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..