my kinda life :)

mudik

2011-12-04T10:14:00.001+07:00

like every pilgrimage who has to go home and visit his/her home village every year, i did too, go home and visit my home in jakarta. for almost a whole month! :D

the trip home (just me and son) was very tiring. i got a good seat with a baby bassinet in front of me, but decided not to use it because i thought my son's too big for it. silly me! i ended up having to hold him on my lap the whole 14 + 4 hours flight. GRRR. by the time i got to indo i was so tired i couldn't even stand up straight. thank God for porters.

needless to say the trip was great. i ate a lot (any new news here?), patrick had great fun watching all the traffic (busses, bajajs, motorcycles and all those trucks.. oh heaven), and at the end of the trip when hubby was there we went to bali where we had some more great food (dear me!) and great fun (camel rides, anyone?).

i love

2011-10-08T21:32:00.000+07:00

i love how he looks when he wakes up in the morning.

i love how he lets me kiss his cheeks thousands of times even when he's busy watching movies / playing games

i love how he'd crawl up on my lap and push my hands away from the computer when i'm typing something

i love when he wants me to hold him up so he can see what i'm cooking

i love how he makes silly face when he smelled his own stinky poop

i love it when he runs, although not when he falls and cry

i love reading books together with him on my lap

i love his toes

i love giving him tickles and hear him laugh

i love watching him asleep

i love it when he plays with his dad, or walking somewhere holding hands

and i love it when he eats chocolate and make a messy face like this:

the best things in life are NOT free!

2011-08-07T06:10:00.008+07:00

this second time around i found myself craving for noodles again. it was bad the first round with my baby so i hope it won't be as bad. but lately i've been thinking about these noodles i used to eat in jakarta.

1. bakmi pinangsari - pinangsia

guaranteed, this is the BEST bakmi ayam ever. the noodles are perfectly seasoned and the chilli/sambal... i could eat just the noodle with the sambal. Usually I'd order the usual chicken noodles with some pangsit goreng and bakso, plus sweet ice tea.

2. lomie kangkung pinangsia

my family was a regular to this used-to-be-really-dungy street noodle stall. but then they moved location and probably split the ownership so we didn't know which one is the authentic anymore. But lately we found out they opened near our house. so YAY...!!

the main reason we like this dish so much is the rich thickness of the gravy, the crunchy bbq pork (or chicken if you prefer), and the kangkung (watercress?) which is not a usual combination for noodle dish.

3. hokkien noodle 61

the reason we call it bakmi 61 is because it's located at jl. hayam wuruk 61. i don't actually know what it's called apart from hokkien mie. it originated (i suppose) from Medan. my dad loves this dish so much because it reminds him of home when he was little. i love it because of the variety of the condiments that they put in the bowl. the soup is not as flavorful but with all of the action going on in the bowl, the soup is kinda perfect to balance things out.

4. bakmi emi pluit

another sweet noddle dish. the gravy is so thick you could consider it gooey. there's nothing in the dish except noodles, some beansprouts, a quart of boiled egg, lots of fried onions, and lots of shrimp crackers and emping. you can see pieces of shrimp in the gravy (yes the gravy is shrimp-based) but that's about the biggest meat you can find.

oh man oh man i'm sooooo wanting to eat these noodles right now.

note: images are taken from:
1. http://luvmumu.multiply.com/photos/photo/21/23
2. http://avocadolite.com/expiration/archives/001823.php
3. http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=143220922415461&id=58257844669#!/media/set/?set=a.152322524785795.31109.132589133425801&type=1
4. http://yummyfordummy.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html

sweet carolina

2011-08-04T23:34:00.004+07:00

last week hubby had a few days off so we thought about flying somewhere. choices included washington DC (to visit my close friend), chicago (my sister), SF (another friend), NC (hubby's brother) or tallahassee, FL (hubby's oldest brother). Sadly the ticket prices to DC and Chicago weren't too friendly, so we ended up going to NC. Not a bad trip. We ended up visiting 4 states in 4 days: NC, TN, GA, and SC. that's some intense travelling.

a lake in NC's Chattanooga's national forest (at least i think that's where it is). I want to have a house there.... *yeah.. keep on dreaming!*

Tybee beach at tybee island, GA. way too crowded for my liking.

obligatory picture taken while baby's asleep in the car... lol..

anybody wants to go for a hike up to Maine (from NC)? seriously, this trail goes all the way to Maine. there's another entrance, which makes the trail goes longer than 1972 miles. it's amazing what the indians (or other people) did before cars or planes were invented.

While we're in Savannah, GA we took this video of our boy trying to get down from the bed. We've been teaching him how to get down from higher places but by far this was his highest. I'm not surprised he got stuck, but what made it so funny was how he'd smile to the camera while hanging on to the sheets like that. It's so funny it cracks me up all the time.

vogue

2011-07-12T00:43:00.003+07:00

someone really likes to pose. one example:

another example:

i can't believe it's been 16 months since he joined our family. can't imagine life before him. well actually i do. lots of going to the mall, lots of (dvd-ing, going to the movie-ing, eating out-ing), size 6 jeans, and sleeping in.

and now?

*long awkward pause as i look at myself in the mirror*

let's keep the focus on the little guy. he's more fun to watch. :D

all in one weekend

2011-05-02T23:49:00.004+07:00

- the girl married her prince charming.
- the bad guy is dead.

it's a disney happy ending.
meanwhile in the house i'm still stuck with a fussy baby. same ol' same ol'. :D

wok with mie

2011-04-17T04:38:00.004+07:00

am starting a food recipes blog. nope, not because i think i'm the greatest cook in the world and therefore everybody should know my recipes, but more because i never follow any recipe closely (except in baking) and therefore could not create a successful dish twice.

most of the recipes are taken from either cookbook or other food blog and then adjusted to my taste. i say "adjusted" quite freely here, because on some occassion the 'adjusted-recipe' turned the dish into another - quite different than what was intended - dish. lucky my husband's not picky. :))

too bad i'm either too lazy or too distracted to take pictures of the food i made.

oh by the way, you can see the recipes over here.

you can look but you can't touch

2011-03-28T11:12:00.003+07:00

after having a kid i rarely go to the movies anymore. not that i don't want to, but it's a matter of principal. the tickets for the movies cost $8 per person, total of $16 for me and husband. the babysitter, however, would cost around $20 for almost 3hour. thank God for netflix i don't mind sitting pretty at home waiting for the new releases and watch them at home. hence is why i've just watched the joneses last night.

strangely it hits home with my recent condition. i've never been the type of person who needs to buy or match what others have, especially when it comes to brands. but this changed when i and hubby went house hunting a few days ago. we didn't really need to move yet, but the need for a bigger space is growing, so we like to keep a look out. the first day we saw 3 houses and kind of like one of them. it's basically the same size with my current house but the lot is a lot bigger. and the house is surely prettier.

the next day hubby said his friend's house is being set up for auction, and asked if we wanted a tour of the house. sure thang. turned out his house was this huge house on an acre lot in a nice neighborhood right downtown at a neighbor town. . to cut things short i simply love this house. it's big, but it means more space for my son to play, place for hubby to put his fitness equipments and do some carpenting when he feels macho, even have some space for me to go crazy on my baking and cooking. HA!

anyway.. ever since i saw that house i haven't been able to get it out of my mind. crazy right? i didn't realize it at first but after watching the joneses it hit me what it can do to me. no wonder it's included as one of the seven deadly sin. tsk. i don't want to be larry, that's for sure. so help me God. right now my attitude toward the house is: if it's mine, then i don't have to worry about it. *sigh* it's hard being good all the time.

this is why i like dogs...

2011-03-18T01:32:00.000+07:00

self explanatory, don't you think? :D

i tried to be like grace kelly.....

2011-01-18T13:05:00.002+07:00

totally random, but here i am sitting in a half dark room watching tv and browsing the internet when a blog post somehow reminded me of something i read in a book a few years ago (actually i've read this book quite a few times before but then i always gave this book to friends - yes, it's a very good book - so the last time i read it was a few years back).

the book was called "what's so amazing about grace" by phillip yancey, and in it he tells stories he read or heard that was so incredible he just had to put it in the book. tonight i'm reminded of one in particular.

during the world war 2 this american soldier was called to a hospital. the nurse explained.. this german soldier was dying and he wants to confess his sin, talk to someone jewish. she couldn't find anyone jewish at that time, so she called him, an american, a christian. he didn't know this german soldier, but he went in anyway. but what the german soldier told him was so startling. he told him about all the unforgiveable things he did in the name of war. at one time he helped rounded up the people of a village, locked them up in a barn, and they burned the barn down, shooting everyone who tried to escape. the german was crying when he recalled this incident.

the american soldier felt so sick in the stomach that he didn't realize the german had finished and was asking him something. "sorry?" he said. the german had asked him if he could (in the name of the jewish) forgive him for the things he did. he knew he was dying, and he needed forgiveness so he could die in peace.

the american - the christian - didn't know what to do. how could he forgive him knowing all the terrible things this man did. so he left without saying anything, leaving the german to die alone. afterward he felt unease.. as a christian he should've forgive.. that's what God would've wanted him to do. but yet how could he forgive such a condemned act?

this was just one of the many stories i read in the book. have you read about babel's feast? or les miserables? they all speak about grace. how wonderful, how grandeur, how humbling, and yet how hard it is.

raise your glasses, people

2011-01-03T05:53:00.002+07:00

aah. it's a new year again.

so what have i been up to last year? hmm. a lot. marriage, move to another country, baby, quit job, vacation to another country and spending almost all of my savings on that trip.. not necessarily in that order of course.

so far marriage life has been great. oh we've had our arguments and times when we (i, mostly) feel like biting each other heads' off but most of the time we're having a blast of a time. and baby's now turning 10 months. can't believe it's been 10 months since i huffed and puffed and pushed in the-rather-nice hospital room (my first hospital stay since birth). i can still remember that day like it was yesterday, thank God i can only vividly remember those first month of no sleep and feeling like a gorilla.

after moving here i developed a new hobby: trying out new cupcakes recipes. i've always been a bit obsessed with cupcakes but buying them seem so extravagant (they're so expensive) so now i have fun making them. hmm.. there's a thought. maybe i should share my cupcake project here.

safe to say in 2010 my life changed drastically, but i wouldn't say for the worse. quite the opposite, it's getting better. i'm enjoying every moment of it. let's hope 2011 is better than 2010. cheers.

Tuhanku gondrong.....

2010-10-26T03:33:00.002+07:00

found an old writing of mine. jadi kangen nulis lagi. kapan ya?

-----
Tuhanku Gondrong sih...

Sebagai dobel minoritas yang hidup di Negara berkembang, saya paling sebel kalau ada yang nyombong-nyombongin agamanya di depan saya. Ganggu! Padahal saya bukanlah orang yang terlalu religius. Kalau ada yang bertanya kenapa saya beragama Kristen, saya pasti menjawab dengan bercanda “abis Tuhannya gondrong sih.. funky.” Atau “soalnya bisa makan babi.” Tentu saja ada alasan lain, tapi biarlah itu jadi urusan saya. Kalau ada yang protes dengan jawaban saya diatas, biarlah itu menjadi urusan mereka.

Jadi lain urusannya kalau ada orang yang berusaha meyakinkan saya kalau agama mereka lah yang paling benar, paling yahud, paling canggih, paling toleran, paling begini paling begitu. Segala ‘paling’nya dilihat dari mana dulu nih? Tentu saja banyak syarat yang mengikuti kata ‘paling’ tadi. Paling benar menurut si A. Paling yahud karena tidak perlu repot menjalani berbagai macam aturan. Paling canggih karena doanya tidak perlu diucapkan. Cukup dengan mengisi formulir saja. Paling toleran karena boleh makan segala jenis makanan yang ada, tanpa pantangan apapun. Wih, enak sekali kalau ada agama yang seperti itu.

Dulu waktu SD saya bermusuhan berat dengan seorang anak pendeta. Saya masih ingat, namanya Denny. Kalau ada pepatah mengatakan bagai anjing dan kucing, maka bagi kami pepatah itu tidak berlaku. Kalau anjing mengejar kucing, maka saya dan Denny tidak saling mengejar, tapi langsung berhadapan dan saling perang, entah itu pakai sapu, kemoceng, atau malah langsung tampar-tamparan dan gebuk-gebukan. Permainan keji ini baru berakhir kalau guru melerai, atau bel masuk kelas berbunyi. Setelah itu masing-masing akan menyimpan dendam dan strateginya untuk waktu istirahat berikutnya. Sebetulnya tidak jelas apakah yang menjadi pangkal permusuhan. Saya bahkan tidak ingat kenapa harus dia. Saya cuma ingat, setiap orang dewasa yang melerai pasti bilang “masa kamu berantem sama anak pendeta?” Loh .. memangnya kenapa? Apakah berantem sama anak pendeta bikin kualat? Apakah anak pendeta punya status yang lebih tinggi dibanding anak insinyur, atau dokter?

Sewaktu lulus SD dan masuk SMP, ternyata saya satu SMP dengan Denny. Karena gak kenal siapa-siapa, kami pun secara otomatis berbaikan dan mencari kelas baru berdua. Tidak, kami tidak sekelas, tapi sejak hari pertama di SMP itu kami berteman baik. Saking baiknya sampai semua teman sekolah mengata-ngatai “iih.. hebat loh pacarannya sama anak pendeta.” Loh? Sorry ya, pertama saya gak pacaran sama dia. Kedua, memang kenapa kalau pacaran sama anak pendeta? Apakah itu berarti saya jadi lebih suci? Ah kayaknya gak juga deh.

Sewaktu SMA saya berteman erat dengan 4 orang yang bervariatif baik dalam kemampuan otak maupun kepribadian. Ada yang Buddha, ada yang Kristen, ada yang Islam, ada yang Katolik. Kami tidak pernah mempermasalahkan agama, karena pada saat itu saya bersekolah di SMA favorit yang sebetulnya dikhususkan untuk anak-anak berotak encer. Saya, yang sebetulnya berotak encer namun tidak punya kemauan keras untuk jadi pandai, tentu saja jadi ngos-ngosan berusaha menyamai posisi teman-teman dalam perolehan ranking. Kalau tiba waktunya bulan Ramadhan, teman saya yang Islam santai saja berpuasa, sementara kami santai saja makan di depan dia. Pada saat itu, agama bukanlah satu hal yang penting buat kami. Lebih penting memikirkan siapa yang kali ini dijadikan tumbal untuk dikirim ke olimpiade fisika berikutnya.

Dan kami baik-baik saja. Pertemanan masih tetap terjaga sampai saat ini, dan bahkan setelah teman saya si Islam itu menanggalkan keIslamannya (karena alasan pribadi, saya tahu sebabnya tapi kalau anda ingin tahu, silahkan Tanya sendiri sama dia), kami tidak lantas menuding “Nanti gak masuk surga lu…” Biasa saja. Dia tetap teman kami, terserah mau beragama ataupun atheis. Kami malah lebih kawatir akan ke-antipati-annya terhadap lelaki dan pernikahan.

Karena itu saya gak pernah habis pikir, kenapa ada saja orang-orang yang ngotot membela agamanya, sampai pada titik dimana ia maksa orang lain harus menganut agamanya juga.

Dalam benak saya, ini tak ubahnya seperti orang jualan.

“Eh kamu tau gak, TV Sony yang terbaru, Bravia.. keren banget loh. Aku baru beli kemarin. Wiiih gambarnya canggih bener. Kamu mesti punya juga. Gak nyesel deh.”
“Ah masa sih? TV ku Sharp, masih model lama sih. Tapi ok-ok aja kok buat nonton.”
“Sharp? AAhhh.. ketinggalan jaman tuh. Beli Sony dehh. Asli, Sharp mah gak ada apa-apanya.”
“Tapi aku puas-puas aja kok.”
“Percaya deh. Gak bakalan puas kalau udah liat Sony.”
“Tapi kan mahal..”
“Ya ampun, ada uang ya ada rupa lah. Kualitas meen… lu pentingin kualitas apa kesehatan mata?”
“Apa hubungannya?”
“Ah katro. Kalau kualitas gambar Sharp kan gak sebagus Sony. Nanti mata lu cepet rusak. Daripada nanti mesti operasi mata, mendingan skarang boros dikit, beli Sony.”

Atau ada yang pernah terjebak ditawari bisnis MLM? Saya pernah.

“Cita-cita lu apa?”
Tentunya ini pertanyaan jebakan. Namun karena saya cukup lugu dan tolol, maka saya jawab saja sekenanya.
“Jadi kaya raya.”
Tentu, siapa yang tidak mau? Dan memang benar, tanpa malu saya akan mengakui kalau cita-cita saya memang jadi nyonya besar yang kaya raya. Amin.
“Nah. Lu pilih mana, jadi kaya pada saat elu umur 80 tahun, atau jadi kaya sekarang?’
Lagi-lagi jebakan batman, dan lagi-lagi saya cukup lugu dan tolol untuk menjawab dengan lantang:
“Ya sekarang lah!”

Dan setelah itu saya harus menghabiskan 2 jam waktu saya menghadiri seminar MLM dimana semua orang terlihat antusias dan hiperaktif, gigi-gigi putih berderet rapi tersembul dari mulut yang tersenyum lebar, dan ruangan penuh dengan suara tepuk tangan yang membahana setiap ada yang berdiri baik untuk memberikan presentasi, menerima penghargaan, atau sekedar mau ke WC. Belum cukup itu, saya juga harus menghabiskan waktu 6 bulan kedepan untuk main petak umpet dengan teman saya yang menawari itu. Semua karena saya tidak tega untuk bilang apa pendapat saya mengenai bisnis MLMnya itu.

Lucu? Memang. Tapi tidak lucu kalau yang ditawarkan adalah agama. Coba bayangkan percakapan ini.

“Agama gua lebih enak Ren. Gak sekolot dan sekaku yang orang kira kok. Buktinya banyak kok yang pindah ke agama gua, dan betah. Malah kadang mereka yang pindah sekarang malah jadi lebih taat daripada gua yang asli dari lahir.”

Jawaban apa yang akan anda beri sekiranya ada yang ngomong gitu ke anda? Kalau saya sih akan menjawab dengan santai. “Aduuh.. gimana ya? Di agama lu Tuhannya gak gondrong sihhh.” Karena kalau saya menjawab dengan serius kenapa saya menganut agama yang saya anut sekarang… wih bisa panjang akibatnya. Bisa-bisa waktu 6 bulan saja tidak cukup, dan bukan tidak mungkin malah akan terjadi perang nuklir karena saling ngotot agamanya yang paling benar. Cape kan? Lagipula daripada nanti saya dibilang kualat lagi, mendingan diam saja lah. Apalagi saya juga bukan orang yang sabar dan telaten dalam menjabarkan sesuatu. Lebih gampang untuk menjawab yang singkat dan undebateable aja.

Jangan salah, saya tidak melarang orang pindah agama. By all means, silahkan. Asalkan memang yakin dengan pilihannya. Dan kalau sudah yakin, ya mbok dipegang keyakinannya, supaya nantinya kalau datang yang lebih bagus dan kinclong, hati tidak mudah goyah dan tergoda. Saya juga tidak melarang kalau ada yang berusaha menggaet saya masuk keyakinannya. Sah saja. Asal jangan marah, ya, kalau saya bilang Tuhannya situ gak gondrong.

cap jempol

2010-10-24T07:29:00.007+07:00

on status: yep. it's finally official. i'm a permanent resident of the united states. yayyy!! 5 months from applying to getting approved. now all i have to do is wait for the card to arrive in the mail (the officer said it'll be between 2-3 weeks, but might come sooner), and then i can apply for a social security number. woohoo. i feel so americanized now. :P

on patrick: he's learning to stand up already!! woohoo. mommy so proud. he's been learning to stand up for quite a while now, once he mastered the sitting position from crawling. now he can crawl and follow me to the kitchen, or just approach the dog food whenever it's feeding time. and he likes to hold on to the coffee table and peek what's on top of the table (and pull them to the floor). so annoying yet i don't mind. :))

and he's starting to eat finger food now. the other day hubby and i ate grilled ribs for dinner, and hubby gave him a piece of bone. oh boy oh boy, he gnawed it like there's no tomorrow. and he doesn't have any teeth yet!! and yesterday we went to tucson and ate at a korean restaurant. patrick was fussy and wanted to grab whatever we're eating, so hubby gave him a piece of parsley. lol. boy that was a funny sight.

can't wait to see him walking around real soon.

stuff hubby said

2010-10-02T11:34:00.002+07:00

hubby, on why he doesn't want a baby girl.

"with a boy, i just have to worry about one p*nis. with a girl, i have to worry about all the p*nises in town!"

i can't argue with that.

of snow, sun, soup and shopping

2010-09-26T10:49:00.006+07:00

so here i am, at home with hubby on a saturday night watching titanic for the thousandth time. boring. then i realized i haven't written anything about my recent trip to yellowstone, Wyoming. not that you all care about it, of course. but i'll pretend you do just so i have something to write and to spare you from any suffering, i'll keep it short.

wyoming is so far away it took us 2 full day of driving just to get to the nearest town from the south entrance of yellowstone, which is Jackson in WY. it was past 6pm local time when we arrived at the campground, so we had time to do some laundry (not that we needed it, but hubby was fussy about the bedsheet...). the next morning we left for fishing bridge campground, where we'll be staying during the week.

to get to yellowstone via the south entrance we have to go through grand teton national park. it's not big and although it's beautiful, it's nothing compare to yellowstone. the view was just breath-taking. and to top it all off: it was snowing when we arrived at yellowstone. simply perfect.

the campground was ok, good sized although probably a bit small now that we have the bigger trailer. we couldn't fit into the site we were assigned to so we asked for a change. i had to help hubby park the trailer while it was snowing. how fantastic was that?

after that every morning for the whole week we're there hubby went out the door at 5.30-6am to hunt for wild animals to photographed while i and patrick stayed in the trailer and get ready. at least that was the plan. but of course nothing worked according to plan, ... the heater fan broke on the first morning we were there. so patrick and i had to spend the morning almost frozen. 49F. it's funny cos just less than 2 weeks before then me and patrick had to spent a really hot day in the trailer ... at 90 something F. talk about extreme!! a repair guy from the campground couldn't fix the fan, and so after that we had to spend almost every morning freezing while waiting for hubby.

apart from that the trip was excellent. the sun was all out for the whole week. saw boat load of creatures running wild (elk, bison, canada geese, bald eagle, hawk, black bear, coyote, grizzly mommy bear with her two cubs, wolf (from so far away that hubby called out "LOOK!! a SPOT!"), deer, and idiots) and we had fun making fun of people ("look at that grandpa trying to take picture of that spots - bison far far away - with his tiny little camera pocket.. teeehehehehhehe"). too bad we didn't see any trumpeter swan that are native to that park, and no moose either.

all right, enough about yellowstone. after the heater incident we went back to tucson last thursday to get the trailer fixed. so as usual we stopped by at the asian grocery to buy some asian food. i went berserk at the fresh veggies section and bought fresh beansprouts, kailan and bokcoy and long bean (kacang panjang). but now i have to finish them all quickly before they deteriorate (and that means: within a week!! EEK!). trouble is i don't really know how to cook those except by stirfrying with a little bit of garlic or oyster sauce and hubby doesn't like it that way. hmppph. gotta find another way/dish to incorporate those veggies then. right now for dinner i've settled with soto ayam and tomorrow i'll be cooking seafood claypot (without the claypot..haha). we'll be eating all asian/chinese food this week. hope hubby can keep up.

i'm also a bit excited about my bro-inlaw's upcoming wedding this nov. been browsing online for dresses and went a bit gaga on oldnavy.com. wanted to buy a few long sleeve shirts and tops and cardigans and jacket ... and a pair of boots but i've just spent more than $200 in target so i'm quite broke now. oh well, i'll have to go to tucson again on oct anyway so i'll just stop by old navy and buy the things i want, if they fit. *cross fingers*

my smart boys

2010-08-30T05:39:00.005+07:00

brady (left) and max, in the truck, ready to travel

as you probably have known already, i have two dogs: an english mastiff and a yellow lab. max - the english mastiff - is a very observant dog. whenever he's outside he'd notice things. birds, trees, bugs, flower petals blown by the wind, deers, bridge above our boat, .. . whenever we take him to a new place he'd sniff out new smell, see new things and mark his scent as much as he can.

brady, on the other hand, is a very ignorant dog. as far as he's concern there's only two things that interest him: food and water. nope, not drinking water, but water deep enough to waddle or even swim in. he loves to ride in the back of the truck, sure, but he doesn't notice things the way max does (max would bark at passing trees and tries to catch them). brady just likes the wind in his face and knowing that we're going somewhere fun. once he sees the lake / river / pond, he'd go straight to the water and make a big splash and swim around before we even get there.

the same trait goes when patrick (my baby boy) is around. patrick's learning to crawl, and everytime he's down on the carpet, wiggling and waddling, max would want to come closer and sniff. he's very curious at what patrick's doing, probably thinking it's a new game. but brady would just sit in his corner, asleep or sometimes watching idly.

but there are something i've noticed with brady. a few months back i was sitting in the living room and patrick's already in the bedroom, asleep. my bedroom is hidden in the back of the house, and to get there you have to go thru the kitchen and laundry room. i know, weird. but it's a small house so it doesn't bother me. anyway, suddenly brady stood up, facing the kitchen, ears upright. and when i said "brady, what's wrong?" he just looked at me and then resumed his position, alert. at that moment i could faintly hear patrick crying. apparently brady heard him.

today it happened again. patrick's asleep in his crib, in the dining room (his day bed). suddenly brady stood up, looking up at me. not alert, but he was trying to get my attention. again i asked him what's wrong, and he turned his head toward the dining room. so i checked on patrick. apparently he's having a stuffy nose and was asleep with his head buried between his hands, so his breathing was heavy and i could hear a faint squeaking everytime he inhales. i switched his head position so that the nose would face outward, and the squeaking stopped. brady relaxed and resumed his nap.

me and hubby agreed that when it comes to intelligence, brady doesn't have much. he's pretty dull. but it gives me great comfort knowing he takes care of patrick and would let me know if something happens to him.

smart boy. i'm a proud mama.

baking 101

2010-08-15T03:29:00.004+07:00

lately i've been baking cupcakes regularly once a week. call me bored (i am!) but baking is so much more fun to do than doing house chores. heehee. i usually end up with a dozen of the regular size and about 2 dozen of the mini size. that's a LOT, so i usually gave half to my hubby's colleagues in the hospital. they love free food (who doesn't? :P).

today i decided to bake just because i have a few items about to go bad so i search the internet and came up with this:

banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting.
(image taken from marthastewart.com)

i took the cupcake recipe from marthastewart.com. hubby may not like her but her team came up with the best cupcakes recipes so i decided to make their cupcake. besides i have a lot of buttermilk in the fridge that i need to use before they go bad. but i made some slight adjustments with the sugar. the recipe uses light brown sugar, i only have dark brown so i just use it instead. made no difference as far as i can tell.

there's a twist though. when i pour the buttermilk directly onto my mashed banana, one 1/3 cup was good. the next two was .... STALEEEE!! oh my dear fairygodmother.... the buttermilk has gone sour. apparently it expired aug 7, and today is ....... aug 14!!! a WEEK!!! i had no choice but to continue using the stale buttermilk, hoping that i won't cause any food poisoning. thankfully once i mixed them with the bananas (which were so ripe they almost gone bad) you couldn't smell the staleness.

and i didn't put in the pecans because i didn't have any. i was going to put chopped almonds (which i have plenty, and have had them for quite a few months now.. :P) but because of the buttermilk fiasco i forgot to put them in. oh well.

after 20 min in the oven the cupcakes turned out really well. i'm so glad. was still a bit anxious about food poisoning though. i kept imagining the worse case scenario where all of my hubby's colleagues got food poisoning because of my cupcakes.....

now the frosting. i didn't use marthastewart's caramel buttercream cause i can't understand the directions. and beside i still have some heavy cream i want to use. so i use the recipe from allrecipes instead. but i substitute the sugar with splenda sugar blend. AND i reduce the measurements (the recipe calls for 4 cups sugar, which means 2 cups of splenda..). i only use 1 cup splenda and it's already sweet enough. i also put a bit more of the heavy cream because the buttercream was a bit too thick for my liking. it turned out really good.

i did end up with more frosting than cupcakes though. maybe because i didn't pipe it so i didn't use as many i would've (i don't like too much buttercream on my cupcakes). you may want to reduce the measurements and just make 3/4 of the recipe if you're like me. or you can put the frosting in an air-tight container and put it in the fridge/freezer. i can use it again next time.

well, so far i've eaten two small cupcakes and i gotta say, other than the deliciousness, i haven't got any stomach ache or diarrhea yet. so maybe (just maybe) it's safe to eat. but let it be a lesson for me.... never buy buttermilk... ever!! i'll just use a substitute. or make one myself. hmph.

oh btw, since yesterday was friday the 13th, i've read about myths about baking / cooking on fri 13th. apparently you shouldn't because everything you bake/cook will fail. what's this? why? i've never heard such a ridiculous thing before. i made some bbq pork yesterday and it turned out well.

colorado trip

2010-07-17T10:15:00.004+07:00

aah, finally, a spare free time to write my blog using both hands instead of the usual 2 fingers. it feels nice. haha.

ok, brief trip summary, if anyone's interested.

day 1. managed to get out of the door and left before 9am. wow. it's amazing considering the usual chaos everytime we have to leave early morning. it was a long drive so we were anxious to leave early. we got to the campground by 8pm (it was an hour ahead in colorado so we lost an hour of travel time) and it was already getting dark, so we hurried and unhitched the trailer. managed to do it just in time. phew. oh i saw an english mastiff just like max sitting on a grassy yard in front of one house leading to the campground. i was so surprised i yelled "MAX". and the next day hubby heard from someone that that dog was actually named max. what do you know.. :P we kept looking for him again the next few days but no luck.

day 2. did nothing much. hubby was too tired to wake up early morning and baby was too fussy to sleep thru the night. so we woke up rather late, and then went out to grab a late lunch and let the dogs out to play in the lake. oh yeah, we stayed about 10 mins from vallecito lake. so the dogs had fun, we got a nice late lunch / dinner at serious texas bbq. pulled pork, beef brisket, sausage and ribs. yummy.

day 3. we woke up early today (regardless of baby's continuous screaming thru the night) and went on a scenic drive. the route took us from durango - silverton (there's a scenic steam train that goes between this two cities, i'll mention it later) - ouray - placerville - tullaride - cortez and then back to durango. this drive is called the san juan skyway. the view was spectacular and breathtaking. for the first half we got the mountain, valley and all the greenery of alpine trees and green grass. saw lots of cows, horses, sheeps, llamas. during the second half leg of the trip the topography changed from greens to deserts. different kinda trees and not much green grass. interesting. the drive took us the whole day so by the time we were home we were in a hurry to cook dinner (grill some steak).

we didn't have enough days to do the scenic train. and besides, there's a lot of difficulties: where to leave the dogs while we're on the train, and my baby's still a lot too small for trains. so we opted out.

day 4. again we woke up a bit late. but no hurry this time as we planned to go to mesa verde. it's an hour away from durango. but when we were just about to leave durango hubby saw a trailer dealer so we stopped by. our trailer is too small for 2 huge dogs, 2 adults plus a baby. so we're thinking about buying a bigger one, preferably a 5th wheeler. this dealer sells raptor, a brand which right now is #1 in toy hauler 5th wheeler, so we wanted to check it out. by the time we finished it was almost 2pm already. so we hurried and head to mesa verde. got there around 3. was a bit dissapointed that we couldn't take the tour to 3 of the biggest cliff dwellings there because they involve strenuous trek and lots of ladders, but at least we're able to see 2 of them from a far.

we went home on day 5, so there's not much to tell except that we left the dog fence behind. :P i was so tired of the ride that i was glad to be home, eventhough the house was messy and dirty. at least it's not moving. haha. can't wait till hubby buy a bigger trailer though. it would be nice.

colorado let's go

2010-07-12T12:16:00.003+07:00

most people i know would consider me as lucky, cos i get to travel to various places quite often. last month we (that's hubby, me, baby + 2 dogs) went to utah. this time we're spending a week in colorado, a town called durango. it's officially arund 9 hour drive from safford but because we made lots of stops for the dogs and baby, it took us almost 12 hours.

compared to other touristy towns i've been to (moab, sedona, san antonio), durango is the prettiest. not too busy, not too touristy... just pretty. and all the open space makes me wanna live here. within one town you get lake, mountain, open fields... dalam bbrp hari ini udah ga terhitung berapa kali liat deers, elks, sheeps, goats, cows, llamas, horses, donkeys... one time i even saw a bear crossing the street. and here in the campground we're surrounded by the san juan forest.. and therefor lots of chipmunks running around, unafraid of humans.

makes me want to live here.

ok, full story and photos gonna have to wait. i still have 1 more day then we're heading home. semoga pas sampe rumah pantat masih berbentuk....

jalapeno garlic tilapia

2010-06-28T10:09:00.005+07:00

oh i just found a new recipe that i quite like. but i accidentally closed the website i 'stole' it from so i'm gonna write it quickly before i forget.

jalapeno garlic tilapia with pasta

ingredients:
pasta (i use spiral ones but you can use any kind, really) secukupnya, cook al dente
tilapia fillet (i bought mine frozen, looks something like this:)

to cook the tilapia :
mix 1/3 cup margarine, melted + 3 cloves garlic, chopped.
dip the tilapia in the margarine and then toss in flour (just regular flour). fry in 2 tbs olive oil for about 5 min, turning once. roughly until brown on each side.

i added some shrimps too, cooked the same way.

spinach leaves (de-stemmed) about 5 ounces, but i didn't measure.
1/4 cup heavy cream
2-3 jalapenos, sliced
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt + black pepper
2 1/2 tbs lemon juice
1 tomato, chopped

once the fish and shrimp is done, add the remaining margarine & garlic sauce into the pan, plus the heavy cream, lemon juice and the paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt and black pepper into the pan, cook until sauce is reduced a bit. add the spinach, cook until wilted. then add pasta and tomatoes, toss until covered in sauce.

mine looks horrible but taste good. (if my husband adds a second helping, that means he likes it, and that's good for me.. :P).

update: oh i know why mine looks horrible. apparently you're suppose to fry the fish then take it out of the pan. grrr. no wonder my fish was ruined when i put in the spinach (cause i have to stir, see?). oh well. it's still good enough for me. and i also forgot the tomatos, and omit the jalapeno cause i don't have it.

baking under the heat

2010-06-27T00:52:00.003+07:00

akhir2 ini kok lagi banyak maunya tapi malasssss banget. belom lagi patrick rewel (ntah kenapa. jangan tanya deh..) jadi kurang ada waktu buat bikin2 yang di luar kegiatan rutin. jangankan yang gak rutin, yang rutin aja keteteran kok. tapi walau begitu kok ya masih sempet baking2 dan bikin camilan sedikit. simple2 aja.

mini cheesecake
ini gampang banget, sayang lupa ambil foto karena emang bikin buat dibawa ke kantor suami.

ingredients:
nilla wafers yg gede (18-20 biji, plus bbrp untuk di crush)
2 butir telor
2 cup (@8oz) cream cheese
3/4 cup gula
1 tbs lemon juice

caranya
panasin oven sampai 375F (190an C kali ya)
cemplungin 1 nilla wafer ke dalam muffin cup (dilapisin paper cup ya) untuk jadi dasarnya. bagian rata ngadep bawah.
isi: kocok creamcheese + gula sampai lembut. masukin lemon juice dan telur satu per satu, kocok sampai agak putih kayak krim. isi ke dalam muffin cup kurang lebih 3/4 penuh. taburi dengan nilla wafer yang sudah dihancurin... panggang 15-20 mnt (sampai kecoklatan). dinginkan di kulkas.

note: bisa juga dihias pake buah kalau ada.
warning: very addictive. makan 1 ga cukup.

habis ini masih mau bikin apple pie, bakpao, sama churros. untuk churros ini kebetulan nemu tepungnya di asian grocery, jadi pengen bikin deh. yumm yumm. trus masih mau bikin es krim buat makan apple pie nya. hadoooh, kapan yaaaaa?

anyhow, how are things?
things been going pretty well here. we go boating every week now (not during weekend though. i can't stand the crowd, neither can my husband). the weather's been so hot that every family who owns a boat would spend the day boating and skiing and swimming. those who don't have a boat buy a swimming pool (i have one too, cheap small plastic ones... just in case patrick wants to play in the water.. hee hee) or simply install a sprinkler in their yard. i prefer to stay indoors but of course it's not possible when hubby's not working. and i know it's not healthy for patrick. :p

yesterday we went to tucson to grab some things. originally we wanted to grab dinner at takamatsu, the korean bbq resto. but when we got there it was closed, with police line on the front doors. apparently the restaurant caught on fire a few weeks ago. darn. but we found a thai restaurant we rather like. so it's all good.

i also found another indonesian family who lives in this town. imagine that!! another indonesian. haahaa.. . i heard them speaking indonesian in walmart. i was so shocked to hear indonesian language being spoken that i blanked out for a few minutes. we exchanged numbers and planned to have dinner together or go boating.. i dunno. yay!!

now, if only i can find the time to declutter the house.

morning notes

2010-06-15T20:31:00.003+07:00

if you buy a present for someone, and he turned out .. err.. not really excited about it, what would you do?

i don't buy presents cos i know i suck at it, but when i do feel like giving presents i think and think and think about it for quite a long time before deciding on something. this is probably why when he/she doesn't like it i get sad and a bit offended.

oh well. maybe gw sensi aja kali ya?

yesterday we went to lake roosevelt and went boating and swimming. it was so hot! had to slab on extra sunscreen on patrick. and i went for a short swim in the lake to. a major achievement knowing i have phobia about swimming in murky waters. must be the heat. patrick went in too, wearing an infant lifejacket. so cute.

shame on me..

2010-05-31T08:00:00.004+07:00

abis ngebaca tulisannya adhitya mulya tentang mbak heni... kok gw jadi keinget waktu dulu pegang acara built in frisian flag. acaranya sih seru, intinya fun and educative games untuk infant and toddlers. biarpun bikinnya cape setengah mati (karena kurang orang, no producer and no effective executive producer in charge, dan research writer pun cuma seorang sajah.. oh gosh masih keinget capenya ampe sekarang) tapi gw seneng dan puas dengan program ini. berasa banget hasil jerih payah gw.

hubungannya dengan tulisan adhit.. begini. frisian flag ini punya maskot. badut .. aduh siapa ya namanya, lupa. marilah kita panggil dia dengan boneka baba. nah pada saat itu mbak klien ngotot si boneka baba ini ikutan nangkring alias in frame di setiap episode. ga akan jadi masalah kalau kita berhubungan dengan anak2 umur 5 ke atas, yang notabene udah cukup gede untuk berani salaman sama badut. susahnya adalah susu bendera target utamanya adalah untuk anak umur 1-3 tahun... which mean buanyaaaakkkk banget anak2 umur segitu yang takut liat si baba. boro2 salaman, baru liat aja udah mundur teratur duluan. frustasi deh, karena pas audisi banyak bgt bocah2 yang oke (pinter dan cameragenic) tapi takut ama baba. terpaksa ga lolos audisi karena gimana mo tampil satu frame sama baba kalo dari jarak 100m aja mereka udah nangis kejer2?

singkat kata untuk beberapa episode terakhir kita ngadain kompetisi antar TK, dan kita syuting di outdoor locations. lokasi pertama adalah ancol... kebayang kan puanasnya kayak apa? gw yang cuma pake kaos ama celana pendek aja udah kringetan setengah mati, gak tau deh gimana nasib si bapak yang 'berperan' jadi baba. padahal dese mesti joget2 senantiasa.

nah pas lagi ngadem di tenda ber ac gw sempet ngobrol2 sama si bapak tukang badut yg jadi baba. pertama sih ngalor ngidul basa basi aja. tapi di satu kesempatan dia sempet curcol, bilang kalau anaknya yg SMP malu kalo bapaknya tukang badut. padahal si bapak di sini berpanas2 ria demi anaknya bisa sekolah, supaya gedenya nanti ga cuma jadi tukang badut kayak bapaknya. gw jadi terenyuh, ikutan ngerasain sedihnya si bapak. tugasnya ngehibur anak2 tapi anak sendiri malu sama bapaknya. belom lagi mesti berpanas2 joget2 hanya untuk bayaran yang buat gw biasa abis dipake sekali makan di foodcourt. sekarang gw berdoa setengah mati jangan sampe anak gw nanti malu sama (kerjaan) bapak emaknya.

life's unfair but you make the most of it.

bella .. without edward!!

2010-05-26T04:12:00.004+07:00

i was bored today (or had too much time in my hands, .. or simply too lazy to do any house chores.. :D. well, either way.. ) so i surfed thru netflix.com and stumbled upon a movie called bella. i saw the trailer about a few months back but didn't really pay any attention to it until now. it turned out to be a really good movie. me likey.

the one thing that made me cry is when the main character (the guy, jose) told the story how he hit and killed a little girl. it was an accident but it robbed him of his passion. now i can't imagine what it must've felt like to have hurt, let alone kill, a little child. but now that i've got patrick i see it from a different perspective. i can't imagine what it must've felt like to lose a child.

before patrick was born i was not a baby-child-kid-friendly person. i get tongue-tied infront of a child. hand me a baby and i won't know what to do with him. not that i ever want to voluntarily hold a baby in my arms, oh no. i'm scared of them.

nina, the main female character in this movie was scared when whe found out she was pregnant. she wanted to abort the pregnancy, thinking she won't know how to care for a baby. when i was pregnant hubby used to tease me, because i worried so much that i won't know what to do with the baby. well... i still worry too much, but at least i'm not afraid of babies anymore. now i have other things to be scared of: losing my baby or hubby. i pray hard that it would never happen. i don't know what i would do without them.

anyway... i'm rambling. i should be doing some cleaning up. besides, my baby's woke up from his nap. time to get him his bath. whoopee! fun.

ps: when i googled bella poster, the top page came up with kristen stewart's poster from the twilight saga. duhhhh!!! i'd always wanted to name my baby girl (if i ever have any) bella, but thanks to twilight... i change my mind.

dumplings...

2010-05-22T02:18:00.004+07:00

i miss yamcha. i miss those dang delicious dumplings and chicken feet and blackbean pork ribs, and everything else that comes in dimsum. oh well. i got one of those asian dumplings book so yesterday while hubby's home i tried to make the pork and napa cabbage water dumplings. the author (andrea nguyen, same author as my vietnamese cookbook) made everything sounds so complicated, but in reality it's really simple.

ok, for dumpling skin you can just buy them in the supermarket. but here we don't have asian grocery, and the ones available at safeway were only for wonton so it's not suitable for dumplings. so i had to make my own. it's simple.

2 cups of flour
3/4 cups of just-boiled water (i added another tablespoon). boil the water and then set aside (not longer than a minute)

in a bowl pour flour and create a hollow in the middle. pour water and (at the same time) mix the flour with a wooden spoon. do until the flour's moist and then using your hand knead them a bit so it'll create a ball. take the ball out of the bowl, and knead some more using hand for around 2 minute until it bounced back (but leaving a dent) when pressed with finger. put in freezer plastic bag, squeezing the air out and leave in room temperature for more than 15 min but not more than 2hr.

filling:
2/3lbs ground pork, fattier kind prefered but i use 80/20 ground beef, and i use around 1lbs
1/4 cup of chopped green onion
2 cups of finely chopped napa cabbage (sawi putih kalo orang indo bilang). after chopped, put in bowl, sprinkle with 1/8 tbs salt and leave for 15 min. then rinse 2x with water, and then squeeze the excess water out by using cotton cloth (i just use saringan sama peres pake tangan lah.. manual)
1tsp minced fresh ginger
salt
soy sauce
black / white pepper

how to make filling:
mix everything together. gampang kan? :D

how to assemble:
prepare a workspace, yg lebar ya.

dumplings:
- take dough ball out of plastic bag, divide into two. roll the dough into a 1 inch thick log (se-buku jari) and then divide into 16 pieces. sprinkle some flour on the cut side so they don't stick together, put back in plastic bag.
- take another plastic bag, cut 3 of the sides, put one of the dough inside, close, and press it with bottom of glass. and then roll the dough until it's quite thin (according to the recipe it should be 1/8 inch thick but i don't know how thick that is so i just 'kira2'..... but according to size it should roll out to be a bit smaller than your palm). then press the edges with your finger so that the edge is thinner than the middle part.
- fill with filling, putting the meat slightly off centered. then fold the edges together, pressing with your thumb to create a pocket. set aside. repeat.

before eating, boil the dumplings for a few minutes until they float and looks puffy and glossy.

any filling left-overs can be frozen in a vacuum bag or use ziplock bag and squeeze the air out.
any skin left can be refrigerated for up to 2 days but it's better to just make the dumplings, and then freeze those. to freeze dumplings: place on top of parchment paper then freeze for 1hr. after that put into vacuum bag, and it should last up to a month or two.

well, here's the result. not bad, ey?

oh ya, sauce. gampang.
soy sauce (1/4 cup? depends on how much you wanna make)
1 tsp sugar
minced garlic
chile oil. kalo gak ada bikin pake peanut oil + red pepper flakes. caranya panasin peanut oil sampe hot hot hoooot, trus masukin (alias goreng) red pepper flakes for about a minute. leave to cool. i was too lazy to fry the flakes so i just put the peanut oil in the microwave, and microwave it for about 1.5 minute, and put the flakes inside, and microwave again for another 30sec.

sometimes

2010-05-15T06:13:00.003+07:00

sometimes i wonder why am i a better baker back at jakarta than here
sometimes i think my brain is just one big blob of jelly
sometimes i dream reruns, as in i've dreamt the exactly the same dream before
sometimes i wonder what would happen if i hadn't get pregnant
sometimes i think my brain's not working at all
sometimes i feel too tired to do anything, but then i'd say to myself i was just being lazy
sometimes i want to throw everything away and then go on a vacation, just by myself
sometimes i wonder if he really loves me
sometimes i'd like to think myself as a great cook
sometimes i think i should get a lasik surgery
sometimes i think i'd rather buy something else than spend the money on something i don't really need, like a lasik surgery
sometimes i wish there's a target store here in town (actually i lied. it's most of the time..)
sometimes i think i'm being too hard on myself. but that's impossible, knowing how lazy most of the time i am
sometimes i wonder why i'm hungry again eventhough i just ate a couple of hours ago
sometimes i wonder why i wonder so much...
i should stop..

really... stop.

jalan sore.. kita berjalan jalan sore sore..

2010-05-04T02:53:00.003+07:00

baca blog orang tentang jalan2 kok jadi kangen pengen jalan2 lagi ya? too bad i'm stuck in this country until who knows when so i can't travel anywhere outside the country. but with patrick in tow now, i can't really travel that far anyway. but still one can crave. thankfully hubby got a week off next month so we're going on a road trip again. this time bringing brady and patrick who've never been on a road trip before. i hope they're not fussy.

my inlaw is coming this wednesday. yayyy.. . i actually like my mother in law. she's cool. but i do have my worries, especially that the house is not as tidy as i'd like it to be. patrick's been so colicky this past week that i haven't been able to do much house cleaning (yay? :D). the house is so dusty and dirty. luckily he's sleeping quietly today after his bath, so i can do some things needed to be done. (grrr.. still need a bucket to mop the floor!)

tales of friendship

2010-05-02T10:44:00.004+07:00

salah satu pertanyaan temen2 di jakarta yang sering gw denger sekarang adalah "udah punya temen blom disana?" well, susah2 gampang nih jawabnya. yes and no. yes, i've made friends with some of the women who work at my husband's department. but if the kind of friendship they meant was like the ones i have in jakarta... it's a no then. maybe those women are what people call acquaintance. not yet close friends.

kemarin pas lagi bengong2 di mobil mendadak keinget salah satu episode pada saat i was about to resign from my office. jadi di kantor ini gw punya beberapa temen lengket (kalau nyontek istilah salah satu dari mereka : "kita kan kayak upil dan ingus....") dan pada saat terakhir2 resign itu memang kita lagi sibuk dengan kerjaan dan pikiran masing2 jadi udah lama gak sempet gosip2an bareng lagi. i was busy with my plans, they were busy with their work loads.

i still remember that day, when suddenly all of us reconnected dan ngegosip di salah satu ruang editing. it began when one of my friend said to me in a 'hopeful' voice that insyaallah she'd be divorced soon. note the word 'insyaallah' here (for those who don't know, it means 'if God is willing'). naturally i thought she was joking but you don't joke with stuff like that. needless to say i was shocked and immediately drilled her with the story. she told me the whole thing, and then proceed to say that our other friend had already known about it. what?? so we went to the editing suite (a small cramped space but very convenient for gossiping because each suite has it's own door and it's dark in there so we got our privacy), and started talking.

belom lagi selesai dengan berita yang mengejutkan tadi si temen nomor 2 mendadak bilang "eh gw juga punya berita mengejutkan loooh.. . i'm gayyy". although that news didn't shock me as much but still...

now that i think about it, it strikes me as funny that how we all have our own shocking secrets (including me). and i miss that. i miss those chatty gossipy moment with my friends. much as i like the women here, it's still not the same. first of all ngegosip dalam bahasa enggreesssss agak2 sulit deh. gak ada kata2 gak guna macam 'bo', 'ne', 'tau gak sih looo?', 'masa seeeh?' dan lain2 sebagainya. and then there's not much to gossip about except kids (mostly in form of me asking questions and they answer) cause i don't know the people they talk about and vice versa. kids and my husband are the only things we have in common. and then there's the time differences. although i don't work, i'm busy with my house and boys. they're also busy with their life. we don't have time to go lounging at a cafe to chat like i used to do back in indo when still single.

i miss my friends. they're hard to find. sometimes i wish i can go back to indo and meet them again, but i don't want to trade my life here with whatever. i'm happy, but i'd be happier if i can get some times with them again. it'll be fun to exchange news and stories and chat for hours with them again. (although agak2 sulit ya mengingat skarang kemana2 mesti bawa patrick.. :D). oh well, at least i'm lucky. my husband is quite content at listening to my gossips, so at least i can still project my inner gossip at someone. :D :D

menu ideas

2010-04-26T02:59:00.003+07:00

2 more recipes i found rather successful.

ayam masak blackbean ala ny. sisca.
ini lumayan enak walaupun i did some slight variations. i will write the original recipe first then i'd include the variations i made in blue ink lah ya.

ingredients
4 paha atas ayam, potong jadi 8
air peresan jeruk nipis atau jeruk limo (dari sekitar 2-3 buah)
garam

saus:
5 sdm saus cabe
1 sdm madu
1 sdm kecap manis
1/2 bawang bombay, iris tipis / cincang
5 siung bawang putih, cincang
3 sdm blackbean asin [kalengan, airnya dibuang ya]
garam merica secukupnya

caranya:
rendam ayam dengan air jeruk nipis dan garam. setelah 1 jam, cuci bersih, lalu goreng.
[kalau gw sih lebih seneng ayamnya di rebus, jadi dapet kaldu ayam. jangan lupa tambahin garam sama lada dan kaldu block... setelah itu ayamnya baru di potong2]

panaskan minyak goreng, tumis bawang putih dan bawang bombay sampai harum. masukkan blackbean, saus cabe, madu dan kecap manis [gak usah persis.. dikira2 aja. gw sih nambahin madu dan kecap manis + air kaldu sekitar 2 sendok sayur], garam + merica. lalu masukkan kembali ayam, aduk rata. sajikan dengan irisan cabai merah.

--
satu lagi adalah dessert ala giada de laurentis. mbak giada ini salah satu cook yang gw suka karena makanannya simpel2 (kalau gak mau dibilang aneh krn doi spesialis masakan italia bo). nah ini adalah dessert yg simpel banget dan jadinya enak. buat yang doyan coklat, this is the dessert for you. cause i'm lazy, i'm just gonna copy paste the recipe. i got it from foodnetwork.com.

chocolate mascarpone cookie

Ingredients
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 1 pound refrigerated sugar cookie dough [recommended: Pillsbury tapi merek apa aja bisa kok. gw pake merk safeway. lebih murah bow.. :D]
• 2 (1.4-ounces) chocolate-toffee candy bars, coarsely chopped, divided [kalau gak ada ilangin aja.. gak gitu guna. atau kalau mau ya ganti sama permen toffee.. ]
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted [i just bought the whole already toasted almonds and then chopped them up]

Directions
Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a 7 by 10 3/4-inch nonstick baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. Lay a 6 by 18-inch piece of parchment paper in the pan, allowing the excess paper to overhang the sides. Spray the parchment paper lightly with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the cookie dough, 1/2 of the chopped chocolate-toffee candy pieces and vanilla extract. Using damp fingers, gently press the dough into the prepared pan. Using the tines of a fork, prick the dough all over [bagian ini jgn sampai kelewatan, krn kalau gak jadinya bantet]. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the crust is lightly browned. Cool for 15 minutes.

Place the chocolate chips and vegetable oil in a medium bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate has melted. Cool the chocolate mixture for 10 minutes. Whisk in the mascarpone cheese until the mixture is smooth. Using a spatula, spread the chocolate mixture over the cooled crust. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate-toffee candy pieces and sliced almonds over the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until the chocolate layer is firm.

Peel off the parchment paper and cut into 1 1/2 by 2-inch bars. Serve at room temperature.

let's go green

2010-04-21T06:58:00.006+07:00

been feeling a bit sluggish this last couple days. 2 days ago patrick got colic and he wouldn't stop crying for an hour or so. tired!

anyway i've also been working on my garden. dulu pas belom kawin suami pernah cerita soal rumahnya, and i thought "wow. gersang." gak ngebayang ga bisa liat rumput lagi. jujur sempet agak segen sih tinggal di sini. but then he told me he could fix the garden and plant grass and stuff. i was like, really?

well, really. here's the before picture

gersang? yo pasteenyaaa. tanahnya pasir + batu, or should i say batu + pasir. kadar batu lbh banyak daripada kadar pasir dan tanah. itu pager batu.. batunya diambil dari backyard semua tuh. *ngayal tp mungkin terjadi*

nah setelah gw dateng mulai deh tuh digarap. top soil dikeruk, diganti sama pasir. trus dibikinin saluran irigasi biar ga cape nyirem2 kebon tiap hari. trus dibikinin patio dan curb biar cantik, trus ditanemin pohon2 dll. dan yang terakhir: grass.

it took 2 months but it's finally done. and these are the 'after' pictures.

green grass all the way. woohoo. udah lama ga liat rumput jadi norak.

my flowerbed. this one's okra. i've also got marigold, sunflowers, dahlia, roses, lantana, hibiscus, etc.

and this is my vegetable garden. herbs, tomatos, beans, canteloupe, ... you name it.

might still be another year or two before we can harvest the fruits but the garden should look nice this summer. can't wait.

baby language decoded?

2010-04-05T05:16:00.005+07:00

jadi ceritanya menurut seorang patricia dunstan tangisan bayi tuh gak cuma asal nangis, tapi ada artinya. babies have their own language dan menurut si dunstan ini gampang banget kok nerjemahinnya. there are 5 words: neh, eh, owh, eiirgh, heh.

neh : means he's hungry.
eh (sometimes staccato and repetitive) : means he needs to burp.
owh : means he's tired.
eiirgh : means he's gassy.
heh : means he's uncomfortable

bah! easy to distinguish my ass.

i've listened to my baby cries many2 times (although not that often, thank God), and they all sound the same to me. sometimes emang gampang sih bedain antara eh dan owh. tapi sisanya...... sounds the same to me. which means everytime he cries i have to try to decode it in my own way. usually it involves checking everything i can check.

this past 3 days, for example. my baby's been bawling his head out, screaming like a banshee during the day. i couldn't figure out what's wrong with him except that he seemed to 'ngeden' (bahasa inggrisnya apa sih?!) a lot. di kamus gw ngeden can only mean two things: mo pup ato mo kentut. he already farted a lot (and by that i mean, a LOT) .. so i don't think he can produce more than he already let out. but he did. only little poop came out though. until today, when i want to change his diaper (already full of poop) he poop again, and again, and again. i ended up grabbing everything nearby (3 towels and 2 plies of paper towel) just to hold his poop. geez. he's sleeping peacefully now, thank God.

do i think dunstan got it right? maybe. do i find it useful? maybe. but until i can understand what patrick's really saying between those closely similar bawling, i just have to try everything i can to calm him down. and right now it means ... everything ... *sigh*

pho bo!

2010-03-24T01:07:00.003+07:00

yesterday was hubby's birthday. when i asked him what he wanted to eat he said he wanted pho and fresh vietnamese spring roll (goi cuon). we both love vietnamese food and usually that's what we get whenever we go to tucson (no vietnamese restaurant here where i live). but with patrick just under 3 weeks old there's no way i'm going to tucson and leave him behind and there's no way we can take patrick with us. luckily hubby'd bought me a vietnamese cookbook, so i tried the recipe instead.

turns out it takes a lot of preparation and stamina to make pho. but it turned out really good. mine tasted as good as the ones you usually get in the restaurants, although it'd be better if i had more variety of meat and meat balls, and bigger bowls. but i'll settle with this one. the secret is the broth.. you have to make a really strong flavorful broth.

anyway, here's the recipe. it's pretty simple kok. the recipe makes for 8 servings, so i don't follow it closely. you can adjust the amount of ingredients you need.

broth:
4-6 pieces of beef bones about 5inch each
5 star anise
1 cinammon stick
6 whole cloves
1/4 cup fish sauce
salt
beef stock
1-inch yellow rock sugar (i use raw cane sugar.. about 4 tablespoons)
beef chunk (pilih yang ber-urat)
1-2 small yellow onion (bawang bombay), don't peel the skin off.
a 4-inch fresh ginger (i actually use only about 1 inch..), don't peel the skin off.
6 quarts (24 cups) water (kira2 aja lah, pokoknya sekuali gede)

how:
boil the bones until the broth becomes frothy. spoon away the froth so the broth becomes clear.
in the meantime, burn / charred the onion and ginger until the skin becomes black. cool off a bit, then remove the blackened skin with knife.

back to broth: after 15 minutes of boiling pour out half of the broth and change with fresh water, return to boil while keep spooning away the froth (that's the impurities of the bones, you don't want that). add beef chunk, star anise, cinammon stick,cloves, fish sauce, sugar, salt, beef stock, onion and ginger. keep simmer for about 1-1.5 hour.

in the meantime, prepare the bowl ingredients.

bowl:
thin flat rice noodle: boiled then rinse with cold water
variety of meat (chunk, rib eye, tribe, meat balls) - boil everything just before serving, sliced thin.
cilantro leaves just top part, chopped
chopped scallions (just the green part, but i use all)

put everything in the bowl prior to serving.

garnish:
mint leaves, basil leaves, bean sprouts, thin-sliced yellow onion, chopped jalapeno pepper (atau cabe rawit kalau ada), hoisin sauce.

serving suggestion:
bring the broth to boil again, adjust the flavor according to taste with the salt, fish sauce and sugar. pour to bowl, add garnish, .. and enjoy.

supermom in the making

2010-03-15T23:54:00.003+07:00

after having patrick i now understand how God created super moms. basic training includes pain. all kinds of pains.

after birth the pain doesn't go away. you'd think being in labor was the most intense pain you could ever experience. wrong. well, sort of. labor pain was so intense that you wish you weren't pregnant. but then after giving birth you're experiencing another kind of pain. the not-so-painful-but-yet-very-annoying-and-can-make-you-cry kinda pain.

well that's what life's like for me now, almost 3 weeks after giving birth to patrick. first came the dull pain of stitches. you feel so sore down there that you actually feel reluctant to walk, pee, shower, let alone poop. and then there's the sore vagina too. mine was so swollen a few hours after that i actually feel like i had a double vagina.

oh not to mention my swollen feet. they don't hurt, but they make you feel stiff. and at night they started to itch real bad.

after that came the sore nipples. mine was chapped and cracked due to patrick's still-poor latching ability. at first it didn't hurt as bad but as time comes the pain intensify from a bee sting to shoot-me-in-the-head pain. then after 4 days milk came bursting from my breasts. good, yes, but they also made my breasts very engorged and that's painful too. i actually cried because my manual breasts pump didn't work and hubby had to run to walmart in the middle of the night just to buy me an electric breasts pump. last night the pain was so extreme that i wanted to cut my nipple off.

apart from the pain there's also the psychological issues. i don't know why but every afternoon i feel like crying out loud. and it can be for a number of reasons too. mine varies from mom's critics, pain, seeing patrick strapped into a carseat, hubby asking me what i wanted for dinner.. anything.

and to top things off: lack of sleep. first night at home patrick spent the night fussing and demanding cuddle and nipples. so i didn't sleep at all until 5am when my husband woke up. it's getting better now, i managed to steal a 2-3 hour sleep between his nursing schedule. but still, i get tired every afternoon. i need to learn to sleep when patrick's sleeping. really.

so now you'd forgive me when i say i cry like a baby when nighttime falls, wouldn't you?

(st) patrick's day

2010-03-10T11:46:00.004+07:00

so. what's new? big. i had patrick. who's he? my darling cute son. what? when?

patrick was born march 3rd, 2010. he was actually due to be born march 1st, but alas, no sign on labor. i spent 3 weeks dialating only 1cm, so finally doctor said i needed to be induced.

"it's up to you, do you want to wait a week, or do it tonight?"
although i've been expecting this the word 'tonight' sounded so sudden and alarming. but i don't want to wait another week either. i was so huge and uncomfortable that i was ready to be de-pregnant.

so finally my husband and i decided we'd do it the next day. doctor contacted the hospital OB to reserve a room for me while i and husband went to the ER (his work place) to find replacement for him. i was nervous, excited, scared.. everything rolled into one. i was gonna have a baby.

so the next day we spent the day getting everything ready for the baby home-coming. then 6pm came and we drove to the hospital. believe it or not i was crying because i was sad to leave the dogs behind for several days. silly, i know.

once in the hospital they put me on the IV fluid and inserted some kind of a pill into my cervix. to make it dilated a bit more, doctor said. once the cervix reached 3cm he was gonna break my water. lemme tell you something... having someone insert their fingers deep into you (let alone probe around in it) was very very V E R Y unpleasant. i hated that part. and sadly the pill didn't do its job. i had to repeat the process every 4 hour. and once inserted i had to lie flat on my back, hooked up to IV and monitors attached to my belly. sleeping had never been so uncomfortable and annoying.

at around 7am doctor came in and finally announced that i've dilated a tight 3. then he broke my water. my husband arrived sometime around 8 and took me for a walk, which the nurse said will help with my dilating. at around 10 something nurse came back in and put me in pitocyn, a drug that was used to speed up the labor. soon i was contracting really bad, like 4-5 mins apart but was still dilating only 3cm. so she wanted to put more pitocyn, but thank God there's something wrong with my IV needle that everytime she put more dose in it the needle burned my hand. finally around noon or past i was dilating 4cm, and allowed epidural. it took forever for the anesthesiologist to come and by then i was in pain. you cannot believe how much pain involved in the process. each contraction came twice, one backpain and then immediately after that bladder pain.

after epidural though, i was in heaven. i can't feel a thing on my right side, but still able to feel pain on my left side. not too much, just like menstrual cramps, annoying but i was too tired to respond. after a while the nurse help me sleep sideways so the epidural will flow evenly to my body. soon i was numb waist down. and that's when she announce i was complete and ready to push.

so push i did. for half an hour, not knowing when (except for when they told me to), how (couldn't feel a thing), and what to push. but they said i was doing great. after a while nurse suddenly said "ooh he's coming. i'll get the doctor." so doctor came, told me to push, and with one push out came patrick. my husband was so excited that he forgot to record the moment patrick came out. duurrr!

nothing can describe my feelings when i first hold him in my hands (they immediately put him on my chest after birth, and scrub him dry there). amazing. i still can't believe that i managed to push something so cute and scrumpled like him out of my vagina. :D anyway, he weighed 6lbs 15oz, and 19inch long. a bit small but perfect in any other ways (apgars test 9/9).

and my life is never the same.

mountain tragedy

2010-02-17T23:54:00.005+07:00

almost lost max yesterday when playing in the snow.

we were on the mountain and the boys were playing on a steep slope when suddenly they went down and out of side. we started calling for max, thinking that he's the one with command training, but he didn't show up. so i started calling brady as well, knowing that usually he'd come when i call him as long as he knows where i am. sure enough after a few minutes brady showed up from the steep slope, slightly panting but walking towards me. still no sign of max though.

so i we kept calling for around 5 more minutes. nothing. finally my husband got pissed and took the truck to see if he showed up somewhere down the slope. i stayed there incase he showed up. i kept calling his name thinking he might got lost and don't know where to go. brady started to get whiny and wanted to get back down to max, but thankfully he obeyed me when i said no.

sure enough after around 10 minutes or so max showed up!! panting heavily and looking very guilty. i was too relieved to see him that it didn't cross my mind to spank him for disobeying us. i told him to sit, waiting for my husband but when he did, he yelp as if in pain. so i eventually had to clean his butt and back legs from gravels and small stones. and he eventually sat sideways with his right thigh on my shoes. while i was cleaning his butt a police car stopped by!!
it was so embarassing. but hey, a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do. right?

so he asked "is there something wrong?"
i said "yep.. this dog went downhill but i got him back now.. we're ok."
he: "where's your car?"
me: "my husband took it to search for him down the hill.. if you see him can you let him know i got him?"
he: "sure thing. becareful of the steep slope ok, it goes on for 5 miles..."
me: "uhuh.."

not 5 minutes after that my husband pulled over, still looking so pissed that he didn't even want to get out of the car to see max. and max didn't even dare to look at my husband. he knew he did something bad. hoho. so we got the boys inside the car and continued up the mountain just to see the view (and got a bonus. we saw a bunch of turkeys clucking and gossiping on the side of the street).

my husband was still angry with max when we got home but i was just glad we got max back. can't imagine what we would do if max hadn't climbed back to us. phew.

it's that time of the year again

2010-02-11T06:54:00.002+07:00

another year gone by and whaddaya know, it's my birthday again. :D
gosh i'm old. but at least this year there's a major difference. but besides my marital status, nothing much changed. oh wait i'll take that back. yeah, things change, a lot.

for example.

- usually when i wake up mom and dad'd be ready to give hugs and angpao (hoho!).
+ this year, no one. husband has to work and he left early in the morning. he even forgot my birthday until he arrived in the office! lol. tried to give me a call but i didn't hear any rings cause i left my phone outside the bedroom (under his orders!).

- usually then after the hugs i'd eat breakfast and enjoy life as it is.
+ not this morning. i got severe cramp on my leg and couldn't fix it until around 10min. then i had to call my mom, and we chatted for an hour. after that i had to quickly put the garbage down the street. then i had to change the dogs water, pick up poops (trust me, a LOT of poops today!! it's like they want to give me a present or something..geez). pff.

- usually my maid'd already cook something delicious for dinner. most probably ifumie, my fave dish. or if not, then me and my parents would go out to dinner at a simple Chinese restaurant. if i were there i'd probably pick kuo thie or emi medan. hmm.. yummm.
+ well, today i gotta cook my own ifumie. not that i mind, but still.. it'd be great not to have to do anything on your birthday. :D oh and on top of the cooking, i also had tons of house chores to do. really.. i hate wednesdays.

oh well i suppose each birthdays are different. each year is better than before no matter what your situation or condition is. right now i'm content, happy and satisfied. i don't mind having to do all the things myself. at least i can have fun with hubby and the two dogs. :) oh and i'm still waiting for deliveries due to arrive next week. yayyyyyy. i'm so excited i almost can't wait.

just some videos from the grammys

2010-02-01T23:56:00.004+07:00

1. i'm very lucky to have married a man who loves nature. you know you're in good hands if a man can treat animals and plants as he'd treat himself.

this video performance of the the tribute to michael jackson somehow made me cry. kenapa ya? yg pasti bukan krn michael jacksonnya sih... hehe.

2. pink for me is just a so-so singer. she makes good music, but i never really applauded her performance until this one. amazing! gotta give 2 thumbs up for whoever suggested this idea to her, and i'd give another 2 thumbs up for pink who agreed to it. simple performance and yet captivating. wow. (and i gotta admit she's got one hell of a stamina to sing while being spin around upsidedown like that).

3. i listen to a lot of diverse music from the 70s until .. err .. recent years. but hubby only listens to what he calls classic rock (that means any songs before the 80s). one of the song from hubby's collection i like is a beautiful song by simon and garfunkle 'bridge over troubled water'. i've actually heard this song before but i never really liked it until i got married. :P yeah yeah, husband influence. well anyway, i guess the key to making a good remake is a good solid song to start with. and this is one of the example. love love love this arrangement.

spaghettini with garlic and pepper

2010-01-31T00:09:00.002+07:00

i've just tried this last night. it was pretty good.

1 pound spaghettini (i substituted it with those spiral pasta thingy.. 6-8 genggam for 2ppl)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (again, i substituted it with regular veg oil, about 1/4 cup)
4 large garlic cloves, chopped (more or less, depend on liking)
salt & pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes (i added more)
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
grated parmesan cheese

and i added some chicken (thinly sliced) and chopped spam, although i think shrimp would be nice too.

caranya:
1. cook pasta until al dante (tender but firm), rinse with cold water, stand aside
2. in large pan heat oil (medium heat). add garlic cook until golden brown, then add salt, hot pepper flakes, pepper and flakes. then add chicken and spam, cook till brown.
3. add pasta into pan, toss to coat.

serve hot, adding cheese just before eating.

change of routines

2010-01-30T00:53:00.003+07:00

this is what my daily routine looked like when i was still working:

08:00 wake up
08:30 read newspaper, or at least pretend to
09:00 get breakfast. either bread, fried rice, instant noodles, or buy porridge
10:00 bath and getting ready for work
11:00 leave for work (unless there's a meeting at this hour, then i'd get up 2 hours earlier than usual)
12:00 arrive at office, check email or newest office gossip
12:30 lunch
13:30 back from lunch, check more emails and do some work
15:30 maksor alias snack time, catching up on more internal affairs gossips
16:30 work
18:30 usually by this time i'm already ready to go home (of course, unless there's a shooting going on). but it depends, if i'm hungry i'd probably order the OB to buy some food.
19:00 depends. if i ordered food, then i'd still be waiting for the food. if not, i'd be on my way home.
20:30 already home, watching tv and talking to my parents or play with my two dogs.
21:00 usually chatting, read book, or watch dvd in my room
23:00 / 24:00 sleeping.

now that i don't work and become a full time housewife, my routine looks something like this:

07:00 wake up, get the dogs out for pee and poop time, then went back to bed
08:00 really wake up, feed the dogs some breakfast
08:30 get a short walk around the front yard with the dogs. they pee, i change their water, feed the birds, and if it's a wednesday get the trashcan down to the streets
09:30 get the dogs inside so they can play with their chewy while i grab some breakfast. usually choco milk with special K, bread, or instant noodles. and i surf the internet.
10:00 let the dogs out the backyard to play. continue surf the net.
11:00 shower, clean the bathroom.
12:00 fix something for lunch. usually left overs.
12:30 do some house chores. laundry, vacuuming, sweeping floors, and if i'm feeling up to it: mopping.
15:00 get dogs in for some play time, and watch ellen. scouring cookbooks for dinner ideas.
15:30 preparing ingredients for dinner
16:00 start cooking dinner for hubby
17:30 eat dinner (schedule may vary if hubby works day shift)
19:00 feed the dogs
20:00 watch tv
21:30 / 22:00 go to bed, unless hubby's not working, then i'd be watching dvd with him until around 01.00

once a week when hubby's not working we'd usually be out on a day trip (or longer). in that case there will be no house chores done at all. which means every wednesday i'm swamped with tons of laundry to do, dirty carpets and kitchen floors, and filthy bedroom floor. hff.

lately i've been so lazy i don't even want to cook something difficult. yesterday i cooked fried noodles (this is actually left overs from the previous night) and some spam filled chicken thighs. dunno why hubby loves this fairly easy recipe. once before brady came i made syomay and lumpia semarang. but somehow now i don't feel like messing around in the kitchen. maybe because i keep having to keep an eye on brady whenever he's in the house (he still need to be trained to sit and stay on his spot).

well anyway, if you're curious about the thigh fillet spam recipe, here it is:

ingredients:
chicken thighs fillet 3 pieces
spam potong kotak panjang tebal
mentega
char siu sauce
tepung terigu
tepung roti
telur kocok 1 butir

caranya:
chicken thighs di potong tipis jadi lebar2.
rub some butter, and some char siu sauce (from lee kum kee.. botolan) tipisss aja.
trus taro spam di tengah, gulung, ikat pake benang atau tusuk aja pakai tusuk gigi.
roll in flour (tepungnya bumbuin garam dan merica dikit kalau mau), cemplungin di telor, trus gulung lagi di tepung roti.
goreng deh sampe mateng, api sedang biar gak angus.

untuk saus (optional)
kaldu ayam (bisa diganti dengan air + maggi block)
+ hoisin sauce (again, lee kum kee is the best), garam dan lada dikit..
cicipin, kalau rasa sudah dianggap pas, thicken with tepung maizena.

kalau mau lebih kreatif bisa tambah bawang bombay tumis di saus, tapi rasanya gak perlu ya. udah cukup enak kok. hehe.

home alone

2010-01-23T02:07:00.006+07:00

i'm getting lazier and lazier each day. gosh. anyway, here's a bit of an update.

1. brady got here. finally!!! yay. after waiting for months (or at least it felt like months although it's only about a month or so) we're finally able to pick him up from the airport/cargo building. he was a bit stressed at first, tapi dimengerti lah secara he just spent a whole day travelling inside a crate, alone. poor guy.

this picture was taken when we let him out of his crate to stretch before having to travel again (yep, he still need to travel at least 2 hours to get from tucson to our home.. ). he was so happy to get out of the crate that he really didn't wanna go back in. tried hard with four paws grabbing on to everything that can prevent him from going back in. :P

this is when he first met max. we let max sniffed him while he's still in the crate. once we know we can control max's excitement, we let him out. lucky we picked the brave one, he wasn't afraid of max. he was just a bit cautious because max is ... well .. huge. but max is gentle. at least we know he didn't want to (intentionally) harm the puppy. :P

and max took his big brother role quite seriously. he wouldn't let brady get badgered by the neighbor dog (max's girlfriend), but he wouldn't share his toys and chewy either. kept alllll of the toys and chewy to himself. aah, brotherly love.

this is brady snoozing after a moment of serious playing. it was raining the whole day yesterday (related to news #2) and the backyard was all wet and muddy so i let the boys play inside. it's better for me to clean the carpet than to leave my boys out in the wind and cold and rain. :P

it's so nice to see them together. at least max won't be bored to death anymore. now all i gotta do is teach brady how to sit, lay down, and stay so he won't have to follow me around all the time anymore, so i can do my house chores in peace. right now i still have tons of laundry to be done, clean the bedroom cause it was all so dirty from last night's rain,

2. semalem serem banget deh. hubby was at work, night shift as usual for the past 2 months, so i was left with the two boys alone in the house. nothing special except that there was a storm passing Arizona last night. so it was rainy for a whole day (strong wind picking up after dark). you could actually hear the wind howling outside, and caused the stuff in the yard to tumble and make noises against the house. then the lights went off. only for a minute, then it went back on again but it was scary as hell!! even the boys got scared. that happened 2x. and the tv's not helping either, with a weather update every 10 minutes warning everyone about wind, storm and flash flood. urgh.

lucky (for me) the storm landed up on the north side of AZ (i only got kecipratan aja), otherwise i wouldn't know what to do. heck, this house hasn't got any basement jadi kalau memang ada storm i won't know which is best: the archway between kitchen and livingroom (but it's facing a biiig glass window), under the dining table (but it sits next to a small window), or the bathtub (no window in bathroom, but it's not exactly located in the middle of the house either). anyway, i kept my phone next to me all night long, in case i need to call my hubby or 911. smart move, ey? glad i didn't have to do it.

bread and brady

2010-01-09T14:42:00.003+07:00

although i've always enjoyed baking cakes i've never really play with bread making before. mom's more the bread type, not me. i don't like the kneading and waiting-for-rising process, it's too boring for me. but i do love the smell of freshly baked bread. and i do love to eat bread. no matter if it's store bought or mom-made, i simply love eating them.

when i moved here hubby showed me a new invention (at least, new to me..) : bread machine. apparently it's a magic machine that do the whole process of making bread, from kneading, rising, to baking all in one machine. wow.
so mom bought a box of bread mix to try the bread machine. it worked. so hubby bought a second box of bread mix (because he said we can't use the regular recipe for the bread machine). we love the fresh bread so much that he bought a recipe book from amazon.com: bread cookbook for bread machine, or something like that. :P he also bought flour, wheat flour, yeast, and other ingredients so i can make my own bread every day.

while it doesn't make the cute little buns filled with chocolate, jam or cheese, it does make a great loaf of bread. and i can still have my cinnamon raisins bread, whole wheat, french bread, portuguese bread, english muffin, you name it. it's all in the cookbook. interesting. i never knew they can make a whole book about bread machine alone. ha.

well maybe someday i'll be motivated enough to make bread the manual way (especially the ones my mom used to make), but in the meantime, this is sufficient enough. i'm still waiting for my first batch to finish baking and cool down (i mean first using the recipe from the book).

the bread machine's not the only high tech gadge hubby's trying to introduce me to. he seems eager to buy a slow cooker. if you've heard of pressure cooker then you'd probably guess that this pot do just the opposite of that. it cooks everything slowly.. so slow that it can take overnight to cook beef or chicken. this makes me think: why is it that westerners always do things slowly while the chinese like to do things fast? haha.

oh well i don't need a slow cooker just yet. i still have a lot of free time on my hand, why would i need a slow cooker? speaking of free time, i'm gonna get my new not-so-puppy-anymore next tuesday. FINALLY! i've been waiting for him for almost a month now! i'm gonna be busier when he arrived. more vacuuming to do, more mouth to feed, and more playing time with the two of them. i so can't imagine how busy i'd be when the baby arrived. :D

hubby also wanted to buy me a wii fit. it's not from being nice, but he thought i need it to lose fat from my butt. lol. true, i need it. now i won't mind the wii at all. at least it's better than the stairmaster. in the meantime i guess i'll just keep on baking bread (and a few other things).

introducing...

2010-01-03T15:39:00.002+07:00

max, the gendeng english mastiff. ain't he handsome? ^_^

age: less than a year.

fave snack: oww.. anything, really. pork ear chewy, big cow bone, oranges, charcoals, log of firewood, ...

fave playtime: dragging waterbowl on dirt so that it makes loud noise

mischieves: fart (sometimes he does it silently, .. all we got was a sudden horrible smell!!) and snore.

this dog is bigger than any of the other dogs i've ever had. bonny (my dog in jakarta) is only about half of max. and yet max has a way of making me laugh with his goofy and gendeng attitude. or maybe i just love dogs. :)

year end reflection

2009-12-31T23:17:00.002+07:00

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

2009-12-31T00:54:00.003+07:00

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

2009-12-24T12:56:00.003+07:00

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

2009-12-18T23:48:00.003+07:00

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.

2009-12-17T12:19:00.003+07:00

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

2009-11-24T21:03:00.003+07:00

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

2009-11-15T07:12:00.006+07:00

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

2009-11-13T13:19:00.003+07:00

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

2009-11-06T22:56:00.001+07:00

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

2009-10-28T10:25:00.003+07:00

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

2009-10-21T10:08:00.003+07:00

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...

2009-10-17T13:29:00.003+07:00

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!

2009-10-10T09:32:00.002+07:00

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...

2009-09-23T00:04:00.002+07:00

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

2009-09-19T23:02:00.003+07:00

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

2009-09-08T18:08:00.003+07:00

+ 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)!

2009-08-16T11:23:00.003+07:00

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.

2009-08-10T07:19:00.005+07:00

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

2009-08-05T19:19:00.002+07:00

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

who is yasmin ahmad?

2009-07-28T14:22:00.004+07:00

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

2009-07-21T13:59:00.004+07:00

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...

2009-07-13T13:55:00.002+07:00

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?

2009-07-07T12:12:00.003+07:00

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

2009-07-03T10:00:00.003+07:00

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..

2009-06-30T19:29:00.003+07:00

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.

2009-06-29T16:51:00.003+07:00

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!!

2009-06-27T22:48:00.005+07:00

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

2009-06-25T03:40:00.003+07:00

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

2009-06-23T10:09:00.007+07:00

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

2009-06-21T21:51:00.003+07:00

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 deviant ART

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

2009-06-20T06:06:00.004+07:00

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

2009-06-15T21:43:00.011+07:00

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

2009-06-13T14:36:00.008+07:00

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

australia part 1: sydney

2009-06-13T09:03:00.008+07:00

as i said, it took months of planning for my trip this time. not just because i know it'll cost a lot of money, but also because it involved going with someone who lives half a world away. fortunately, we were able to figure out a specific destination, managed to negotiate and compromise on a lot of things, and wriggled ourselves out of work at the same time.

day 1 - may 28
i arrived first in syd. went home to my bro's place, and then spend the first half of the day sleeping and shivering. man, i know it's winter time down under, but the house was freaking cold. and no heater at all in the entire house! after that i went out to the city to grab some lunch (thai food, oh so delicious. so unlike thai food in indo) and then do some city exploring with my bro. i forgot to bring his camera so we relied on my ixus.

good thing the weather was perfect blue. we went to the government house, then to sydney opera house, cross the street over to the rock area (which is the early settlement of sydney), and then walked across the harbour bridge (which is ... a LOOONGG way to go), go down the bridge to a park (ada luna park juga di sydney tapi sayang tutup), and then got the bus back to darling harbour. too bad the battery died so we couldn't take anymore pictures. we took the bus back to darling harbour and drank hot choco (me) and ate choc black forest ice cream (my bro) at the lindt cafe. excellent! too bad they don't have it here in indo.

when nighttime fell we went to see sydney opera house again, cause they're having the viv'd festival. old buildings and the rooftop of SOH were bathe in gorgeous lights that changed design every 10-20 minutes. dinner was at lowenbrau, a german resto famous for its beer, i was told. thanks to my bro's friends, sempet2nya gw disuruh maju ke depan resto untuk berpartisipasi dalam chicken dance dan mainin lagu edelweiss pake bell. haiyaa!! dah gitu gak bisa difoto lagi krn batre kamera abis. ARGH!

day 2
gotta get up early to the airport to pick up my friend. it was only 7am, so we couldn't check in to his hotel yet. so we ended up waiting in paddys market, for a dimsum breakfast at marigold, a chinese resto just across the street. worth the wait.. the dimsum was excellent. after that, we went back to his hotel so he could get some nap. we tried taking a stroll around the city in the afternoon but it rained the whole day so we ended up getting back to his place so i can get a hot shower and change clothes. i hate sydney in winter. i don't know how i could get used to the cold weather. but i love civilized country. not that i hate indo, it's just that being in a city where the people know how to queue and the streets don't have sampah all over the place is very nice.

dinner was at a korean resto, madang. ini kayak hanamasa but korean style. so we grill our own meat. deliciousssss! a must-visit-again resto! letaknya di gang gitu.. but very crowded. harus antri agak lama, and in the middle of rain, it wasn't very pleasant to do. fortunately the food was worth the wait.

day 3
got up early again to take pictures of sydney opera house (again! but this time the 2 guys brought their camera equipment along and i get to play with the video camera..) and then take the ferry to whatson bay and then bus to bondi beach. we missed the first ferry, so had to wait for the next one. it was freezing cold, and once we got to whatson bay, it was raining. me and my friend were cold and wet and did not enjoy the walk very much. so eventually we went into an asian noodle resto. the food was so so (chicken laksa for the 2 guys, crispy noodle with shredded duck for me) but the resto was warm and dry. so we were very reluctant to go out. but eventually the sun showed up and we managed to take the walk along the bondi beach. phew.

actually bondi beach is really beautiful, if it hadn't been for the rain, that is.

now this is an ocean pool. which means the pool is located next to the sea. kalau ada ombak gede, ya.. airnya masuk ke dalem kolam. keliatannya seru.

the photo opportunity was fun. but all the powerwalk my bro made me do and the rainy weather wasn't very inviting, so i ended up having aches all over my body. i was relieved to go back to the city by train, which means we don't have to walk a lot. :D yes, me and my lazy ass were tired. come to think of it, i complained a lot about the walk, and my friend complained a lot about the lousy weather. lol. what a perfect companion we made.

we then went to a famous resto, called hurricane at the darling harbour. they serve the BEST baby back ribs ever!! yumm! again, a must visit resto when in sydney. mind you the place is always fully booked. if you want to get a place without a reservation, show up no later than 5pm. otherwise you'd have a long queue ahead of you. if you do want to reserve, do so 2 weeks in advance.

after that we split up. deny went with his friend, and i and my friend went with deny's other friend's car. we agreed to meet at luna park to take photos of the sydney opera house with viv'd. when we got out of the plaza, the harbour was lighted with fireworks. apparently it was darling harbour's birthday.. so we ended up watching the fireworks for a while. very fortunate, cos after that it rained for the whole night. we ended up sitting in the car, not being able to see anything worthwhile. so deny's friend took us back home. phew. no more walk for the night.

tomorrow, we have to board the plane to cairns. now i gotta say i really looovveeee this place. the sun's warm, the ocean looks inviting, and the holiday experience was... let's just say i had a blast.

wish i could stay longer.

back to reality

2009-06-09T18:00:00.004+07:00

i'm baaaaack.

kalau di recap, liburan gw adalah sbb: 4 hari kedinginan, 7 hari jemur2 di bawah matahari (hence the photo above), lalu 4 hari kedinginan lagi. in short, i had a blast! too bad vacation's over now.

*sigh*

kapan ya bisa cuti lagi? :D

libur telah tiba! hore..hore!

2009-05-27T12:07:00.004+07:00

setelah perencanaan yang cukup panjang, akhirnya hari ini sampai juga. :D :D :D oh i'm so excited i can hardly wait. walaupun tau nanti malem harus tidur di pesawat (the word "very uncomfortable" hovers lightly inside my head) tapi tetep aja excited. ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy...

kmarin semua kerjaan kantor udah di transfer, moga2 gak ada yg kelupaan. trus tadi seharian udah gak masuk, krn sibuk bikin sisa adonan nastar dan habis itu mo bikin bacang. uhuy! koper juga udah kelar di pak... tiket pasport dan lain2 udah di tangan. so basically, i'm ready to go!

see you down under, guys. *holiday mode: on*

siapa yg nularin gw?!

2009-05-22T08:43:00.003+07:00

omg, tinggal 5 hari lagi kok ya sempet2nya gw kena flu. damn! moga2 by the time gw brangkat gw udah sembuh.. soalnya ntar disana takut dikira flu babi, trus gak boleh masuk lagi. shoot. siapa sih nih yg nularin gw??? >(

anyway, kok kayaknya gw juga belom persiapan apa2 ya? boro2 packing, ngeprint2 sgala macem bookingan online aja belom. bayar cc juga belom. ambil duit buat beli dolar juga belom. rhghrhgrhg! padahal mengingat waktu yg dihabiskan untuk browsing2, duit yg dikeluarkan untuk booking2, dan segala energi yang dihabiskan buat ngotot2an pas nentuin bookingan.. kayaknya mestinya skarang gw udah mulai semangat packing dan siap2 ya? :D mana belom beli titipan raket badminton lagi. urghhhhh....

ayo ayo.. semangat!

another phonecall in the night

2009-05-17T01:52:00.012+07:00

it was a few minutes before 1 in the morning and i still couldn't sleep. then i get the dreaded phone call. mas arief rosendar, one of the kindest colleague in the office has passed away. coincident?

emang sih gw gak gitu banyak interaksi sama dia, secara gak pernah ditugasin di bawah mas arief, tapi gw tau ini orang kalemmm banget. walaupun gw udah kebakaran jenggot lari sana sini, doi tetep aja kalem dan solusinya tepat banget. huff. masih inget dulu sempet makan bareng di pantry, ketawa ketiwi. trus masih inget kata2 dia waktu nerima bonus dadakan "asiik.. bisa renovasi rumah bagian belakang nih ren...". belom lagi sering liat muka dia mondar mandir di depan meja sambil cengengesan... .

huff. kenapa ya orang baik slalu dipanggil duluan?

anyway, just wanna say :

turut berduka cita sedalam2nya atas berpulangnya ke rumah Bapa atasan dan teman kerja yang baik : mas arief rosendar, yang meninggal pada hari ini, minggu 17 mei 2009 pk 00.30. semoga arwah mas arief sudah tenang di sisi Tuhan YME, dan semoga keluarga yang ditinggalkan bisa mendapat ketabahan, kekuatan, dan perlindunganNya. amin.

on a lighter note, kok gw jadi boros lagi ya? i have to get a duffel bag for my trip (udah gw cek2, ada yg murah tapi yg kuat bagus dan gw suka kok harganya hampir 500rb semua?! hraghrahgrh!) dan kemungkinan besar a new gsm phone krn gw punya udah mulai ngadat2. pengennya sih beli sony ericsson lagi tapi kok belum nemu tipe yg cocok. any suggestion? gak perlu ngusulin BB ataupun hp2 yang mahal2 krn: gua pelit! HUAHKAHKAHKAHKAHAKH.
so far i've reviewed a few choices.

untuk bag, gw suka motif print yg kiri..... tapi untuk model, kira2 okean mana?

atau

untuk hp, secara gw penggila berat sony ericsson gw naksir antara

atau

any suggestions?

not so interesting eventful colourful weekend

2009-05-10T22:37:00.003+07:00

sungguh weekend yang membosankan. jumat mestinya ada dinner di saung greenville, tapi batal gara2 jam 7 kurang baru kelar meeting en masih mesti nunggu editingan yang pada akhirnya gw tinggal pulang juga krn gak mulai2. sabtu mestinya lunch (gagal), nonton watchmen (gagal juga krn mendadak ujan deres dan depan rumah gw banjir), dan dinner dan nonton (gagal semua krn rumah gw gak ada pembantu dan gw kasian ama nyokap yg mesti ribet2 beresin rumah sendiri). alhasil cuma nangkring di rumah dari pagi sampe malem.. glundang glundung gak jelas gitu. bosen banget.

udah bbrp minggu ini sejak dipindah program kok gw sering mimpi gak enak. biasanya tentang kerjaan, tapi sejak syuting hari kamis kemarin, mimpinya jadi mimpi buruk dikejar2 orang sampe lari2 ke genteng segala. re-run sih mimpinya, soalnya gw pernah mimpi persis kayak gitu.. tapi tetep aja gak enak. ini pasti gara2 ngeliat si pendeta dengan jas warna warni nya itu deh. :( fyi, gw kmaren itu syuting 3 eps.. and for each eps the pendeta was wearing : warna biru demokrat (jas, celana dan dasi), warna ijo stabilo (jas, celana DAN dasi), dan warna merah bata kusem kotak2 (jas celana ... and - you're damn right - DASI!). untungnya yang terakhir berhasil digagalkan dengan pretensi "om.. jasnya flicker, ganti ya.". tapi tetep aja gengges.

hari ini juga cukup membosankan, selain live tadi pagi dimana semua telat kecuali PA yang parno gara2 ketabrak minggu lalu. jadinya agak kacau balau tapi untung gusmuhnya senang krn bintang tamunya cantik (vj marissa..thank God for her). sempet shock liat bajunya si baleng (RW gw) : kaos polo putih, sweater item tgn panjang, celana pendek sport warna biru muda... dan sepatu keds.
komentar gw : leng... lo mo maen badminton?
komentar PA gw : baleng kayak mo jadi caddy...
komentar gw : bentar lagi jadian ama pejabat dong...
komentar boss gw : awas ditembak..
komentar gak tau siapa : darimana? depan apa blakang?
HIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....

pinkish

2009-05-08T23:18:00.001+07:00

ganti skin, entah kenapa yg kemarin kok jadi eror2 gitu, suka gak keluar gambarnya.
tapi yg ini juga aneh.... kenapa tanggal postingannya gak keluar ya? mestinya ada di atas judul... kok gak ada? uurgh... ngeselin!

dansa yok dansa

2009-05-03T21:05:00.009+07:00

sebagai orang yang gak bisa nari sama skali gw sangat tergila2 dengan dance films. gak tau kenapa. i just wish i can dance like them. nah, filmnya kan lagi ada banyak tuh ya. gimana kalau kita bahas :D

here's my list of favorite dance movies.

1. stomp the yard
ini film cowok banget deh. filmnya tentang seorang anak muda kulit hitam yang dituduh terlibat dalam kematian adiknya. lalu dia di transfer untuk tinggal sama tante dan om nya. karena jago ngedance di sana dia di rekrut oleh tim fraternity untuk perlombaan stomp (step dancing).

filmnya sendiri menurut gw keren. secara cerita dan akting boleh dibilang bagus. final dance scene nya sendiri super keren. sebetulnya di film ini ada 3 final dance scene. yang pertama tim theta. yang kedua tim ... lupa namanya.. tapi pokoknya lawannya deh. nah yang gw kasih link pertama ini adalah battle antara berduaan ketika mereka dinyatakan seri oleh tim juri (ceritanya mereka lomba kan).

walaupun pertama2 gw agak kurang suka dengan gerakan stomp ini sendiri (krn cuma step2 dan yell2 doang, more like cheerleading tapi buat cowok) tapi ternyata bisa jadi keren banget. wow. di film ini juga gw baru tau kalau setiap gerakan yang ada di street dancing itu ada artinya. kalau lagi dance battle, itu berarti mereka saling 'mengejek' dengan gerakan tarian mereka. seriously, you gotta watch the entire movie to understand the final battle scene. di sini dua fraternity yang bermusuhan ini saling ejek dan sahut2an melalui dancing dan yell2 mereka. oh so cool.

2. bring it on
kebalikan dari stomp, film ini justru cewek banget. ceritanya tentang si torrance yang baru aja kepilih jadi kapten tim cheerleading di sekolahnya dan harus ngadepin fakta kalau tim nya yang selama ini selalu menang ternyata selama ini juga nyontek gaya (dan koreografi tentunya) dari tim sekolah lain yang underdog.

man... dari film ini gw baru tau kalau cheerleading ada kejuaraannya, and they do serious shit! keren banget. walaupun secara cerita cukup cetek (gak papa...) film ini cukup menyenangkan karena berhasil nampilin cerita yang cewek banget, gerakan cheerleading yang super duper bikin iri, dan jesse bradford yang bikin gw termimpi2. *sluuuurrrppp* film ini juga cukup menohok orang bule (i'm guessing) secara kemampuan orang kulit putih untuk menari agak2 dipertanyakan di sini, dengan tim underdog (clover) yang isinya orang kulit hitam dan immigrants. emang sih pas nari dengan koreografi yang sama, keliatan banget kalau si tim clover lebih punya style, groove dan rhytm. gerakannya beda aja gitu, lebih berbobot. ya secara orang item belajar jalan aja udah pake gaya... .

final dance scenenya bagus kok. bikin ternganga2 secara ngelempar orang kayak ngelempar dadar telor.. . i heard they're using real cheerleading team untuk di film ini. ya iya laaaaaaa!! walaupun film ini cukup menyenangkan untuk ditonton berulang kali, tapi entah kenapa gw gak tertarik untuk nonton sequel2nya (kalau gak salah sampe nomor 3 deh). kenapa ya? oh gw tau. gak ada jesse bradford. hiahaihaiiaha.

3. center stage
mungkin lebih dikenal dengan soundtracknya, "i wanna be with you"nya mandy moore. ini film tentang segrup cewek yang baru aja masuk di ABA (akademi balet amerika) dan perjuangan2 mereka untuk bisa sukses di dunia perbaletan. ada yang dibilang gemuk, ada yang stress gara2 tuntutan emaknya, ada juga yang dianggap kurang bagus... ya pokoknya gitu deh. classic story yang juga dipakai oleh film lain yang gw bahas di sini. ceritanya cukup original, akting lumayan, pemeran cowok utamanya (sacha radetsky) cukup ganteng.. basically sih semua elemen yang bikin cewek demen nonton film drama ada semua di film ini.

final dance scene kurang menarik dibanding film2 yang lebih baru (ini film taun 2000, bareng sama bring it on), tapi cukup bikin ngiri pada jamannya. ngiri pengen bisa nari balet maksudnya. :D oh ya... don't bother to watch the sequel. ngecewain abis. ceritanya sama persis dengan plotnya step up dan step up 2 (well, yeah, essencenya sama kok) dan aktingnya gengges banget walaupun dance moves nya tetep keren. yaaa.. balet dicampur2 sama breakdance dan hiphop gitu deh. cowoknya juga gak ada yang kece.

4. step up
ceritanya lagi2 agak basi. tentang seorang cowok yang selalu jadi loser yang kemudian berniat untuk merubah haluan dan mengejar impiannya untuk jadi seseorang. akhirnya dia harus ngebuktiin kalau dia mampu dan mau berjuang untuk apa yang dia pengenin. secara akting dan cerita film ini jauh lebih bagus dibanding dengan step up 2 maupun center stage 2.

untuk sebuah film dance, dia cukup revolusioner buat gw, karena ini pertama kalinya gw tau channing tatum (another *slurrrppppp*), dan gerakan2 dancenya sungguh mempesona, bikin sirik pengen bisa nari sambil dipeluk2 channing tatum. HAKHAKIHAKAIHKAIHAKIHK!!

ada dua dance scene di sini yang menarik. yg pertama pas mereka line dancing di lagu Till The Dawn, yang kedua pas final dance scene. dua2nya bagus, i can't choose. segitu terpesonanya sampai2 dvdnya gw rip dan pas bagian 2 dance scene itu gw masukin ke ipod biar bisa disaksikan sesuka hati. gak percaya? liat deh. pay close attention to channing tatum.. :D~~~

oh ya, don't bother to watch step up 2. walaupun masih lebih bagus daripada center stage 2, tapi gak sebagus yang pertama kok. secara akting... yeah boleh lah. secara cerita juga.. yeahh boleh lah. tapi secara dance moves dan packaging, hasilnya kok kurang ada faktor "aaaaawwwwwww"nya. mungkin karena gw keburu merasa terganggu dengan sutradara dan si kriting yang jadi sidekick di filmnya ya? duh siapa sih namanya. pokoknya mereka berdua di youtube pernah gencar perang video dance lawan miley cyrus deh.

5. take the lead
ada dua alasan kenapa mesti nonton film ini. a) secara cerita dan akting cukup kuat. b) antonio banderas nari, titik.
ceritanya (lagi2) tentang satu kelas anak2 buangan yang udah dianggep lost case oleh pihak sekolah, diajarin nari ballroom sama seorang guru nari ternama yang lagi kurang kerjaan (atau kurang tantangan?).

selain antonio banderas, gw kok agak kurang ngeh dengan final dance si film ini sendiri ya. yang pasti mereka gak menang aja... hihihi. oh well... ceritanya cukup bagus kok. worth it untuk ditonton besides the dancing part. emang dasarnya gw suka cerita2 underdog begini kali ya?

6. nah.. yang ini belum tayang alias masih coming soon. tapi gw ngiler banget pengen nonton. i'm definitely going to buy the dvd if not watch it on theatres.

ada tambahan lain?

singapore : 2009

2009-04-25T11:36:00.009+07:00

if you have money, and a weekend to spend somewhere outside jakarta, singapore might be a good idea. emang bener kata promotional bannernya.... you have 2009 reasons to enjoy spore. well, i don't have the money actually... but i managed to ngintil my parents on this trip. :D this time we're taking the valuair flight, which is a bit more expensive than air asia, but fly at a more reasonable hour (12.05pm). and we're staying at the ymca international house, located at one orchard rd. i got the room for $126++ (sleeps 3ppl) including breakfast, hairdryer and wifi.

apparently the hotel was located at a very strategic area. just across the street from dhoby ghout interchange station, near a bus stop, and within walking distance of singapore mall, park mall, and bras basah rd. that first afternoon we went to explore clark quay though.

clark quay (take mrt or bus number 197 from orchard rd) is famous for it's scenery (riverfront restos) and nite clubs. we're not interested in the clubs other than looking at some of the funny theme (a club called "clinic", with hospital beds and wheelchair as chair... and a drink from your veryown infus? :D), but we are very interested in dining at JUMBO, famous for it's seafood dishes.

the chilli crab was delicious, although other dishes sama enaknya bow. steamed prawn with garlic might sound boring to you, but not in this resto. we wiped the plates clean.

after ambush we went for a stroll down to the basement to see the central market. it's a regular market, with a twist. each shop have areas where customers can sit and enjoy the food they just ordered. it's not so much as a resto, cos you can buy them rare to take home, if you want (meat, fish, poultry, veggies, fruits... you name it, they sell it..). now why can't indo markets be like that? :D

sunday morning began as soon as we finished our all-you-can-manage breakfast. this is a smart hotel. they don't cook their own breakfast items (other than fried mee or fried rice and congee..) but merely open frozen or canned food and serve them. which is fine by me. it's still good.

we strolled around bras basah rd, trying to find a bookstore which my brother conveniently forgot to mention is not located at bras basah rd, but instead was called bras basah complex, located at the northbridge rd. thank goodness i have a map. the bookstore (popular bookstore, 2nd fl bras basah complex) is surprisingly huge... they even have an entire floor dedicated to chinese books. the complex itself wasn't such a bad place. most of the stores are music and books store. ooh... on the way we came across raffles hotel, which is one of the most expensive hotel in singapore, i was told.

from there we need only to cross the intersection and enter raffles mall, into the citylink mall and suntec mall etc. we didn't go very far though, cos we gotta eat lunch and then head to the esplanade. so we parked our bums at the asia kithen (located at citylink mall, near escalator to esplanade) and ordered pork chop fried rice, luncheon meat fried rice, and pork chop lamien. yuuuummmmyyy! i haven't had porkchop for a decade, and this one wass surprisingly delicious. prices were less than $10 (mine's only $8.90). beware of the non-english speaking waitress though.

the show itself was great. dad managed to get prime seats, right in the centre. love the show!! gak nyesel pergi nonton biarpun harganya gila2an.

a sneak peak of the show.. :p

after that we went for a stroll at the waterfront. (come to think of it, singaporeans are so un-creative with names. they have waterfront, riverfront, and harbourfront!!!). it's indonesian nights, with cozy street corner, endah n rhesa, and bonita performing for 3 days. this was their last day so they jammed together in front of a full house.

update: i found the Endah n Rhesa cd!! AHAHAHHAHAHAHHA. di duta suara harganya cuma 25rb cing! di sana mereka jual S$15!!

hari ke 3 kita bangun suantai2, trus setelah beres2 koper langsung turun untuk breakfast. habis breakfast pun masih santai2..... tapi toh ya pas turun untuk check out masih jam 10an. gak tau mo kemana... so we went to bugis junction (liar! i knew exactly where to go that day! :D).

bugis junction ini 1 stop setelah dhoby ghout. kalau naik mrt sih cuma sekitar $1.00an (excluding $1 deposit untuk kartunya yg bisa refundable ya). isinya? not quite a big mall.. only 3 stories with basement tapi toko2nya isinya one of a kind semua. kalau mau cari baju2 yg unik2, di sini tempatnya. they have every style, mulai dari yang sophisticated, chic, punk, harajuku, sampai simply tshirts with your own design juga ada di sini. untuk makan, no need to worry. di basement ada semacam foodcourt yang isinya jajanan (kalau gak mau dibilang makanan ngenyangin) enak2 dan murah2. di lantai 2 dan 3 (or is it 3 and 4?) juga ada resto2 dan foodjunction - a more serious foodcourt than the one below). oh i found a stall yang berisi dengan dompet2, clutch, party purse, bags, dan hair accessories made from imitation leather di basement. harga cukup bersaing, big bag $32, purse or clutch $6, bando dan lain2 $4... nyesel banget gak beli bando dan bandananya. lucu2 banget.

bored with the usual mall stuff? worry not. head across the street to the bugis street market. man.. ini lebih gila lagi. they sell virtually everything! well, not as crazy as chatuchak di thailand sih... tapi cukup kumplit. biasanya sih beli suvenir2 di sini. banyak juga yg jual camilan2 menarik dan minuman2 menyegarkan (grass jelly pake es? oh yeah).

after done with our shoppings we head back to orchard rd to spend the remainder 2 hours of our time before heading back to the airport. our feet almost stopped working by that time, so we went to the food republic at wisma atria. tadinya sih plannya cuma untuk cari tempat duduk sambil minum2 es. err..... we did buy the ice (with jelly something2.. enak kok). but we ended up munching dimsums also. 4 items (chicken feet, syomay, bakut, and bapao) for $13.50. not bad. :D habis itu baru deh kekenyangan sampai gak bisa jalan beneran. dad was exhausted, i think ... but he managed to keep up with us. poor dad. the only thing he bought was his presciousssss marzipan chocolates. :D

heading back to the airport cost us less than $2 per person by the number 36 bus from in front of ymca. it took more or less an hour, but it's much more entertaining than the $20+ taxi ride.

well.... i can tell you that a trip with my parents will always be fun, no matter how tiring it could be. at least i knew good food is on the agenda. :D next trip will be equally fun, i hope. oh boy oh boy i can hardly wait. i already got the visa, yang kurang cuma itinerarynya aja selama di sana. oh boy oh boy oh boy. :>

i think i walked way too much.

2009-04-21T19:35:00.002+07:00

eh, udah balik lo? gimana trip nya? hah, serius lu? seru banget? trus beli apa aja? idih.. cape deh nek. masa ke sana gak beli apa2? semalem nyampe jam brapa? oh jam 10.. gila juga.. kok malem banget? tapi pesawatnya on time kan? iya emang mendingan naek valuair.. biar telat boarding tetep aja take offnya on time. masih mending lo. lion air di cancel.. bete banget kan.. untung lu gak naek lion.

yap yap. i'm back in jakarta, malam pingsan, pagi2 langsung syuting di mangga besar. did nothing much while in spore, except watch CATS (which was excellent... gak rugi!), eat all the time, took some photos for semi-photoblogging......................... err.. belanja dikit (nyesel banget ada bbrp barang yg gw gak beli.. nyesel nyesel!)

btw, pas lagi di esplanade malem2 ada performance, non other than 3 indonesian artist. bonita, cozy street corner, dan endah n rhesa. i have to say bonita has a great voice, tapi performance endah n rhesa yang curi2 perhatian. SUER gw nyesel banget gak beli cdnya!! ada yang tau gak bisa dibeli di mana? hiks.

anyways, fotos akan nyusul ya. belum sempet upload krn besok udah harus masukin formulir application visa. wish me luck.

cluttered mind

2009-04-15T17:22:00.004+07:00

my desk is so cluttered when i'm working. i suppose it represents the state of my brain.

padahal kerjaannya lumayan gampang. cari pembicara, cari tempat buat syuting tergantung pembicara. udah. gampang. tapi kenapa tetep riweh banget ya kondisi meja gw? belom lagi mo fotokopi gak ada kertas. mo nge print gak ada tinta printer. hrgh.

besok syuting di st. theresia, jumat syuting..moga2 lancar. habis ituuuuuuuu i'm offfff!! yippyy! am going to see cats the musical. haha. moga2 sebagus yg di broadway. sebelum dan sesudah nonton tentunya dipakai untuk tour de kuliner, dan ngabisin duit *halah, lagaknya kayak masih punya banyak duit aja...*

duh cuti gw yg bulan may kenapa belom di approve ya? jangan2 lupa lagi.....

i'm sorry, goodbye

2009-04-08T15:20:00.006+07:00

1. kemarin baru dapat kabar kalau ternyata gua di pindah program, udah gak ditempatin di Cu...cu lagi. tumben2an dapet program agama. lumayan sih. Syuting gampang, santai, dan gak ribet. setelah ngerjain cucu yang agak2 ribet gimanaaaa gitu, kok jadi parno ya ngerjain program yang gampang2 gini? :D however, this news brought mixed feelings.

seneng: cos i get my free weekends back! yay!! no more shooting di hari sabtu minggu.
sedih: - pisah sama tim yg udah kompak banget. :(
- pisah sama anak2 abg yg lebay2 itu. bagaimanapun mereka udah jadi temen baek gw... . bahkan saking akrabnya mereka sampe pada protes, dan mama cindy pun nelp hanya untuk menyatakan kekecewaannya. haiyah. :(

3. anyways, this is what i wore to work today. bright blue! hehe.

5. jadi inget... minggu lalu om gw mendadak punya ide 'cemerlang' untuk mak nyomblangin gw sama temen dia. mengingat om gw udah umur 60an, tentu gw agak2 kawatir. tapi ternyata 'temen' dia itu baru umur 40an. single catholic chinese. katanya udah pegang jabatan tinggi di perusahaan finance gitu. so my uncle invited us to lunch. berhubung gw cewek gratisan, diajak makan enak ya hayuk aja, terserah deh ada berapa banyak udang di balik batu.... good food, here i come.

ternyata orangnya memang baik. err... nice laaah. cuman asli... obrolannya gak nyambung banget sama gw. dia ngomongin finance yang gw kagak ngatri sama skali.... dan dia juga gak ngerti sama skali tentang dunia gw. hihihi. too bad. i wonder why he's not married yet, though. krn mengingat tampang gak bisa dibilang jelek dan attitude yg nice dan jabatannya yg emang tinggi itu... pasti banyak mami2 ngantri untuk mendaptar jadi calon mertuanya. i wonder why... .

7. lagi seneng nonton drama2 asia. kmaren mama tasya beli banyak banget, jadi gw minjem 3 judul yang gak terlalu panjang2. yg pertama gw tonton tentunya f4 versi jepang (hana yori dango). ergh. ternyata oh ternyata. kenapa ya versi f4 baik taiwan, jepang maupun korea semuanya dibintangi oleh cowok2 cantik dengan rambut lebay?

- taomingse: yang versi korea sebetulnya cakep tapi rambutnya gengges berat dengan di gelung2 gitu. sementara di versi jepangnya lebih mendingan walau awalnya agak terganggu dengan giginya yg agak tongos. :D tapi setelah terbiasa, bisa keliatan cakep juga kok, terutama kalo senyum. jangan ditanya kalo yg versi taiwan ya.... gw anti roger danuarta. :D :D :D

- temennya taomingse yang jadi lawan rebutan dia...... versi korea nya udah gengges dengan rambut di cat blond-gagal serta muka yg gak korea banget (menurut gw). tapi ternyata versi jepang lebih mengganggu lagi.. dengan rambut yang (tetep) di cat blond-gagal dan model rambut yg bikin mata berasa kelilipan terus, dah gitu mukanya .... GAK CAKEP BANGET! (liat foto kiri bagian pojok kiri atas) rhghrhg! kenapa ya? kalao versi taiwannya... gw gak inget. apakah dia di cat pirang gagal juga? oh no!

- ceweknya (gak inget namanya).. kalo versi korea nya sih kayaknya kurang cakep untuk bisa jadi rebutan para lelaki tajir yaaaa. tapi kalo yg versi jepang mungkin agak lumayan. cukup cute lah. cuma kurang galak, dan .. kenapa ya orang jepang suka sekali ngomong "EH?" dari dalam dada... jadi kesannya lagi ngeluarin dahak gitu. oh ya, tambahan satu pertanyaan: kenapa 2 cewek ini mirip dengan leony?? hihihihi.

uh, udah ah. bosen gak ada kerjaan. mari kita pulang! HAKAHAKHAKHAKHA.

please answer:

2009-03-31T20:06:00.003+07:00

...is sophie navita aiming to be the next venna melinda???

after party hangover

2009-03-30T09:57:00.003+07:00

so. akhirnya kelar juga tu 'pesta ultah' yang baru skali2nya dirayain. durasi yang resminya 3.5jam resmi molor jadi 4 jam lewat. untungnya kalau dari sisi gw yang ngerjain off airnya sih.... amannn. semua hadiah keluar, semua penyanyi bisa tampil (kecuali vidi yg ngakunya vertigo jadi mesti pulang dan gak bisa offair... padahal sih gw curiga dia cuma takut dikerjain aja sama anak2 cucu... . boo! gak seru ah!). but overall it was a great party. yg paling nendang buat gua sih waktu kla returns feat lea simanjuntak. tophh abeesshhhh. emang ya, selera musik menunjukkan umur. :D
slank juga ok. sayang kolaborasinya agak mendem dengan lagu jemu..... kenapa gak sekalian undang iwan fals trus nyanyiin deh tuh lagu bento atau oemar bakti. :D kotak sama koil keren.. stage yg tadinya udah separo kosong jadi keisi lagi gara2 mereka. slank + bunda ifet aja ikutan nonton di festival.

untungnya lagi off air gw dipandu sama jojo en vincent.. . meski masih baru, mereka gampang adaptasi sama perubahan, jadi acara off air gw tetep seru dan semua hadiah berhasil keluar. hehe. great job. cuma gara2 durasi yang molor (kata bokap gw : "durasi iklan nya lebih lama dari durasi programnya ya?") gw baru selesai jam 1 lewat. tunggu2 yg punya hadiah, cari2 mobil pulang ke kantor dan lain2 sebagainya... akhirnya baru nyampe kantor jam 2 lewat. sampe rumah ya hampir jam 3. huff. kaki sih udah mati rasa dari sejak paro jalan program berlangsung. pundak sama pinggang kayaknya udah salah letak. masih bagus maag gak kambuh sehingga gw gak jalan kemana2 sambil menyebar kentut di backstage... :D hari ini, gw gak mo ngapa2in selain leyeh2 di kamar nonton dvd sepanjang siang. ahaaa!

btw... gara2 ngeliat dimana2 pada pake bb, gw jadi iseng ngebrowse2 blackberry.com, dan nemu ini:

bagus ya? :D ini bb curve 8900. daripada bold, gw kok lebih suka yg ini ya? keyboardnya kepisah2 gitu ... jadi lebih gampang ngetiknya. tapi entah kenapa begitu gw google search curve 8900 keluarnya malah yg bold ya? apakah ini namanya javelin? oh well.... toh gw juga belom akan beli, secara masih gak rela keluar duit lebih dari 5jt + additional monthly cost buat barang yg gak terlalu gw perluin juga. tapiii kalo dikasih sih gak nolakkkkkkkk.... haiahiahiahiaak.

next destination: north & south

2009-03-23T13:19:00.004+07:00

YAYYYY!! after months of searching and discussions, i finally have the courage to book the tickets. it's all set now. im going on a 2 weeks break heading for australia! ahaaaahahahhaha. am so excited about that.

but before that, me and my parents are going to spore to watch CATS. that ought to be good. sayang niat ke jogja dan sekitarnya malah belom kesampean. ntar deh. kumpulin duit dulu.

phew

2009-03-16T13:57:00.002+07:00

entah kenapa seminggu ini syuting gila2an capenya. mungkin karena lagi batuk juga, jadinya badan rasanya kayak habis dilindes 100 kuda nil. belum lagi medan syuting yang menyebalkan (kalau gak mau dibilang berat, soalnya sebetulnya emang gak berat, cuma ngeselin aja panasnya). bayangin, lagi reading/blocking di tengah terik matahari, bisa2nya diserbu ratusan fans, trus om sutradara disikut minggir, di sodorin kamera, trus disuruh fotoin. ck. dah gitu ada yg ngotot lagi..disuruh nunggu gak mau. untung bawa security berbadan besar.. jadinya bisa lanjut syuting lagi. pas hari kedua pas udah mau wrap malah sempet nge grab bule untuk ikutan main. kebetulan ada skrip yang butuh muka bule. hehe. not bad.

overall syuting di ancol cukup menyenangkan, walaupun bikin kaki dan tangan item belang2 kayak tukang becak. :D jumat ini syuting di taman mini.. so we'll see. senengnya sih cuma satu... banyak foto2. huahahahhaha.

apart from that, i can't wait to book my tickets for my may-june trip. the dates have finally been fixed and i can proceed with the actual bookings rather than just drooling and checking out prices and schedules. yippy.

various updates

2009-02-25T15:56:00.007+07:00

lama gak nulis jadi bingung mo nulis apaan. kebanyakan topik, atau malah gak ada topik buat ditulis? ya dua2nya, kemungkinan disebabkan oleh rasa bosan yang sangat, perut yang kembali menggembul, lemari yang terlalu penuh (akibat terlalu sering belanja), bete sama seorang oknum, dan lain lain sebagainya.

1. what i got for V day:
sebetulnya gw jarang sekali ngerayain V day, dan hampir tidak pernah dapet kado. jangankan kado V day, kado ultah aja hampir gak pernah (gw lebih suka dikasih angpao... soalnya kalo di kasih kado suka gak sesuai harapan, jadinya nyesel.. hehe).

now, a close friend got an idea to sent me this big package. it's a 3in1 package, hadiah ultah, V day sekaligus natalan. makanya isinya banyak. :D not bad. i enjoy the surprise. sayang kaos2nya kegedean banget.

2. family vacation, suwarna style:
yap. liburan ala keluarga suwarna emang gak pernah jauh dari makanan. jadinya the whole day, dari pagi sampe malem isinya ya makaaaan mulu. *sigh*. rusak sudah segala diet yang susah payah gw jalanin. hmph.

3. baru nyadar sesuatu:
ternyata gw narsis sekali. pas syuting di cinere, gw foto2 sendiri banyak banget. hihihi. abis rumahnya enak banget sih. bawaannya jadi males syuting en lebih pengen bobo2an aja di teras sambil baca buku, minum teh panas manis dan ngunyah camilan2 dimsum.

update2 yang selain itu sih belum ada, secara sini belom sempet beredar ketemu2 sama temen2 lain juga. oh.. i just watched SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE last night. man... salut banget deh sama ini film. gak heran menang 8 out of 10 oscar nominations. 10 thumbs up to danny boyle and team. skarang yg gw incer sih.. cuma benjamin button, bride wars, marley and me, doubt, startrek, ... urghh. dan i still have tons of dvds belom ditonton di rumah. kapan? KAPANNN gue bisa nontonnya? dan kenapa di saat2 begini banyak sekali tiket murah yang menggiurkan? HUH!

feeling blah

2009-02-16T15:38:00.006+07:00

senin: camilan sore2... cukup buat menghibur hati yang lara *HALAH!* yang disinyalir akibat monday blues.

minggu: ngelamun sore di puncak pass....perut kenyang dengan poffertjes en pannekoek pisang. yumm.

sabtu: hiburan lain dikala suntuk berat. lucu ya? sayang cuma temporary....

old.. but fabulous

2009-02-12T09:01:00.002+07:00

yap. another year come and go, and i'm still here. :D
what so surprising is that this year so many ppl congratulated me and gave birthday wishes. wow. thanks to facebook rupanya, soalnya taon2 kmaren perasaan adem ayem aja. :D thanks guys. muah muah mwahhh!

taon ini tetep gak ada yg spesial sih, seperti biasa. malam menjelang sempet makan2 di seoul garden (pim2, my now favorite place to enjoy an all-you-can-eat). trus pas D-day dimasakin ifumie, my all time favorite food. yummyyyyy. trus sempet bikin tiramisu, tapi kok gagal. jadinya benyek gitu. kenapa ya? kayaknya ada something wrong tapi gak tau dimana. hmph. salah resep nih kayaknya.

kado? none so far (never get one anyway). but a friend's sending me a belated birthday package so i'll look forward to that. *yayyy*

so how do i feel about reaching the age of 18? *hiyaaaa... hkahkahkahkah* ternyata biasa aja yah. gak spesial2 banget juga. gw malah lebih excited mikirin my upcoming trip yang tinggal brapa bulan lagi itu. uuugh.. tinggal brapa bulan tapi belom pesen2 tiket dan belom ngurus apapun. duhduhduh..keburu gak yaaaaa? hope everything will turn out great. amin.

sedia payung sebelum hujan..

2009-02-10T09:26:00.003+07:00

boohoo!! ngebaca berita tentang chris brown, gw jadi mikir:

apakah ini berarti rihanna GAK JADI dateng lagi ke indo????

HIAHIAHIAHAIAHA... ella ella ella.. eee...eee...eee.... hakakakakakkakakakk..

tsk.. malas!

2009-02-03T15:16:00.003+07:00

rasanya kok malas ngapa2in ya?

- nyari artis..malas
- reading skrip..malas
- meeting..malas banget
- makan..malas juga (yg ini lebih kepada efek masih kenyang sih..hehehe)

hari minggu sempet sih jalan2 ke pim sama ke ambas. di pim sih gak liat apa2 yg menarik kec sepatu flat merk shooz yang selalu gw incar2 tapi gak jadi beli krn harganya mahal banget! sial! kenapa sih sepatu2 yg gw taksir selalu harganya mahal? hrghrhghrhg.

tapi kk gw beli baju batik yg harganya agak mahal. untungnya setelah di rumah dia gak sreg krn terntata kurang pantes dipake dia (rehghegheghehgheghehg>D), jadi boleh langsung lengser ke gw. di ambas gw dapet 1 baju bagus cuma 60rb. cuma sepatu yg dulu gw incer2 begitu ketemu kok jadi ilfil. mungkin krn udah terngiang2 sepatu shooz itu ya. mungkin kalo masih napsu dan ada sempet ke metro lagi..gw beli aja deh tu sepatu. kayaknya lucu kalau buat pake rok. :D

jadi ngebayang, pake baju batik baru itu sama sepatu di atas (eh.. yg di gambar ya, bukan yg shooz. eh tapi pake sepatu yg shooz juga keren kok). kayaknya keren. :D halah..ngayal melulu. ayo kerja..kerja! or at least do some planning on your next vacation trip. (yayyyyyyy!)

kapan kapan

2009-01-28T17:33:00.008+07:00

pengen ke sini

atau ke sini

blanja blanji ini

dan melakukan ini

*sigh.......*

i might be a witch.. :D

2009-01-24T13:23:00.003+07:00

weird. last night whilst wandering around in kinokuniya grand indo, i accidentally stumbled upon a book called the alchemyst, the secrets of the immortal nicholas flamel.

of course then i bought the book (IDR 122,000. mahal juga cing, buat buku anak2) and started reading it. sedikit mengganggu memang, karena pertama kali kenal nama nicholas flamel kan dari serial harpot yang pertama, dimana dibilang kalau si dumbledore berteman baik sama si om flamel ini. but buku ini tidak ditulis oleh jk.rowling, dan kelihatannya sama sekali tidak berhubungan dengan serial harpot (although i much wish it had...! it would make a nice spin-off).

in fact buku ini ditulis oleh michael scott... dan semua karakter dewasa yang ada di buku ini (selain om flamel ada juga perenelle flamel dan john dee, the antagonist) ternyata memang a living legend, and stories about them (well, actually maybe only on om flamel) quite often make an appearance amongst modern literature. yang paling tenar sih ya di serial harpot itu.

so far gw baru baca bbrp halaman buku the alchemyst ini, and i'd have to say that as a literature ignorant who still thinks nicholas flamel as one of the most powerful alchemyst in the wizarding world, it is a bit disturbing to read about om flamel as a healthy modern age grandpa who has the ability to throw invisible energy sphere without using his wand. :D of course, this was before i did my research properly and found out that om flamel actually did live and worked on the philosopher's stone (what?!) and that he really did (well, supposedly) live a long life because of the use of that stone. although wikipedia (and the book) mentioned the existence of the book of Abraham. (yes, it might've been abraham the jew who literally went out of his way to follow God's order and move out into the deserts, and who's the founding father of israel.)

arggh... this is too much to take. i still can't take the harpot world out of my head, and the mere mention of nicholas flamel heightens my hope that jk.rowling is on the move again to write more of the wizarding worlds. i guess i'd have to bury my hopes for a while (or at least be contemporarily satisfied with tales of beedle the bard :D). tapi dengan melihat kenyataan yang kayak gini, gw jadi kepikiran dua hal:

1. berarti karakter2 yang ada di novelnya jk.rowling, well at least half of them(?), were based on real legends/stories, yes? and that she's mixing facts/legends/myth with pure imagination. cool!!! way to go rowling!! woohoo!!!

2. apakah ini berarti ada kemungkinan wizards/witches truly do exist in our world, but as rowling had already stated in her novels, that they hide their existence from us, mere muggles? kalau iya, do i dare dream that one day i will live to see a time when muggles and wizards will live peacefully side by side, and that one day i'd be able to watch a quidditch worldcup tournament?? oh boy oh boy oh boy..

habis gelap terbitlah terang

2009-01-22T16:55:00.005+07:00

buat yg pernah mendengar pepatah di atas, dan menghubungkannya dengan kecantikan.. mereka pasti pernah berdiet ketat demi mencapai bobot tubuh yang (dianggap) ideal. and to them, i'd like to say: "AMEN, SISTER!! we (and our skinny bodies) shall prevail!!!"

hoahoahoahoahoahaohaohaoa.

jadi ya, sejak diare berkepanjangan bbrp bulan yg lalu itu, gw skarang jadi membatasi makan nasi. alasan utama sih sebetulnya karena efek diare itu gw jadi eneg ngeliat nasi kotak. paling banter ya gw makan lauknya, nasinya paling cuma 2 sendok tipis2, sekedar penetral rasa asin. tapi sejak malam natal gw kok menyadari kalau ternyata, efek dari diare dan gak makan nasi itu adalah:

I'M FINALLY SKINNY!!

hhiaiahiahiahiah. sinting pisan. jeans gw yg dulu sempet susah di retsleting sekarang jadi longgar di bagian paha dan pantat. yes indeed, i can proudly confirm that now i have smaller butt and thighs. hahaha! *ketawa sinchan* karena itulah gw ngelanjutin efek kurus ini dengan diet nasi/mie. agak sulit mengingat gw penggila berat bakmi, cuma untungnya sejauh ini sakseeesss aja tuh ngurangin karbohidrat. alhasil, sampe skarang masih kurussss... hallelujahh!

tapi efek jelek dari puasa nasi ini cukup mengganggu, karena sebagai orang yang bergula darah rendah gw gampang sekali terkena pusing, gemeter2 gak jelas, dan berbagai gejala penderita-gula-darah-rendah lainnya. dan menyebalkannya lagi, gw senang sekali dengan keadaan kurus ini, jadinya i'd rather be starved than gain all the fat back again. tentu saja kondisi ini sudah dikomplen oleh beberapa pihak baik yang berkepentingan maupun tidak (termasuk gw sendiri.. secara gw paling gak tahan kelaparan), dan akhir2 ini memang gw tetep mengusahakan untuk makan nasi, walaupun tetap dengan porsi yang (di)kurang(i).

cuma ya gitu deh efeknya. sore2 bawaannya lapar mata (maupun lapar beneran), pengen mesen ini itu. apalagi di lokasi kalau siang-sore adaaaa aja camilan2 menyenangkan. bubur ayam dan bakso termasuk didalamnya. untunglah gw diare gara2 bakso, jadi skarang sudah tidak tergoda sama bakso. bubur cukup setengah mangkok saja. kadang kalau lagi gak tahan, pesen sate ayam dengan lontong 1. ya gitu deh. so far sih makanan2 tersebut belum berhasil menambah ukuran pantat dan paha... gak tau ya kalau numpuknya di perut. :D

dan sialnya lagi, efek kurus ini sungguh jelek di kondisi dompet gw. krn bawaannya jadi pengen shopping muluuuuu buu. secara nyoba ini itu biasanya gak ada yg muat, ini muat semuaaaaa. jadi menggila. ehuaehiaehaueiaheae. haduh, kudu jauh2 dari mall nih. eh speaking of shopping, jaket ini gw dapetin gratis.. dari jordi. :D bagus yaaaaa? biarin deh kegedean dikit (secara ini ukurannya L dan gw M.. *najis.. bangga banget size baju turun 1 tingkat.. rasanya lebih bangga daripada lulus kuliah dulu... hiakhkiahkiahkahikah*

ps: tulisan ini dibuat dalam keadaan setengah lapar dan ngidam berat sate padang dan cheesecake. :( hiiikkksss....

just another day...

2009-01-15T23:36:00.010+07:00

1
nasi goreng, telor dadar, krupuk udang, plus teh panas manis sebagai menu sarapan andalan. tambah pemandangan kebon yang seger banget. yang salah cuma tiang lampu HMI yang menandakan gw lagi ada di lokasi shooting. hmph.

lokasi syuting gw adalah rumah besar berkolam renang, yang saking besarnya..sampai2 curah hujan di bagian depan (kolam renang dan sekitarnya) bisa lebih tinggi dibanding curah hujan di halaman belakang. terjemahan: kalau di kolam renang udah ujan, belom tentu di belakang ujan juga! aneh skali.

sambil bagi2 skrip untuk dihafal dan nunggu orang2 lebay ini dandan, boleh dong foto2 dikit? suer, ini boleh dibilang kesempatan langka melihat gw foto2 sama artis... huhuhu. :D

ini si kunyit, kucing jantan manja yang selalu mondar mandir di lokasi. bau sih, tapi saking jinak nya sampe kita udah nganggep dia bagian dari kru. liat aja, bisa2nya dia tidur nyenyak di kursi ruang redaksi tanpa diusir.... hobinya menyelinap tak terdeteksi ke ruang ganti/make-up.

sebagai sesama teman senasib sepenanggungan, sebetulnya saya tak boleh mencela gadis ini. tapi ... duuh saya tak tahan. gadis ini aneh skali. dia sering sekali kentut di sembarang tempat. jadi males deh deket2 dia... (pas foto ini diambil, gw tahan napas!!!)

si gadis aneh ini ke gap lagi pdkt sama cowok pinter gambar. sungguh strategi pedekate yang lihai.. patut ditiru.

saat hari sudah mulai gelap, mata sudah mulai belekan habis ngeliatin data rating seharian, dan kepala berat sebelah akibat digempur angin AC... maka semua tampak buram dan berbayang... otak menciut, dan nafsu makan bertambah. bukan kombinasi yang bagus... percaya deh.

maap. yg ini sih gw narsis aja. ehuehuehue. tapi bener deh. biarpun foto nya di dalem kamar mandi utama dengan latar belakang wc cewek dan bidet... gw keliatan kece di sini. HUAHKAHKAHAKHAKHAKHAKH.