Friday, July 30, 2010

old treasure - polly pocket




hahaha... found this when i tried to tidy up the wardrobe....

bet guys wont know but i think we girls wont forget, the used-to-be-gorgeous toy, polly pocket. the tiny size of it make it all the more exclusive and special. i only had this one, and it stayed good for all these 10 years. months ago i saw at singapore toy shop polly pocket too, but it is now as big as little barbie. no more pocket size. maybe for safety issue, alas, gonna miss this tiny version =D
it's a cool windy morning, nice day =D

finally got my CAS letter, i can fly off to jkt next week. hope i will only need to stay maximum 5 days. gosh, jakarta is not a place where i want to stay for long.

dad and mom had been telling me they are no longer fit to taking care of the business.

now on top of that, one of our worker saying it out too.

'your dad and mom is no longer strong enough to go into so many details'

it is perplexing. i am pretty much a person whose existence must be supported with the knowledge that i have been useful and producing things. so i need to constantly doing something useful.

i feel guilty for going to further my study. yet i know i wont be contented if i am to stay behind now fully helping my parents. tension of the opposite.

.....

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

suppose it's the hormonal imbalance, but anyway. i need to sort out my feelings.

think it's envy working her hands on me.

my cousin shows me the picture of her suitor. gosh. one fine looking doctor. and from her story, i bet he likes her alot.

my cousin is a sweet cherry lady, and ever since we were young, she has been a very nice person. none of the malice drops in her talk. we did gossip over stuffs. but she is definitely not a bad person.

so i know she totally deserves this. she had been single for a very long time too.

heck, perhaps i am jealous because another friend has found their another half. moreover, this is a cousin. suppose i am almost the last in the family that is staying single.

okay, i am jealous. i admit it.

but jealousy, i want to turn you into blessings. i hope things work out for her and the guy. nothing but the best. be they ended up together or not.

hey cousin, it surprise me that you are such an open person. just walked up to me and told me about this. hope to hear good news from you soon, coz i am itch to hear the story from you!
im back from my very first yoga class!

they have yoga class at the hotel where i joined membership. but by the twist of fate (okay la, not motivated) thus only towards the end of 2nd month membership that i joined this class.

oh well, interesting class.

but i dislike the instructor!

perhaps because im just in the 1st class, but alas. he carries a cocky air about himself. a little bit taste like...too full of himself or something.

and i dislike that in such a small class (heck, there was just 6 students) he didn't even bother to ask for my name knowing i am new. it would have been polite and nicer to do so as i am joining your class as a new member.

and i totally dislike the way he ends the class, whereby he left us to 'relax' which is lay down on the mat, close our eyes, listening to the music, for almost like 10 mins, and he turns off the light, and when i noticed he got up after 5 mins, he motion for me to continue to lay down, and then he claps his hand, saying 'okay class end, please roll up your mat and put it back to where you pick it up, and thank you for joining this class' and just walk off. without turning on the light again. i dont know where he was rushing off to, because he was still there hanging out at the reception counter with the other staffs when i walked out around 10 mins later.

alright, from what i write you know i am not happy with this crappy teaching attitude. perhaps i am just over sensitive now.

oh yah btw. i deactivate my fb again.
thanks adrian for this interesting link,

Inception Explained: Unraveling The Dream Within The Dream


hahaha i feel like want to watch it again one more time! *and look out for the wedding ring?*

Sunday, July 25, 2010

i am just back from Inception!

what a movie!

worth all the fuss friends are making out of at facebook.

gosh such a mind-twisting-idea-kind of movie.

totally my cup of cake. though my brain is not big enough to hold the whole story and sort it out.

deeply fascinated when the girl at first played around building the city, twisting the road and mirroring the building. terrifying!

leonardo is handsome as usual, and all the side kick too including saito =D

CG is getting smoother and better, cant really tell which is real or not anymore in a blink of an eye.

always love the idea of going into subconsciousness. whereby said we could access the 'truth' whatever shit it could be. like you know, full metal alchemist story? the access to the 'truth' exist within every soul.

the multi-level-dream thing is really interesting. if not confusing.

anyway felt totally 'WOW' when we finished the movie

but the a friend started to debate about it on our way back home,

then i start to feel 'err.....' and grew confused

i suppose he did incepted an idea to me and the rest of us who felt simply 'WOW' to become '.......' at the end of our journey reaching home. lol.

anyway! so cobb hasn't escaped his dream right?!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

as the night grows older, my mind passed the sleepiness, things come sharper into focus.

getting attached and seeing the coming separation is bitter sweet.

i surely take my time in everything. took sometime to get use to life here, took sometime to let go the ego of -i-can-handle-it-all-myself - partly from living on my own for past few years, took sometime to let go the pride of paying things myself from my hard-owned-money, took sometime to let go the pleasure of going anywhere-as-I-wish, took sometime to -basically- living for me myself and i only.

back home is entering another stage of life, which is to live not only for myself but also for my family. taking care of dad. taking care of the house. and also taking care of mom. and helping out the minor things for the business.

and also i surely take my time in finding friends. thank you all for inviting me along for movies and outing, really enjoyed the laughter and deeply appreciate everything.

---

thinking about it, i am and will always be grateful that i am given chance to experience life in stages. learning bits by bits. given trial one by one. universe, thank you very much for everything. sometimes if i think bout how some other people, suddenly into marriage, motherhood, or experience grief of death at early age, and many other things, how pampered i am with my life!

---

whenever dad lectures our youngest worker, i felt the slap too.

it's getting a little bit TOO comfortable here. i need to think how can i improve myself. totally hasn't been using my brain to design anything lately, nor even draw something up.

---

dreamland calling.....wish ya all good days tomorrow!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

sunday trip to minahasa


we came into the lower section of the chapel, which consist of many columns, so we played along :D i think the accidental leg poses makes this all funnier hehehhehe

it was jessi's bday few days ago, so i thought to...celebrate and take some pictures on a nice spot..
.......
there goes one of my very much regretted action, for i had totally forgotten the custom here about birthday celebration T___________________________________T
*whine alert*

since at KL and singapore... i got used to the custom of celebrating birthday together, happy taking pictures together, then shared a meal together, paying together.

and also at singapore, going out with juwita and friends, they always celebrate friends' bday together with a piece of cake and candle and birthday song, then lunch or dinner together and paying on our own. everybody is happy.

so me with my thoughts i prepared an apple and paper candle, and brought it out while we are at a pretty site, (and luckily we have it all to ourselves after a while hanging around) and sing a song and take pictures. just as i had imagine it should be.

but little did i remembered at that point of time T__________T the indonesian custom of birthday celebration until we arrived at a coffee shop for it's pork bun. actually non of us really tease her about paying up but she took the bill and it wasn't cheap. the bun are crazily expensive T_____________T i felt really really really really really guilty about all of this....

i also forgotten...perhaps people here dont really like to celebrate belated birthday. and by me exposing hers in front of everybody made her felt responsible for the bill T____________T i really am sorry about it......

then secondly. our friend who brought his car and drove all the way for almost 10 hours refuse to take our petrol money. come on... it wasn't the money issue or i look down on you, but i truly felt it was a sense of participation... i dont like the idea of getting free ride T________________T and for me to initiate the money collection...i feel truly paiseh to the rest of the guys.... coz it seems that they aren't used to that idea either, so either way i felt truly guilty and awkward :((((((((((((((((( haiz...

different place, different custom.

anyway, continue.


this one...my girlfriend..totally looks like the head gangster with a group of bodyguards hahahaha

this one..lol...we was on a very dimly lit tunnel, with only this spot have a hole on top of the ceiling, shedding some rays into the room, then the guys goes excited and tried few poses, which turns out as if they are waiting for coins to drop down from the sky

Sunday, July 18, 2010

sunday trip: tomohon



went to 12 hours trip with a group of friends, had lots of laughter and lots of food along the way, went to see a gorgeous chapel at bukit doa. had alot of fun. thank you universe for taking care of me!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

i miss singapore 6


*the pictures do explain right??*

manado taste 2

if you ever visited my hometown, should try these two vegie (both of them aren't cooked spicy)

sayur paku and bunga pepaya. see the cute light green buds? those are papaya's flower. locally matched with sayur paku ( a type of...can i say wild grass?) and daun papaya itself (though daun papaya is bitter, the buds is not. and i cant find this outside manado)

sayur lelem. it's a soft sweet local plant usually cooked with slices of fat pork~ nyumm!

a very warm sunset from our house's balcony :)

Friday, July 16, 2010

baking trial 2

sit the dough for more than an hour bcoz it didn't raise at first

which was because i didn't mixed the raising flour with warm water and instead pour it straight into the flour :( that's why it didn't raise well

oversize air pocket.... total failure.

alright..i played this weeks ago. total disaster. post it up just for self reminder.... that success is going from failure to failure without the loss of interest!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

i miss singapore 5


wanton mee....though the one at singapore is not the one i love the most (hong kong's one is da beSTTTTTTTT with huge wanton and fresh prawn stuff inside and the tiny thin noodle in clear broth and malaysia version with thick soy sauce style is the last on the list) but it is certainly being missed right now!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

i found my old diary. dated back around 10 year, at the time when i was in primary school.

reading it now, with memory and emotion detached, i introspect myself.

as if reading from third person point of view, i can tell that the kid writing it is one timid and deeply annoying on top of spoiled, self centered and full with negative emotions.

shame shame shy shy

always looking for dad, fighting things with bro, and envying classmates or cousin.

now i know why my mom hates me. and my memory played foul with mixed emotions that i live my life blaming my mom. i had always keep the impression that she always sided with bro and thus further our siblings rivalry. to make it worse, mom never praise me over my school achievements, instead keep comparing with cousins and said, 'but still not as good as---'

i did found one incident though, whereby she hit me and gave punishment only to me when me and bro quarrel.

you bet, i was expecting to find more inside, but i didn't. i thought i would have written more complains about her but no, there wasn't any record.

so, was this all my memory rewriting itself?

this is confusing, but after sorting out, i arrived at one conclusion. as much as i wished friends would accept me as who i am, i must give mom chance to be accepted as who she is.

......easier said than done.......

i miss singapore 4


i felt in love slowly but surely with this one. singapore's laksa complete with si ham :) and the stall nearby office is serving this in a rather small portion that made me always craving for more and never too stuffy with its thick santan broth. smart ass boss!

i miss singapore 3


i miss cantonese mee aLOT!!!!! actually there's a pack of ifumie at the kitchen but will need to deep fried the noodle first for the best crispy-noodle-result, gosh. what a hassle that would be!

and of course, a glass of good-old-sugar cane :D

one pot pork rice




tadaa...officially my 3rd attempt for pot rice and this time the texture and taste turns out right :D dad and mom said i put too much ingredients hehehe it should be i put too not enough rice...
i am glad they are happy about it :D

Saturday, July 10, 2010

bad service

early in the morning dad and i went to deliver goods which was undelivered yesterday by our man. since today is a holiday here, yet the customer had promised her another buyer of the goods, so we went. then we went for swimming session and afterwards, a hearty breakfast.

dad brought me to new queen hotel since he said mom tried their bubur manado before and said it is nice. fyi, my mom hardly ever ever ever praise something {particularly me} so actually by hearing what she said it should worth a try.

yet none of us ordered the bubur. i wanted mie cakalang and dad ordered pisang goreng. the waitress is a young ordinary looking girl except for her ultra sulky sour face.

me, who had been strengthen by my old neighbor at singapore (well..i used to be..reluctant to smile first at others, yet my experience at singapore told me that...why not? because of me smiling first at my neighbor then her usual sulky expression change and she replied me with a very warm smile and i felt happy bout it) smiles first at her. rather disappointing, she ignores me and still give the 'fuck off' expression.

and still the same expression when she delivered the food. i said thanks and smile again and she reluctantly twitch 1 mm of her lips. that wasn't a smile either. okay, forget about it. because she seems to be a new trainee there, and fyi, internship at hotel here didn't get a single penny for their work. probably she is just having bad night (come on, that's too early to say she had a bad day!) yet i truly disapprove of her attitude since she is working in service line.

then when we made the payment, she came with the same 'fuck off' expression and said 'IDR 23.000' i gave her 24.000 and when dad said let's go, i said wait, there's another 1000 change.
dad said just let it be hers, but then agreed when i said, 'i wouldn't mind if she had given us a better attitude'

we waited and nothing happened. so i approached the counter. she was sitting there chatting with her friend with happy face said 'what can i help you- ups!' then jump up and told her friend to give me back my change. her friend called for the supervisor who was sitting at nearby table and asking back loudly,

'how much more to give back? what? 1000??? dont we have 1000 there?'

actually i have 23000 at the first place, but gave her 24000 instead because i wanted the smaller change. and from this simple experience i can draw out many things about this place.

the supervisor acted as if it was ridiculous of me to ask back for the 1000 change. and so does the waitress since she didn't look up for my change until i approach the counter.

i was thinking, 'since when 1000 is not a money? even 50 is still a money! you cant make up a million if you lack of even- 50 rupiah!'

at the car i was thinking. would it had been better if i speak out right then? i dont think im petty at all about asking back what's belongs to me. and given their service, they doesn't deserves a single sen for it.

but what troubles me is that, am i at the wrong for not reminding them the right attitude towards customers? at least we deserves a smile and a 'thank you' dont you think so? okay, let's say i deserves nothing of those, then at least give me back my money right?

at dad's office, he always give weekly meeting and lectures to the workers. about serving attitude and how to deal with client, which i think is boring yet i couldn't deny that after hearing those words (including from the supervisor) that it knock some senses to me. awaken spirit and made me feel 'right, i should put my best today!' that's how a speech and preach could deliver ideas from one person to another.

and also when dealing with misunderstanding and miscommunication, i had come to a conclusion that each party has the responsibility to explain and give their energy to clear up the matters. do not behave like drama king queen and 'let the time tells' or 'only God knows' or 'let it be, i am the wrong one, he is always right' and hide behind those words and trying to draw out sympathy from the passing audience.

this kind of ppl are cowards and wtf. for the one with true information yet hide and do not clear up the shit is the one most guilty one for he/she by behaving so had dragged up others into problem and negativity and though knowing doesn't want to solve it out and help everyone out of it.

that's my opinion la! this kind of party on top of their cowardices, also have ill intention (consciously and unconsciously) to let others think and belief of the wrong or forever leave them in the doubt.

---

and so my contemplation is... if in accord with my belief about misunderstanding, should i actually let the waitress know that she must at least say thank you or give me back my money, or else she should choose other more suitable job? perhaps what i said could knock some senses or give her courage to be out of her job? or at least maybe they could know what is a proper manner? for 'not knowing' in many cases lead to sin, and those that 'know' yet do not share is also not a good one hur?

of course, not in a dramatic manner and shout 'lo ni ada otak ga sih? jadi pelayan senyum aja nggak, lo pikir siapa mo kasih lu tips? muka uda jelek senyum ga malah tamu di cemberutin, kalo ga mo kerja pulang sana ke rumah, jangan disini bikin napsu makan orang ilang aja! pagi2 uda bikin saya marah2! g sumpahin lo!' and add 'sejak kapan seribu itu uda bukan duit? kenapa lo cuma duduk disini ngobrol ama teman lo? balikin duit g sini! dasar ga tau diri! bersiin tu meja bukan cuma disini bergosip ria!'

of course...there's always better way to deliver our ideas. in a more civilize way. whether she take it or not, that's up to her. as long as i pass the idea of being a better front liner.

once i was out with my dad, his friend, and the daughter to a dinner. four of us was ushered to a small round table, while the next square table for 6 was empty. so uncle asked 'can we take up the square table? this one is too small for us' indeed it wasn't big enough because we planned to shared meals.

the waiter was so reluctant, thinking that it could lease the table to 6 guests instead of us 4, yet the restaurant was rather empty actually, not like there's 2380241409594 person queuing up.

to my surprise, uncle said 'so can we sit there or not? if no, i can choose another restaurant'

the waiter directly gave us that table and apologize, then uncle said 'we wanted to share meals, that's why we asked for this table. if not i can always go to other restaurant. i haven't even touched your meal but you had already made me angry'

i think what uncle done is right. first, he said in a polite tone. second, that's isn't a greedy request. third. he stand up for himself. fourth, the waiter needed to be smarter.

oh well, maybe next time if i ever encounter one again.

Friday, July 9, 2010

recently:me


like i said, cleaning is rather fun. see what i had found? a funky yellow and pretty orange glasses!
alright alright...i am *bit* too old for this kind of pic... nvrmind hehehehe~
lately i am busy reading a very wonderful book.

given by my cousin in law to my bro (which i found at desk, dusty and looking lonely)

i didn't touch it though until few days ago, because of it's *funny* title.

anyway, it is a photocopy of indonesian translation book by a taiwanese writer, which translated had been labeled with ' untuk kalangan sendiri, tidak untuk di perjual belikan'

the one i had though is a compilation from few of his books, a little bit from here and there i suppose. all is in a short story form.

the title is 'aneka kisah nyata didalam dunia roh' by Sheng Yen, Lu. he is a taiwanese born, who on his later days moved to live in -rather-solitude in america to study and deepen his spiritual study.

the book is entertaining because his stories truly close to tales, which is all based on his spiritual experiences. he is able to experience so much because he himself is a soul with high spiritual knowledge (or should i translate it to saying... awaken spiritually) who is reborn again to our world, growing up as a Christian and then study tao and later on Buddhism.

his stories started with his early experiences with spiritual world, awaken spiritually, met his soul teacher, practice what he had learned with helping crossing souls to another realm, further learning with a human teacher of high spiritual, meeting lots of bodhisatva, and many other stories. super interesting!

personally i belief in the existence of spirit and many other realm, and so this book is truly interesting because... through his short stories he is trying to tell everybody to wake up and realize there's more than this world. this life. we must train our spirit and heart to be set free from the reincarnation circle. each and everybody could start from small things, spreading good will, praying, chanting, or even giving encouraging words to those who are sad or needing emotional help.

anyway it is good to remind myself always, that i need to put more effort in finding myself.

just like a never ending cleaning process. just like how i need to deal with our house floor, desk, furniture, books, to clothes, to plates; so does our heart. our mind. ah! what a never ending task! my thoughts are still like the wavey sea, hopefully with more meditation i could calm it bit by bit.

some of his books translated into english from mandarin:

Flying Carpet of The East
My Communication with the Spirit World
Reaching Higher Spiritual Dimensions
Magical Powers
Secrets of Reincarnation
The Inner World of the Lake

hopefully one day.. i would come across maybe one of those?

another cooking experiment

tadaa....another experiment learned from andrin's blog. it's a super simple dish. after putting the mushroom for around 10-15 min in warm water (till it soften for me to cut into thin slices, but not too long until the water drawn all the flavor out =.= once i soaked it for...6-7 hours...and you know what happened...) then soak it in some sauce and add bit sugar or oyster sauce.

andrin wrote that instead of just putting the ingredients on top of the tofu, she sliced them up and sandwiched the mushroom and some other stuffs. hence i cut the tofu and tried to stuff things nicely *shy* then grabbed some dried prawn. instinct told me to crush them up and sprinkle them instead of putting salt. add some spring onion on top, steam for a while, then served with oyster sauce :)

*i tried to cut spring onion as thin as possible to make it looks like thin vegie inspired by what a chef done at a restaurant but *shy* i suppose it requires lots practice though! when it gets too thin, the leaf will curl up by itself! maybe it is my wrong hand move or knife move or what i have yet to figure out... btw the spring onion is the freshest you could find on this earth! coz we grown it at our balcony and i just run out to grab some from the pot hehehheheh. what a bliss!*

my mistake here i think is that...okay obviously it is not prettily cut out, and also maybe i should throw away the steam water collected at the base of the plate. and also when i pour the oyster sauce, since it was two rows so i poured both and it turns out to be too salty #____#

but! the idea of slicing the tofu made the sauce travel downward easier and also easier for spoon to reach each slices together with -rather equally spread out- sauce and mushrooms :) genius!

and the dried prawn works! next time i will crush it finer and mix it with the mushroom 1st rather than sprinkle them after i stuff the mushroom.

thanks dad for your ever encouraging words! my future husband owes you alot!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

i miss singapore 2


the yummylicious pork-ribs-prawn noodle~

Thursday, July 1, 2010

universe, thank you so very berry much.

a month back to hometown and i realize you had made my wish come true.

before i came back, i prayed that my noisy gossiping relatives would just...leave me alone and be uninterested in me.

my cousin told me the horrid stories of how they talked bad ( gossiping as time passing activity) about him and his gf and lots of other stuffs that it made my stomach churn and felt i shouldn't be back and stay at sg. seriously. on top of my grandma trying to stop him leaving to sg by keep reminding him that 'i am not going to be around any longer ----' how stressing everything is from his stories!

but belief me, none of those happens to me. none. everybody just moderately ask how am i doing and after mentioning about further study, well, that's all.

even the most noisy auntie, it is like almost the time we met she was just busy with something else and never even asked me whether i had boyfriend already or not. and grandma too, didn't pestering me at all about that. as versus previous year. really!

and all other aunties, they just, well, always busy with something else when we are together (and thankfully we are rarely meeting up already as compare to...10 years ago)

thank you universe, you had made my stay at manado much more at ease. im truly glad that they just ignore me as i had wished before. hope the next time my cousin back to manado, they all shall leave him be too.

as we all grew older, i suppose nothing could escape changes. but since it is changing for the better, why not? :)

universe, thank you for had taken good care of me, i am very grateful for this.

i miss singapore 1


one thing that i miss the most about singapore is definitely east coast cycling trail. definitely.