended up having a really delicious seafood dish for 2. it cost a lot, but it was worth it! fried calamaries, shrimps hot and cold, breaded scallops, oysters, clams, lobster, baked fish.. you name it they have it. they even give cold tropical fruits as part of the dish. naturally i took all the grapes back to the hotel with me. :D yumm.

day 2
we had the day free so we took a stroll around the city to find something for lunch (greek food. yumm!). after that we went to the harbour and look at the boats. apparently a lot of the local people own a boat (or yacht, some of the boats look big to me). lots of people spent their afternoon fishing. one particular korean guy seemed to have something stuck on his fishing line, so we stopped and watch for a while. it looked like he got something big caught in the line, and whatever that was was trying to swim away. we ended up waiting for more than an hour just to see what he's got. a lot of people stopped by and watched too. one old couple malah sempet2nya nyelesaiin afternoon walk mereka dan kemudian balik lagi untuk nonton si orang korea ini selesai fishing. :D too bad, after all the wait, we had to come home disappointed krn kailnya copot.... padahal udah deket loh, udah tinggal diangkat doang. darn. everybody was equally disappointed. lots of "tough luck, mate" were given to the poor korean guy.

dinner was at chinese resto. actually we were so tired that afternoon that we fell asleep, and didn't come out of our hotel until near 9pm. all the resto were closed but this one chinese restaurant. fortunately the food didn't disappoint.

day 3 : liveaboard
we got up early ready for the cruise tour to pick us up at the hotel. i thought they're going to pick us up at 7am, but apparently they didn't. a slight panic occured, but everything turned out well. we got picked up, went to the tour office to check in, and then went back to the reef terminal to board the vessel.

the boat.. ahh... how do i describe the boat except that i don't like the way it moved!!! made me seasick for a whole day. jadi gini. me and my friend already booked this liveaboard diving trip previously. we get to stay 2 nights on the vessel, and dive every 2 hours (or so) at different reefs. but to get to the vessel we need to get on a smaller boat, jammed-pack with other tourists looking for a chance to snorkel and dive for a day. along the way (an hour boat ride to the first destination) the instructor would brief us about safety equipments, how to snorkel, how to dive, etc. i took the intro to scuba dive class, which means i get to dive up to 5 times. 2 times on the first day.

i was actually so sea-sick that moment that i didn't want to go anywhere except dry land. but when i did force myself to snorkle, the seasick lessen. plus the gorgeous view below made me push myself to go on the first dive. it was aweeeessoomee!! first attempt going down was a bit of a mess, cos i have a phobia about going into murky water where i can't see the bottom of, but i managed to calm myself and follow the instructor. oh, i lost one of my contact lens when snorkelling, so my vision was slightly blurred. i didn't have the strength to put on a spare because of the seasick but at least i can see. hehe.

the second dive was even better. i was no longer afraid, but still had some troubles trying to float about. i also cut my finger on a coral whilst trying to watch a clown fish eat. hrgh.

around 2pm we transferred to the vessel (ocean quest). it's a bigger boat, so it doesn't move as much as the first boat. i was still seasick but glad to find hot scones for tea (a bit too sweet but still delicious with thick cream and pieces of strawberries in it). half an hour later i was to go on the third dive. this time the water's a bit murky so i couldn't see too clearly. at first i thought it was my missing lens and foggy goggles, but turned out all the other divers experienced the same thing.

during dinner (lamb chop and roasted veggies... plus salad bar and all you can eat bread roll. yummy!!!) we sat near one particular girl who couldn't stop talking. we made a mental note to try and sit as faaar away as possible from her. lol.

day 4-5
onboard the vessel they have 6 diving schedules.
dive 1: 6.30am
dive 2: 9am
dive 3: 11am
dive 4: 2.30pm
dive 5: 4.30pm
dive 6: 7.30pm (night dive)

me and my friend were too lazy to join the morning dive, so we took the 9am dive. the weather was nice, and the reef (a different one from the previous day) was blooming with lots to see. i finished my last 2 diving schedules, and then spent the rest of the days sunbathing and reading magazines. i was reluctant to snorkle alone, and had to pay more if i want to dive. being the cheapo that i am, i naturally declined the option and went for the free sunbathing instead. i gotta say life is good. :D :D