10:11 PM
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Oh well.. I am finally home again =D after a four-day trip all over Central Java...
I told Aries about it and he said it would gonnabe "Tour d'Java" and hahaha, after experiencing it, I kinda agreed with him.
Okay. First day. Started off at eleven am, heading to Solo and managed to arrive safely at, um, seven, i think. However, we couldn't find any damn place to stay over, so it was searching for any available hotels for the whole of two hours and it really felt like hell. Yeah. Despite my researching of hotels through the Net (I was confident I found way more than enough number of hotels for us to stay!), all the hotels in Solo was fully-occupied, what with the Hari Raya holiday was going on. We ended up in some not-so-nice hotel called Dwi Agung.. the waiters there were, however, quite friendly.
Second Day. Had breakfast (stupid VERY small portion of fried rice + beef floss + some prawn cracker!) in the hotel, then we headed to Semarang. Arrived there after about two and a half hour of car ride. Saw Simpang Lima, some kinda the central of the city, and it was fab! Lotsa malls and big hotels and kaki lima sellers; it even almost felt like Surabaya itself. Went to the beach (hey, it was called Marina Bay!) and had a good portion of sea breeze coming in my nostrils.. the last one was, I believe, during Erlin's birthday. Hahhaa. Headed back to the city, and checked in at Hotel Ciputra.. at least a much better hotel this time, yayy.
Third day. Swam (after like, eight months of no swimming) at the hotel's pool WITH MY BLACK TEE AND BLACK SHORTS! Damn it, luckily it was all-black, if not it would be disastrous. Dad and sis were pushing me to swim, "GO SWIM, GO SWIM!". There. I couldn't resist the temptation (discovered that my swimsuit was spoiled earlier on..), so I just jumped into the pool. Hahahhaaa.. Was nice. In the afternoon we went around the city buying tidbits and seeing Diponegoro University, the only famous public university in Semarang. Then we headed back Solo, checked in at some VERY NICE hotel called Sahid Kusuma, which was once the local prince's residence. Humm.. Feeling royal, baby?
Fourth day. Swam again this time with my (spoiled) swimsuit. Then went home in the afternoon, of course not before giving my tastebuds some experience of the local food: timlo solo.. Muahahhahah..
Anyway. Those paragraphs above are, I think, BORING. But trust me, the experience was QUITE exciting (you will find it so, too, if you haven't been going for a family holiday for, um, three whole years. Yeah.)
Oh yeah, talked to Fungus on the third day in the hotel's internet cafe, I told her everything about my journey from Singapore to Johor to Jakarta to Surabaya the other day and she was very, very amazed. Hahaha.. Not everyday I can amaze someone, can't I?
Finally got to say to Mom that I want a new classical guitar. I asked her whether I could borrow her money first to buy the guitar and then repaying her later on next year (I promise myself I would save, I don't care if I have to keep eating hostel food and not watching movie. I don't care, really, as long as I can have a guitar to hold on this holiday!). She hasn't given me an answer, so perhaps I'd try to ask again to-morrow.
By the way, I did say that Dad bought me a book called
Winnetou I by
Karl May, yes? Well I read a few pages of it today and it was fabulous! Apparently Karl May has managed to inspire me to become an adventurer.. I planned to venture to various places in this world as soon as I got independent (i.e. finish my university education). Travelling all over Asia, Europe, America.. I believe I would gain something from there. The problem is, do I have money to do so? Hahaha.. think later, think later. Imagine the things that I could absorb from the cultures of the world, imagine the experience I could gain, the languages I could learn. Even the thought of it could make me excited already.
Oh yeah, and also, I watched
The Last Samurai (yes, the SHORT Tom Cruise is there.. no thanks, I prefer Ken Watanabe instead) and I agreed with the whole world that it was one damn cool-and-inspiring movie! Cool: of course, Tom Cruise's role was the all-cool Captain Nathan Algren, the war scenes were unquestionably cool, the Jap scenery was nothing but cool, and the Samurai principles were too cool to be left unabsorbed by my mind. Inspiring: it inspires me to learn more about samurai! I only knew bits about them, like for example that they fight for the Emperor and that they'd commit suicide than living with shame. General things like that. And anyway, Dad had a set of Musashi (the most famous Samurai fiction ever written), all seven of them, so I could happily read to gather more knowledge about them.. satisfying my curiosity, yes.
I bought a few CDs recently with my Hari Raya allowance.. this is my review:
1.
Green Day's American Idiot. A good piece of work! Hahahaa.. I used to think that Green Day only played nice stuff for the songs they released for album promotion, but for this album I think I must admit that I was wrong. Most fabs from this album:
American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia, Holiday, The Waiting, Wake Me Up When September Ends, She's A Rebel.
2.
Good Charlotte's The Chronicles of Life and Death. Couldn't be better! I instantly felt a connection with this album the moment I listened to it.. hahahaa.. I would say, all the songs are fab! I liked this album so much I decided to go hunting for GC's earlier album, without success so far. I hunted in Disc Tarra-Solo, Gramedia-Surabaya, as well as Giant-Surabaya. Apparently I really have to go to Aquarius (equivalent of HMV in this city).
3.
Bling-Bling and
Bling-Bling 2. Good to satisfy my growing interest in hiphop/R&B music, thanks to Perfect10 endless playing of such music throughout Promo mugging periods. Hahaha.. these music says, "MOVE!", and my sis agreed to it, too.
4.
Sum 41's Does This Look Infected? I listened to this CD dunno how many times before (throuh Pat's MP3) and it's unquestionably good! I can't really relate to other Sum 41 songs, but from this album, I could relate to all. Hahaha..
Okay, that's all folks..
1:43 PM
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
First blog entry from home =)
The Saturday Hell memory has apparently disappeared from my mind; a part of me somehow just refuse to remember it, let alone reciting it. So I guess I wouldn't say anything about that horrible journey from Singapore to Johor as well as that horrible happening in Larkin bus terminal as well as that horrible flight by AirAsia as well as the horrible circumstances that awaited me at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Rest assured, I have pledged to myself the following:
1. I will never, ever take any of AirAsia flight anymore.
2. I will never, ever take indirect flight home anymore, any flight home would be straight to Surabaya.
3. I will never, ever overspend anymore so that I could still have enough money to fly straight to Surabaya.
4. I will never, ever set my feet on Johor Baru anymore, at least not until the end of 2005.
5. I will never, ever let anybody else settling my tickets. I WILL SETTLE IT FOR MYSELF, for goodness' sake.
The only good thing was the breakfast with Winnie and Jasmine at Cartel, Tampines. And the gifts of course +D It's like, for the rest of the day, when I just wanted to burst into tears in front of public (yes, the day was that bad..), I just needed to re-read the letters again, look at the pencil holder again and I would think that things weren't that bad after all =) So thanks, pals..
So much for one day.
Oh ya, by the way the Hari Raya allowance this year has fortunately shot up in an exponential rate (no, no, not linear, Asih) it could definitely make up for the hellistic Hari Raya eve that I experienced. Oh well, if you convert it to Singapore dollars, it won't be much, so I won't. I would just tell it straight in Indonesian rupiahs: 620,000 rupiahs!! It's a lifetime record! Oh yeah, baby. With that, I could shop for thousands of CDs plus a few books to kill time here. Wheeee!
Speaking of killing time, it's sort of highly unlikely that I'd be working here. The only available job is, according to sister and cousins, being a shopkeeper. It's like, damn, if I have to sit all day long looking after the shop and waiting for the customer, I might as well just stone at home. Stoning at home is wayy better than stoning at somebody's shop! Mom offered me to take up some courses, so perhaps I would. She offered Mandarin or Japanese courses, but fascinated as I am over the languages of the world, I somehow don't feel like doing those courses right now. I prefer to go for culinary courses or perhaps guitar courses or drum courses. I wish I brought my guitar home. I am dying without a guitar by my side :( I think I'd try to persuade Mom-Dad to buy me a new one, my old one being lousy and all.
Oh and by the way we changed destination for holidays. Instead of going Bali, we are now heading to Central Java cities. It won't be as much fun, but Dad wanted a trip that enhances our cultural awareness (which obviously we kids don't have!), him being so interested in traditional stuff and all. So yeah, I couldn't say no anyway. Better go somewhere than not going anywhere at all. Perhaps would attempt to persuade them go Bali next year..
Wondering how was the Prom going.. dying to chat with friends back in Singapore but the download here is so slow.. MSN download still at 80% and it reads, "Estimated time left: 20min 50sec".. so oh well..
Oops, just remembered Mom asking me to search for hotels in Central Java, so I think I'd better go.. :D Take care Singapore..
5:46 PM
Friday, November 12, 2004
I did not have a clue how to face today's happenings after a night full of tears, disappointments and sadness which was masked over by my smiley, all-cheery face as if nothing wrong had happened. I couldn't even have a sound sleep.. Sleeping at 1am after get dozed off by the (boring but interesting)
The Panthom of The Opera, original version, which apparently served its purpose to distract my mind from thinking of more crying and even more crying. I kept waking up.. at three, four, five, six, and finally, 7.20am, where I finally realised I only have 55minutes left to reach school for guitar. Didn't even have the energy to face the toughness of today's guitar practice (I KNEW it would be tough.. Wednesday's three hours of sectional session was mentally exhausting, let alone today's five hours of ensemble session). I was thinking of skipping the practice to rest my mind, but something pulled me out of my bed, as if saying that 'skipping practice won't get you anywhere.. not out of the problem, not getting better at playing your parts in the ensemble'. So I dragged my feet off the room, washed, and set off.
To my dismay, Fungshin's sms appeared in the middle of the practice (practice was disastrous for my section.. NONE of us could play -well, Pat could play quite well actually- and the conductor was obviously pissed off by us).. saying something like her father couldn't fetch me tomorrow because he gotta go work. Not her fault, but I am annoyed. It's like, isn't there enough problems for me to face already?? Arghh, I was then all-out to find ways to get to Senai Airport.. asked Adrian, who surprisingly was polite today; asked Kai Lin (upon Adrian's suggestion) who was being a lil bit rude (I don't know why I consider "dunno sorry" as rude but anyway) but it's understandable enough; asked Yen Yah and Yi Chin who were being EXTREMELY helpful hahaha.. but up to the end of the practice, I still had no clue whether I would successfully arrive at Senai tomorrow!
So, anyway, wanted to go Johor Baru after the practice to get a clearer picture on how to get to Senai. Yen Yah was going back Johor, so I decided to just follow her. She said her daddy could fetch her at the Custom as well as driving me to the nearby Landmark Hotel to see the shuttle bus to Senai. Upon Yi Chin's suggestions, we decided to drop off at Bugis's old shops area to see whether a straight bus from Singapore to Senai truly existed (Adrian said it did).. and what a fun trip it was! Hahaha.. we kinda explored one of the lorongs on Victoria St., then walked all the way to Sungei Rd. (it wasn't far, really) and discovered that there was a bus station, catering especially for Singapore-JB route! We went to the counter to ask whether there was a bus to Senai... and THERE WAS! Hahahhaha.. It was the most happifying thing today.. I felt truly lucky to be surrounded by helpful friends =) And Yen Yah was happy, too, because in that bus station, there were a few bus 170, which could bring her straight from the station (called Queen St.) to the Custom! Was a really fun afternoon (although I can't imagine under other circumstances I would be equally as happy).
The best thing was the good news from home on my way back from Queen St. to hostel.. hahaha.. ticket to Surabaya was all settled, I just need to collect it from Counter F of Garuda Airways at Soekarno-Hatta Airport tomorrow night.
It seemed miraculous.. how things were so wrong yesterday and yet so right today.
How I was so sad yesterday yet so happy today.
How everything falls into place, proving only one thing:
A Divine Intervention.
I can't believe it was only yesterday night that I question, "God do you truly exist? Why do you give me such magnitude of problems?" and that today I discovered myself admitting the truth: that God works with his own ways, sometimes we don't understand it, and anyway we don't need to. We just have to accept it. Have faith and all.
So I am leaving Singapore very soon. Am truly excited (okay, 180degrees change from yesterday's mood, I shall admit). One thing I regret is that I won't be able to catch a marathon of ten songs that would be performed by Pat-Stan-Adrian at Prom Night and that I won't be able to spend that night with the people who have made difference in my life: my friends.
Argh. Life is beautiful.
9:21 PM
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Something isn't right
I can feel it again feel it again
This isn't the first time
That you left me waiting
Sad excuses and false hopes high
I saw this coming still
I don't know whyI let you in
[CHORUS:]
I knew it all along
It's so predictable
I knew something would go wrong -
something's always wrong
So you don't have to call
Or say anything at all
So predictable
So take your empty words your broken promises
And all the time you stole cause I am done with this
I can give it away give it away
I'm doin everything I should've
And now I'm makin a change
I'm living the dayI'm giving back what you gave me
I don't need anything
[CHORUS]
Everywhere I go
Everyone I meet
Every time I try to fall in love
They all want to know why I'm so broken
Why am I so cold
Why I'm so hard inside
Why am I scared
What am I afraid of
I don't even know
This story's never had an end
I've been waiting
I've been searching
I've been hoping
I've been dreaming you would come back
But I know the ending of this story
You're never coming back
[CHORUS]
Everywhere I go for the rest of my life - so predictable
Everyone that I love
Everyone I care about
They're all gonna wanna know what's wrong with me - so predictable
And I know what it is
I'm ending this right now
9:14 PM
Started off with running again today and my 2.5km has improved by thirty seconds, thank God. But that is really a trivial matter.. I don't really care.
I paid a visit to Sinyi's blog today.. she just made a blog and I guessed that the reason she suggested why people create blogs nowadays was very valid. How many of us have lost touch with our primary school friends? Secondary school? Friends overseas? And how blogs, by giving a space for the creators to share their stories daily, could give these long-lost friends updates.. to be moving on in life yet keeping in touch with the old peeps who used to share days, joy, disappointment, cry? It's so cool.. and I like the way she put it, "If daily rattles cannot keep friends in touch, nothing else can, right?".
Anyway. Yesterday night I happened to see Pat, Adrian and Stanley jamming in hostel's visitor's lounge. Okey, Adrian's skill is obviously better than Pat's, but I swear Pat is the most surprisingly self-motivated being I ever encounter! (I mean, Adrian learnt guitar since dunno how many years ago, it's no surprise that he is so good.) To think that she could play an electric guitar LIKE THAT while she only got acquainted to classical guitar in January and to electric guitar in June.. And look at the way she strums now! I believe she'll make it big, man. Such motivation in learning is a gift, I should say. I seriously think they' d gonna be rocking the house at Prom! Watch out, peeps!
Mom is driving me nuts. She just doesn't understand whatever I say and thinks that all I can do is not believing in her (read: rebelling). Gosh, to think that I have to spend almost a full two months at home.. I miss my siblings.. I miss mom and dad, but to think that I would have to stand her constant nagging and daily pettiness could make me faint already. Why can't she just trust me?
And if you are so reluctant to fetch me in Jakarta airport, WHY WOULD YOU ASK ME TO FLY TO JAKARTA INSTEAD OF RIGHT AWAY TO SURABAYA? WHY?? So I would have to loiter around in Soekarno-Hatta Airport on saturday night, the night before Hari Raya, ALONE, while she and the rest would just get their asses rested well at home to get physically prepared for the hecticness of Hari Raya, yes? And do they even think of how tired I would get having to travel from Singapore to Johor Baru (troubling my dear roommate, some more), from Johor Baru to Jakarta, and then from Jakarta to Surabaya? Plus the risk to get my things stolen in Soekarno-Hatta Airport, which I think will make my night so perfect. Thanks a lot, what a wonderfully supporting family I have over there.
Whatever la. I am just SO UPSET.. I start to wonder whether family is as necessary as society portrays them to be. Do I even need one?
9:50 PM
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Teehee! New layout, finally!
Started off my day with running today.. it was so refreshing running in the morning.. Finally, 2.5km without stopping (as compared to the crappy running on sunday)! Eventhough my timing was not good yet (it was a far cry from silver for NAPFA), I just can't help feeling happy +)
Anyway, guitar sectionals today was super disastrous. I started to wonder, what the hell was wrong with my fingers?? Why couldn't they just switch chord faster?? I know the chords in Besame Mucho are, say, hardly encountered in pop pieces, but it doesn't mean my fingers should behave that way. Damn fingers, damn damn fingers. Oh yeah, and Pat actually joined Stanley's Band for Year One Prom next Monday. Isn't that, like, SO COOL? Unfortunately won't be able to see 'em playing.. Would be home already by then.. perhaps I'd be somewhere at Granny's place, try to chat myself up with those uncles and aunties. SIGH.
Jas called me this afternoon and we chatted for hours.. This girl constantly surprises me! She said she was applying for job and was interviewed for some 'clerky' job in the Prime Minister's office.. Gosh, how cool is that? It kinda inspires me to work as well.. Not that I haven't give it a thought or two, but with her real action, I kinda think I am working. Yes. In Indo. No slacking during holiday, no piggy activities, please.. Celebration of Hari Raya, vacation to Bali.. and then, work. Yup.
Okey la.. I gotta go check mom's fax in hostel office soon.. byebye..
9:50 PM
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
First and foremost welcome to myself! I am kind of tired with LiveJournal's designs (which have not been changing for the past, like, six months?) and am appealed by blog*spot's variety of skins, so I decided to switch to here.
Am currently undergoing skin changes to this blog first, putting up tagboard and stuff, too. So I don't think I'd be able to put an entry of which the content is readable enough.. First things first, wise people said, yes?
Okay.. just.. welcome aboard! +)