2009 Story Recaps

You know it's not just Taylor Swift having her triumph this year, making 2009 her fab year, as mentioned by People.com. These were only brief recaps, because I even have posted them on this blog earlier. That's why, you'll see some links coming up below. Some who don't have links but are still part of one story will soon be written, for example: My February US Trip story. It's still unfinished..

Anyway, just want to show you. The sky was absolutely beautiful today. It was pure blue, with thick glossy-looking clouds. This was the last afternoon sky of 2009, before, shortly after, it turned gray.

The post does look a lot like the 40 post, but what different here is, it is explained a bit more briefly and classified into months.

Well, this is also the last post of the year. So hope you'll enjoy it!

* Just wanna let you know that by posting this, I don't mean to boast anything about the trips I've been through. I'm kind of person who likes jotting down journals from my trip to keep them in mind and this blog is my only journal (I don't have something like diaries in real life or something like that, but probably soon I will). So, don't get me wrong guys. Just consider this as my diary free for you to read (no privacy at all, since I like to share all my stories with all of you guys)

** Bold means important/favorite event or point.

--------------------------------------------
2009 STORY RECAPS

• JANUARY
  
  Late January: Went to US embassy to apply for a visa with my mom since we were going to the US on February. It was weekday. I don't remember exactly what date it was but it was on Thursday, and my school was having some sort of an event and due to that, all students would go home earlier at 11.30. Thinking I would make it to school after applying visa, I donned a normal school uniform and lined up with the others applicants. Maybe they would think "Does this girl ditch school?" Well, yes, ma'am or sir, I did DITCH school, but not really though, because soon after applying, I'll go back to school. Well, I was excited that my visa got accepted after the oh-so-tense interview (or interrogation, if I may say). Mom said that now it was my time to make up an excuse to go to the US. Shortly after my visa got accepted, I returned to school, with a fake letter on my hand saying that I just returned from the doctor. I made it back to school just half an hour before 11.30 and everybody was like "If I were you, I would really ditch school."
  
  
• FEBRUARY
  
  February 2: My visa's done! The embassy staff sent it to my mom's office. So glad to see that it was glued right on my passport!
  
  Around February: Chinese New Year! I went out with my cousins and relatives to watch Red Cliff 2. It was very interesting of course, since I've never watched any foreign movies apart from English in cinemas, and seeing that it was Chinese New Year.
  
  February 19-February 28: February US Trip
  

  Day 1 (February 19): Departure from Jakarta to Los Angeles via Hong Kong. Arrival at LAX at 4.30 pm local time.
  
  Day 2 (February 20): Disneyland trip part 1: with dad's friends
  
  Day 3 (February 21): Hollywood tour: Downtown LA, Hollywood Boulevard (Kodak Theatre- thank God, I visited it on Oscar's eve, because I got to see all the decorations, and Mann Chinese Theatre), Sunset Boulevard, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica beach (and it got a mall that resembled Bandung's Paris Van Java I recently visited!), and Venice Beach (looked a look like Kuta Beach)
  
  Day 4 (February 22): Disneyland trip part 2: with mom
  
  Day 5 (February 23): Universal Studio tour
  
  Day 6 (February 24): Anaheim Mall, got lost there while my mom was busy shopping. When my feet ached enough that they need some rest, I plopped down on a couch in one corner of this mall. Bored, I opened my bag and shoved to find my camera, which I quickly turned on only to find some random pictures I took yesterday and...pictures and videos of my friends. My thoughts wandered back to them instantly. Aw...
  
  Day 7 (February 25): Walmart. Nothing really special though, just some shoppingshoppingshoppingshoppingshopping...BLAH, that place was huge just like Giant in Jakarta. You know huge supermarkets made me feel daze easily. Also, this was the day I FOUND JESSIE at Disney Downtown's store!!!! Finally, for 10 years since Toy Story 2 was released, I found you, cowgirl! Yeehaww!!!
  
  Day 8 (February 26): Departure to Jakarta via Hong Kong late in the night.
  
  Day 8 1/2 (February 27): Only passed this for three hours, onboard, and my dad's birthday was also celebrated for three hours before entering the 28th.
  
  Day 9 (February 28): Arrival in Jakarta. Air sick, since the plane experienced a lot of turbulences due to the heavy storm currently happening in Jakarta.
  

• MARCH
  
  March 2: Returned to school. "Carissa, you feel better already?" asked one teacher. "Never 'better' ma'am." Then another one who knew my intention of going to America came up. "How was the admission test? People've been wondering where you've been but I kept telling them you were sick." I answered. "The test was okay, it was just a 'prediction test', but indeed, I got sick for a moment." She asked again. "You did? What kind?" I answered. "Airsick." *GUILTYPLEASURE*
  

• APRIL
  
  Around April: This month, there are lots of invitation coming up. Hey, everyone was turning seventeen this year! I was so excited about the parties. I'm not really into parties actually, but I was very impressed by Amanda's sweet seventeen party held in Wimo Kemang! The dress code was white, and coincidentally, I loved dressing up in black-white combination.
  
  
• MAY
  
  Still, invitations invitations!
  
  May 23 (or so I thought): I attended this awesome birthday party of my best friend, Elda, held in Nikko Hotel. I never attended such a merry celebration like this before! It got band, games, and food! I even got to reunite with my friends from elementary school and junior high. At the end, we moved on to the dance floor and danced till we dropped. Dugem moment, anyone?
  

• JUNE
  
  June 3:
  --> "The Nightlurker" was done and printed
  --> The Big Escapades blog was born
  
  June 4: Live in!
  

  Day 1 (June 4th): Taking off from school at 3.30 pm. Dinner in Indramayu
  
  Day 2 (June 5th): Arrival in Sawangan, Banyu Temumpang. We were later divided into groups which would be taken to different regions or villages. Mine was Gantang 3, with my roommate Fifi or Fau and this extraordinary family called Sumprah. First day here, well, nothing much to do except helping hostauntie cooking ceriping (traditional crackers) and vegetable soup. In the night, we held a simple, small mass for neighbors
  
  Day 3 (June 6th): Going to the forest to pick up some wild grass for the cows. Found an enormous wild spiders on the host mother's back. Fed the cows and watched TV with Anka, Fifi (another Fifi who lived with Anka next door), and Fau, while the families were off for mass in the church.
  
  Day 4 (June 7th): Children's games today! We gathered in our base to wrap the presents for kids. It was a fun day, seeing how bright those kids' faces were :)
  
  Day 5 (June 8th): Returning home to Jakarta. Before that Fau and I went to a market in the lower ground to buy something for our host family. Then, after taking off from Sawangan, we had a little shopping in Yogyakarta's famous market Malioboro, and then on the way to the restaurant for dinner (it was located in the middle of nowhere, just the small restaurant building, a railroad, and the empty, dark street), we watched TWILIGHT!
  
  Day 6 (June 9th): Arriving at home. Jetlagged much?

  June 10s: Last day of 2008-2009 term. Report card day. Got third rank in Language Department!
  
  HOLIDAY!!!
  
  June 18: Senior graduation. Performed "Hymne Guru" and "If We Hold On Together" with violins, along with Clara, Tasya, and another freshman
  
  June 27: TOEFL test and a fever.
  
  Late June: Watched "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" with fellas.
  
  June 20s: First introduced with Super Junior and instantly fell in love with them after watching "Explorers of the Human Body".
  
  
• JULY
  
  Early July: CHINA TRIP with Chan Brothers.
  

  Day 1: Gathering in Soekarno-Hatta airport, meeting up with fellas of Chan Brothers, getting to meet Akina, Jessica, Rio, Fanka, Dafa, and Dipo! Kak Yuli served as the Chan Brother's tour guide. Arrival at Nanjing Airport late in the night (via Singapore). We stayed in this luxurious hotel, but in the middle of nowhere. Oh, and please do introduce our tour guide: Ko Aping, a Chinese local guide who was - I'm telling you - really, really fluent in Bahasa.
  
  Day 2: Traveling around Nanjing. We went to Pearl's factory, drank tea made out of pearl. Then to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, with thousands stairs but not too steep though. The place was quite high. That day, we also headed to Suzhou. Um, another moment with pearls, I presume.
  
  Day 3: The next dayyyy....we went to Liu Yuan garden, and visited a tomb of a great Chinese general (my mom knows the name). After lunch, we were heading to...Hangzhou! Quite near from Suzhou though. Hangzhou is known as one of China's tourists' popular sites, best known for its legendary Song Dynasty. That day, we went up to a hill, towards a tea plantation where we drank this traditional green tea. Then we descended down to the city and watched The Song Dynasty musical show. It was a very awesome show, and the fact that it was widely known across the globe was even more surprising! The theatre is located in a some sort of a Chinese traditional amusement park/market, complete with Chinese decorations and stalls selling souvenirs. :)
  
  Day 4: Taking off from Hang Zhou to...the famous city of Shanghai! Shanghai is yet the largest business district in China, filled with skycrapers all over the place, beating Beijing as China's capital city. We went around Nanjing Road (like a shopping district, complete with branded shops lining up in rows, just like Singapore's Orchard Road!) In the night, we had a dinner in a ship (a real ship, but no it didn't operate. Just like Queen Mary's). The ship was eventually a restaurant. But actually, this was the creepiest dinner ever, since the ship was slightly tilted to the other side, which was filled with more customers sitting on that side. I was kind of creeped out if the ship was going to flip over. TT_TT
  
  Day 5: Visiting Yu Yuan garden and a famous unique looking tower. Then we took off to Beijing by China Airlines. See you soon, Ko Aping. We landed quite late at night in Beijing, around 9 o'clock and we were greeted by Vivian, our local guide in Beijing. Then after a brief introduction about Beijing, we arrived in a small restaurant to have dinner. i had a stomacache here. Well, woman thing is never a good thing, y'know.
  
  Day 6: Forbidden City! Too...beautiful...to...describe...
  
  Day 7: That day, we were going to go to one of the seven wonders of the world. No, it was not Taj Mahal of course, not Chichen Itza either. It was the GREAT WALL itself! Yes, your trip to China wouldn't be complete without visiting this place. Before going there, we dropped in a gemstone store for a second. Then we headed straightly to Great Wall! We only stayed there for no longer than an hour, because apparently the ladies were excited enough to go to Yashow market at the downtown. After going to the Great Wall, we went to have a lunch nearby in a place filled with vases. Kewl.
  
  Day 8: Going back to Jakarta. Oh, I really am going to miss this trip so much.
  

July 13: First day of school. 12th grader already?? That's a bit too fast...

• AUGUST
  
  Early August: Started writing paper "Observing Teenagers' Interests in Classic Novels" after handing out a number of rejected titles such as "Observing The Life and Culture of Mayans" and "The Use of Greek Mythology".
  
  August 10s: FLOOOOOODDDD *howl*. School shut down for approximately four days. It all started on a day when one of the teachers' husband passed away and we all attended the funeral. The rain fell heavily before the procession was even done, and the students all scattered away, seeking for shelters (eventually, turned out the shelters themselves were the cars). After a moment, it still hadn't stopped raining and eventually, we could all go home.
  
  August 17: 64th Independence Day ceremony
  
  August 22: School's strike.
  
  Late August: Started fasting!!
  
  
• SEPTEMBER
  
  September 2: Earthquake hit Jakarta, startling me from my seat as I was watching SpongeBob SquarePants at three o'clock after school.
  
  September 4: 6C [++] Re-United Tarakanita 2004 (w/ Gadiz). Reunion with fellas from Tarakanita Elementary School year 2004, hosted by Gadis. You sure know her, don't you? She's the famous saxophonist who currently lives in Canada :)
  
  September 7: Serigala Terakhir Movie Workshop at school
  
  Around September: Watched Hee Ah Lee, a talented Korean pianist, with limited physical ability but extraordinary talent!
  
  Around September TOO: School visit to Universitas Pelita Harapan
  
  September 21-22: Idul Fitri. This was also my first time doing Idul Fitri prayer not in the mosque, but on the street near my house blocked specially for the occasion.
  
  Late September: Bintan Trip with the Gunawans.
  

  Day 1: Went to the airport to take off to Batam by plane. From Batam airport, we took off to Punggur, a local port to quickly transfer to Tanjung Pinang, the capital or the largest city in Bintan island. We were picked up there by mom's old friend who turned out to be the owner of the hotel we were going to stay in. Had lunch at the downtown in this nice little Chinese restaurant. Then we went to the hotel. Quite unexpectedly, turned out we stayed in two fine suites (like a bungalow) in a small cottage located off the beach (so to go to the suite, we must pass through the bridge that connected the beach and the cottage). In the night, we went out to see some hotels under construction (still owned by my mom's friend). Then we had dinner.
  
  Day 2:More "Hotels Under Construction" exploration
  
  Day 3:We went to Tanjung Pinang...I think. Seriously, I completely forgot. I didn't write the journal about this trip, neither had the itinerary about it. >_< Day 4:Watched some people playing water sports off the beach, packed, and......went to the port, boarded into the small ferry, and...yadayada we arrived at Punggur, Batam, before going straight to Jakarta by plane.
  

• OCTOBER
  
  The best month in 2009 yet ">___<" October 6: Joined a ballet jazz class
  
  October 10: Tarphrodite convoy. With cars lining up along the street, we shouted "TARPHRODITE, TARAKANITA'S PROHIBITION AGAINST THE DISCRIMINATION OF WOMEN'S RIGHT, OCTOBER 17, 2009, LAPANGAN D SENAYAN, RAN, SAYKOJI, SUPERMAN IS DEAD!!!". Don't worry, we weren't acting weird. Just for promotional purpose.
  
  October 16: Tarphrodite D-1
  
  October 17: TARPHRODITE!
  
  October 23: MY SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY!
  
  October 24: Birthday dinner with friends and family at Just Steak. Slight fever.
  
  October 27: CITY TOUR
  

  Day 1 (October 27): We started out going to Textile Museum and joined in a batik workshop, then we had lunch in ITC Kuningan, after that we headed to the next destination was Ruang Rupa - a contemporary art gallery, Kompas editorial, before returning to school. I went straightly to Ballet Jazz shortly after.
  
  Day 2 (October 28): City tour's second day. Started out going to Bank Indonesia Museum, which was very very modernized, complete with technology and very cutting edge, then...the last destination of the day and to close all series of city tours...DUFAN!!! Got on some rides like the spinning tea cups thingy, ontang anting, Rumah Jail, mirror maze, Perang Bintang, mm...what else? Oh, Istana Boneka! It's like Indonesian version of It's a Small World. Returned to school at 5.00 pm but due to heavy traffic jam, we made it to school at 7.30 pm. O.O
  

• NOVEMBER
  
  Around November: Attended Serigala Terakhir movie premiere, performed Boom Boom Pow in Ballet Jazz class, and watched Extravaganza in Trans TV studio. Movie, Performing Arts, and Television day.
  
  November 26: English Club Farewell
  
  
• DECEMBER
  
  December 6: Violin recital, performing Canon in D in Rockestra style
  
  December 14: Finished Le Papier!!
  
  December 15: Turned in the paper and received three awards at school on the last day of school in 2009!!
  
  December 25: Merry Christmas!!
  
  December 27-29: Bandung trip with cousins
  

  Day 1 (December 27): First, I went to my cousin's and took off at 9 to Bandung. Lunch at Sapu Lidi near Lembang, then went to Kampung Gajah to see that it was still under construction. Went to Paris Van Java to look for Purezento shop. Dinner at Bakmi Naripan
  
  Day 2 (December 28): Woke up at 7.30 am, breakfast, and headed straight to Kawah Putih to see a spectacular turquoise sulphuric mud lake. Then we went to Situ Patenggang, whose surroundings bear striking resemblance with Twilight's Forks, and then we went to Cihampelas Walk, dinner at Suis Steak Setiabudi. Last destination...*the writer's kinda out of breath right now* Bandung Indah Plaza to buy some more Purezento keychains. Last but not least, TIMEZONE TIME!!!
  
  Day 3 (December 29): Today, we checked out from our hotels, heading to Parahyangan University. It's one of the leading universities in West Java, where my cousin is interested in pursuing her higher education to. The housings were fine too. From Parahyangan, we had lunch (family lunch) in McD. Just so you know, that's the first time I had a heavy family meal in a junk food restaurant.

  December 31: Writing this post...nearly...out of breath...and...haven't taken...a bath yet...

See you in 2010!!
^_^

15

40

1. Went to the US embassy to apply for a visa in a weekday. I made a false excuse for being late to school for this, stating I had to go to the "doctor" first
2. US trip for a week. Again, false excuse was made stating I was sick
3. Celebrated dad's birthday only for three hours on the 27th of February. Well, we were leaving from LA on the 26th at approx. 11 pm in the night. Then after 12 pm, of course, we entered the 27th. But not long after entering the 27th, we crossed Pacific Time zone, entering the 28th. :(
4. Got to watch movies on airplanes
5. Attended friends' sweet seventeen parties (yay, all of my friends turned seventeen)
6. Reunion with my elementary school friends
7. Attended and watched a real recital for the first time (Hee Ah Lee's recital)
8. Had my first violin concert
9. For the first time, approx. on June, I was introduced to Super Junior and immediately fell in love with them after watching "Explorers of the Human Body". My interest on Kpop expanded since then. SHINee, Big Bang, Girls' Generation, f(x), and 2PM.
10. Joining Ballet jazz!!
11. For the first time in my 17 years of life, got a rank (third rank though) at the end of the semester (11th grade)
12. Attended the class all by myself on early February, due to heavy rainfall and flood.
13. My weakness is Math, but earlier I was appointed by my homeroom teacher (in the 11th grade) to become a tutor for my chair mate. My parents were like "WHAT?! Carissa who's never got a score higher than sixty was appointed to become a tutor???" The thing is, my math was fairly good last year, well, not really though, just average, for me. But still, once in a lifetime, I'VE BECOME A TUTOR IN SOMETHING I DON'T REALLY MASTER
14. TOEFL YEAR, and it ended with the final score of 567!
15. LIVE IN and also experienced the longest ride on land.
16. Got accepted to Atma Jaya
17. Got accepted to my dream college
18. Turned 17 and had it celebrated :)
19. City tour...aah...I want to go back to those moments
20. Joined a school event's convoy for the first and the last time
21. TARPHRODITE!
22. Finished an English written novel (actually I rewrote my short story into a novel)
23. Went to China for 8 days, with CHAN BROTHERS!! So all in all, through this trip, I have visited all countries in East Asia (South Korea trip on late 2002, Japan trip on late 2004, and China trip on summer 2009). What a record for me, since I really love traveling!
24. Got lost in a mall in US and finally got to interract bules in the land of theirs (not in Jakarta)
25. Got my real fashion taste (I mean, girls' fashion, I used to be into boys') for the first time earlier this year
26. Got an ID card
27. Got a driving license and got to drive a car for real this time
28. Went to Bintan for a Lebaran vacation
29. Attended senior's graduation even though I was an 11th grader back then and watched the tearful moment of the seniors
30. Got three awards in just one day: second rank in Language Department, third position of Spelling Bee contest, and listed as one of two best behaviour students in my department, for being always present at school)
31. Had French lesson secretly and learned Chinese with mom
32. PAY-PURR!!! (spelled: paper)
33. Last trip of the year: Bandung, and my first trip with cousins
34. Family heavy lunch in McD, for the first time
35. Contacted my very first best friend (whom I met in kindergarten) after years of not interacting with her.
36. Serigala Terakhir Movie Workshop at school
37. Watched Red Cliff 2 on Chinese New Year together with families and relatives from my mom. My very first movie night with them.
38. Attended Serigala Terakhir movie premiere, danced to Boom Boom Pow in Ballet Jazz class, and watched Extravaganza show in a Trans TV studio in just one day. Perhaps we better call this day: Movie, Performing Arts, and Television Day
39. Learned MOONWALKING with cousin. I'm still lame at it though.
40. Found a doll I've been desiring to buy since ten years ago, which is Jessie the yodeling cowgirl doll from Toy Story 2. Found her in a Disney store in Disneyland and you can't imagine how I was utterly overwhelmed back then (I mean, since 1999!!).

THANK YOU 2009
For giving me extraordinary experiences
and unforgettable moments
Many things happened quite unexpectedly this year
But those things turned out to be fun at the end
I've enjoyed every moment, or second of this year
Sad to leave it but we've got to move forward
2009 is my best and most favorite year yet
You know, great things don't always come for the second time

Hohoho

MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!
Hope you have a very wonderful Christmas,
filled with joy, happiness, and blessings that will last through the year

Honestly I do not celebrate Christmas myself, but I gotta say, Christmas is my most favorite holiday after Lebaran. Why? Because I do also get presents, greeting cards, and invited for some Christmas gatherings and feasts (sometimes) by my relatives.

Though I really wish I get to experience White Christmas with all snow falling all around me and making a snowman (I once did make a snowman before in South Korea, on a Christmas vacation).

-----------------------------------------
Anyway...

This year, I also get a special Christmas present from my aunt



Yumm... ^^

And have I mentioned that yesterday, finally I got to watch Avatar with my cousins?

It was freakin' awesome! I really really really love it. The theme and the entire plotline may be a bit too common (when you watch this movie, you will be slightly reminded by Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire or Disney's Pocahontas. There's a good article about it I just happened to stumble upom). But I like the whole futuristic, mineral mining kind of theme, and the idea of channeling a person's thought to the body of an Avatar or Na'Vi. All in all, I think James Cameron is trying to tell people not to "destroy your environment".

Suddenly a collector...

Another post today! I've been dead bored at home since this morning...

Despite the sad, shocking news about Hangeng (and now somehow involving Kyuhyun), I want to show you something...



I found them all in ITC Kuningan, even though I was not with my friends at that moment (We always did DVD hunting together). The day before I found these DVDs in a stall, my friend eagerly told me that she found Attack of the Pin Up Boys, then the next day, I went to the dentist which was quite near from ITC. After the appointment, I went straightly there and got these lovely four DVDs of Super Junior!

These are my first Super Junior DVD collections that I got in just a day.

- Super Junior: Full House -
- Super Junior: Mini Drama M-net -
- Super Junior: Mystery 6 (starring Donghae) -
- Super Junior Movie: Attack of the Pin Up Boys -

Next up, I'm going to buy...

- Super Junior: Explorers of the Human Body -

I didn't dare to buy a lot of DVDs since I was with my mom. Maybe if I were hunting with my friends like what we loved to do, I would probably buy all Super Junior DVDs there.

Uh oh...

Did you hear that alarm? Something's coming from the distance...

Silliness and narcissism attack!!!


Wish I could find a picture just with Kyuhyun.
But Yesung looks kind of irresistible too.


Sorry Monica, sorry Taylor. ^_^
Since when I've looked just like Kristen Stewart? >_<


Ah...J'adore... :)
Gaspard is tres beau!! Look, I've replaced Gong Li's face. Haha

Face in Hole is really an amusing application!

------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway, check this out...


Click the image above

I've always loved documenting my dreams, visualizing them into writings. This blog is meant only for occasional purpose only, so I don't really update it unless I have a dream I want to write here.

Don't leave, Hangeng...

Okay, got a very very bad news (or rumor) on Twitter.

Hangeng, or most commonly known as, Hankyung, is rumored to have some kind of dispute regarding to his contract with SM entertainment. He's been reported signing a termination request form and wishes to quit the group. Until now, it hasn't been confirmed yet if he will really do that or stick with it instead. Though we all hope that he won't really leave the group. :(

Hangeng is one of my Super Junior that I adore the most. Apart from him being handsome, I can tell that he's a really down to earth person. He's not that kind of "naughty" boy or something that will possibly create some scandal. I'm utterly shocked to hear this.

And now, another new update coming coming up...and this time, still on the news relating to Hangeng, it brings up the name of Kyuhyun. The youngest member of the group has been told to have deleted his Cyworld.

Not much to tell. But I really hope Hangeng will stick to Super Junior and to SM. I really adore him, as much as others do. What is the meaning of Super Junior with his absence?

:( :( :(

I <3 Microsoft Word!

Okay, this is going to be a very short post. I promise.

Guess where I'm posting this blog from. Microsoft Word!! I'm totally glad that finally I can use this feature. Anyway, this is an old feature actually, but I've just discovered how it works lately. This feature allows you to create a blog using Microsoft Word document, which is much easier than posting from the default Blogger posting template, I'm telling you. Although the weakness of this feature is, I'm still not sure if I'm able to post pictures.

Perhaps, if it comes to pictures, I will return to use the default Blogger posting template. So I'm really not going to post a lot using this Word feature I just discovered. But definitely, Word is so much more flexible. It has more color options, size options, and even font options!! But all in all, I'm still getting used to it.

Yipee yay!! See? It's a short post.

English Club Farewell Craziness

*Blogging mode on*

You really have to know that since the report card day, I've been dead bored at home, not knowing what to do, and recently I happened to stumble into photos from my extracurricular's farewell, uploaded by Febi on Facebook.

So, you ask, what extracurricular do you join in? The famous school's drum band? Or the awesome drama club? I'll say, haha, even better. It's English Club. Of course you've never heard about it. Anyway, it's not that I'm going blabber about what English Club is. Well, you know it's the most gabut­-est and the least known one, yet with the friendly seniors and crazy freshmen.

As for the seniors (refers to us, the twelve graders), we're not going to keep up with the club next year, due to the freaking tests and exams striking almost every week. The club members have been even closer than just friends. We've been like sisters for the past few months. Even not just us, the members, but the club's advisor himself. We call him Mr. B. Since my friends and I, the seniors, are not going to be present at the club next year, the juniors (the 11th graders and 10th graders) seemed to have planned something surprising for us.

And here goes the story.
So plop yourselves on your seats, sit back, and enjoy the show...

*Story telling mode on*

The seniors were hectic that day, on Tuesday, November 26, 2009 due to the Paper Session (or test) held in the morning. As one of the stressful seniors, I was waiting in front of the auditorium, waiting for my Paper coordinator and advisor to summon me. Luckily, I got the first turn but seriously this ain't a good thing *heart pounding uncontrollably*. First, I had no idea at all what those two women were going to ask me in the Session. They would probably snap out some complaints about the mistakes I'd made in my Paper. Just prepare your ears, Car.

As you can guess, I was sitting in this small room that was bordered by some boards. So in the other side of the boards, there were a few more rooms for other Sessions held at the same time. I'm going to explain the whole thing how the Session went. It made me want to throw up and bad thing I didn't have a plastic bag around here. So let's keep to the end of the Session. As I walked out of the auditorium, my friends practically called me and demanded to know what the advisor and the coordinator were going to ask them. I told them to restrain themselves and keep calm, because being tense wouldn't help things go just fine.

Soon my three other friends (Monica, Fifi, and Widya) who have done with their Sessions and I, went to the abandoned Language Lab and just played around with their computers. Three of us (minus Agnes, Irina the treasurer, and Fanny the CSI-obsessed secretary, who already had her eyes on Soraya, a freshman who also had the same obsession on CSI, to be her successor. They were not present at that time.) happened to be members of English Club. Yes, we're always close.

Perhaps we had been too stressed out with the Sessions earlier that we really had to pop out our inner craziness and let out our stressfulness at that time, and how we got that out? Her name is Monica and she's a huge fan of Disney kids. She pioneered the idea of releasing our stressfulness by dancing to the songs of Miley Cyrus and last but not least, we all danced to Single Ladies and immitated Beyonce's exact movements just like in the video clip. A bit crazy but funny. Even we sat on each computers, listening to different songs heard through the headsets and just...sang along pretty loud. I even sang along to Owl City's Fireflies. I know my voice ain't that good but...it's just to release all the pressure I have after the freaking Paper Session.

When Monica was about to accompany me to the restroom, she opened the door first with me behind her, but then there was a voice.

"Stay inside!"

Monica replied. "Sir, what are you doing out there?"

"Just stay inside." he insisted.

The door was then held so it wouldn't open too wide. Monica then said that Mr. B was outside, presumably had been eavesdropping our falsetto voices mimicking Miley Cyrus, Owl City, or even Justin Bieber. I had a feeling he was keeping a secret. Out of curiousity, Widya jumped onto a chair near the high window and looked outside, saying that he was gazing facing the yard against the railing. Fifi remained on her computer, singing along calmly to the song she was currently listening, and I returned to my computer while Widya, as curious as a cat, was still on the chair spying on the teacher outside who was leaning against the railing. Monica continued singing along to a Miley's song from her phone - Party in the USA, to be exact - before...

"SURPRISE!!!!"

All of sudden, a bunch of girls, followed by a tall guy no other than Mr. B, entered the room. The 11th graders included Febi (my "daughter" aka my successor), Winny (the treasurer), Lady (the secretary). The freshmen like Dian, Nikita, Alia, Lanti, Putri, and many others were also present. Unexpectedly, Febi had arranged a surprise farewell party for the seniors, and not to mention she also brought a farewell tart cake and some party hats for everyone to wear, which is embarrassing, I know. We took some pictures - silly pictures - and not to mention, one of the juniors asked Mr. B to pose with his cake in front of the camera. And thus he did, but in a silly-looking way. So after donning his party hat, he held up his cake besides him, and stroke a pose and grinned widely at the camera in an unusual expression - funny.

I wish I had that picture. It was sooo rare to see a teacher acting that way. Still, it's funny though. At that moment we even forgot that he was a teacher. Haha. Even a junior who was attempting to take his picture, couldn't help but shake the camera due to laughing so hard.

Actually, at that moment, I hardly paid attention to him posing at that time. In fact, I was facing the other way. The next thing I remembered was, Widya, Monica, Fifi, followed by the rest of juniors and freshmen, all fell on their knees to the floor - some even laid down, rolling to the side - roared into loud laughter. I was like "What is it? What are you guys laughing about?" Widya pointed at Mr. B and I couldn't help but laugh too...

Here are some pictures snapped from the occasion. Sorry for the low quality. Pictures credit to Febi's phone camera.

From left to right (first row): Lady, Febi, Winny, me (hidden, explained below), Widya, Monica.
Followed by Dian turning her head against the camera, Nikita looking cool, and Fifi munching on her snack

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Oh my gosh, did I really look like a Sadako there??
Well, I can explain about this. Actually I was being tickled by Widya. That's why I didn't have time to pose. At this moment, I was laughing.


Nuff said. The leader indeed loves posing in front of the camera


Sisterhood of English Club's Seniors:
(from left to right) Fifi, Widya, moi, and Monica


And...with the advisor...

Again... :)

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Okay, FLASHBACK TIME
Prepare your tissue

It was memorable two and a half years being with English Club. I remember when I was still an innocent freshman myself, resisting to join this club because I preferred to join more existing and more known clubs such as Drumband, Drama club, or Art club), but eventually forced by my mom to join English Club.

When I sat in the class at the very first meeting, I put on a I-don't-belong-in-this club kind of expression, but it all changed as I met these amazing seniors such as Kak Niken (who turned out to be my "Grandma"), Kak Yulia (who used to be obsessed by Kevin Aprillio and sent me a letter blabbering about how she was brokenhearted when Kevin eventually had his eye on Sherina), and Kak Ais. English Club used to be very active back then, even the club and the Science Club collaborated to hold an academic event I will never forget, called TSEC (Tarakanita Science and English Competition). What made it even more memorable was, the competition was held right on my fifteenth birthday, which was October 23, 2007. Moving on to 2008, Raysa (my "mother") and the duo Cindy and Andrea, stepped up, and I still remember when my "mother" used to have this obsession on Kim Ryeowook from Super Junior and claimed that he was my "father". Now apparently she inherited her obsession to me. Haha.

Even on the sort of inauguration day, Fanny, Irina, and I were told to wander around the school, following a clue given to each of us, and I happened to stumble in front of Raysa's class, but in order to open the door, I had to scream out Ryeowook's name for like three times and I did. It turned out that I became Raysa's daughter and she gave me a teddy bear. Awww....

There was another memorable moment though. Our advisor back then was Mr. Thomas or Mr. T. We - the members of the club - loved him so much but in the other side, we felt like we've really hurt him, for everytime he taught in our classes, we would all ignore his explanation but he would always be very patient. One day, he summoned me, Widya, Fanny, and Raysa and told us he was going to quit teaching in our school pretty soon, due to him having some sort of health problem. He said that he needed some rest and probably move to teach somewhere close to his residence. We were all very struck with this news yet at that moment we felt extremely guilty for what we'd done to him after all this time. We'd always ignored him in class but he wouldn't be mad for that. At his farewell day, we uttered our apology for like thousandth time and hoped he would forgive us for our slightly outrageous behaviour.

Anyway, he was soon replaced by a new English teacher whom later we called Mr. B. His real name is Mr. Proud but we called him Mr. B due to our habit calling Mr. Thomas as Mr. T formerly (Mr. Thomas asked us to call him Mr. T) and also there was another dedicated advisor called Mrs. Rini. I remember when I was stressed due to having no idea how to make a permission letter to join a competition addressed to school, and she kept calling me and gave me tutorial via phone, even though she was busy at the moment.

The point is, it's been a memorable two and a half years (seems like I'm repeating words). English Club really gives me unforgettable memories and make me think that this club is even more awesome than any other clubs at school, well, for me. Thank you English Club and everyone who's contributed in it. I'm sorry if I've been a jackass leader and probably the lame one.

Next up...

I've finally watched and impressed by New Moon. I gotta say that sometimes, Edward Cullen (yes, ONLY Edward Cullen, doesn't include Robert Pattinson) is quite irresistible, but still Jacob Black (including Taylor Lautner) is way hotter than the vampire, which implies that I'm more into warm guys rather than cold ones.

I'm also impressed that the movie features similar quotes from the book, but of course with slight changes and additional scenes. My favorite character so far is Jane Volturi, even though Dakota Fanning who plays her only appear in one short scene and she has less than like ten lines, and I was excited to know that Dakota was going to play that part, because that's exactly how I picture Jane.

Anyway, I haven't watched 2012 yet, but soon I will!! And guess what, more awesome movies coming up to the theaters and I'm excited to see them.



Avatar is soon coming to the cinemas in Indonesia, but I'm still not certain when The Princess and the Frog will come out here. It is rumored that probably that animated movie will be released in Indonesia early next year, most likely February 2010. Aw...

Also, I'm looking forward to see



Starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem. And I just discovered that Christine Hakim will also be involved in this project! So, who wouldn't want to see it? Unfortunately this movie is coming soon on 2010 or 2011.

Glück!!!!

I'm tired, but my exhaustion means nothing without happiness that I got today!

You know what this is?

This is the freaking paper I talked about!! Yay, glad that I finally got to finish it, until the very last step - which is to get it bindered into a hardcovered book. So basically after months of writing, observing, interviewing, and doing this and that in order to complete my paper entitled "Observing Teenager's Interests in Reading Classical Novels", I finally finished it! Dunzo, fertig, shuryō, fini... But to be honest, I'm kind of disappointed with the technical requirements, which requires the papers for Language Department students to be covered with light blue color, while the others, say like students from Science Department, are required with with black color and golden text, which of course looks much more elegant. Ah, whatever. At least it's finished. PAPER'S FINISHED!! IT'S FINISHED EVERYBODY!! FINALLY...Muahahaha *laughter a la Hannah Montana's Rico character*

The point is, I'm relieved to finally have completed the paper, but in the other side - out of my excitement and joy - I would miss every moment of writing it, every sweat, every second I've spent, and it's always moments of rush, I would miss it. I know there will be another paper in the university ahead, but probably the ways of writing it will be utterly different. Well, paper has taken much of my time, so probably I'm going to say that this is another major project of the year aside of finishing The Nightlurker.

Well, okay, basically, today I'm happy because today, in my last day at school for this year and also the report card day, I got three awards at school (yay). I got the second rank in my class - which is Language Department, I won the third place for School's Spelling Bee, and I was also awarded for Good Behavior student due to never being absent at school for one semester. Considering that I've never got a lot of piling awards all at once, I'm practically and insanely overwhelmed. When the winners of Spelling Bee and the ranks from each departments were announced, I was still on the way and my friend informed me via text message. Spontaneously I screamed in the car, which is embarrassing, I know. But thanks for the awards, they really made my day!

My report card was not bad. No bad scores, unlike when I was in the freaking 10th grade (don't ask, my grades were very very very poor at that time, but when I got into Language Department, the improvements went extremely drastic than before, with some jaw dropping achievements, and I was even stunned with it). It's just there's something I regret though: I came late and I missed the announcements, so I haven't got the awards yet, except for the School's Spelling Bee award, I got this huge box full of biscuits!!! Yumm....

But well, although I've been very lucky today, it seems my mom still spots and exaggerates a small flaw of mine: that my score in Math doesn't satisfy her enough, and she keeps snapping out about it, saying that I'm not smart compared to my close friend in Science Department, who got the first rank in her department, but let's say this: nobody's perfect right? I remember my mom kept demanding me to beat one of the best students in class. Let's call her name is Reina. I'm telling you she's really, really, really smart and way more mature than anyone at her age. I mean she speaks diplomatically with an extraordinary extended knowledge mainly in politics and history.

Of course, Reina is like a 'wow' for me. I adore her intelligence and never thought of finally beating her at the end of the semester. Last semester, while being in the 11th grade, she got the second place and I got the third. The fact that finally I beat her - as what my mom has demanded me to do "I heard Reina is insanely smart. But you gotta beat her, Car. You HAVE TO." And ta-daa, wish granted mom. She got the third place, and I took her second place but eventually someone even better than her and me, got the first place. She's Anna, and she's best at linguistics and math. Well, through the experience today, I've learned that everybody has their own weaknesses. I finally figured out what Reina's weaknesses are (because it was such a disbelief that I could beat a girl as smart as her). Reina's pretty weak at linguistics, but her history and other social studies, she's good at them.

I went to my mom shortly after the announcement was over "Hey mom, I finally got to beat Reina, just like what you want me to, now you're happy?"

She didn't answer though, of course, but you know my mom will never be proud of me, for anything I've done for her. Let's say, I'm the moon, and mom demands me to be the earth. Now, I'm the earth, but my mom is still not satisfied and demands me to be something even bigger - Planet Jupiter. Once I'm Planet Jupiter, she demands me to become the Sun. :) (wow, what an imagination)

Ah, whatever. I don't give a damn about it. Haha.

Anyway, have I mentioned that a new Gaspard Ulliel video also made my day?? Also, I'm wearing a new kind of hairstyle, yet it is simple and I fall in love with it, that I barely changed it for a day!

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FINALLY HOLIDAY IS COMING TO TOWN!!!

Since I got the second rank, my mom asked me what I wanted for this holiday (sounds like she becomes a sudden Santa Claus). Well, she once promised that we would all go to Macau for a vacation but then, as seeing that all of my friends were not going out of town, I changed my mind. Maybe I would spend this holiday going to my cousins' to adore the hotness of Super Junior boys, SHINee, or Big Bang and the moments where we'll go 'aahhh' if our favorite member comes out on the screen. But I promised them that I would we would all sleepover at their house, maybe movie marathon-ing for the whole day on the 31st. Haha

I'll be going through a driving test next week to get my driving license, wish me luck guys!

Laconic Weekend

Basically today I have nothing much to say just like before (I blabbered about almost everything during the last couple of weeks, so as you can see, I updated this blog a bit too often). So the last couple of weeks I've posted some unnecessary (and some might be necessary) articles and writings. I know they're pointless but my writings represent my thoughts. Maybe today, it's time for me to take a break from writing about pointless thing and gets back to my real world of randomness. Tonight, I'm kind of in mood to tell light things, without silly pictures all around the corner of the blog, and simply just tell you about what's been going on this week (or maybe today, wow, I'm using too much brackets).

BIMBEL VS TALENT-DEVELOPING (SORT OF) ACTIVITIES
Lately I've felt that I've really been into almost anything. Maybe you don't get what I mean but when I say "anything", it actually refers to kinds of activity. I mean, recently I've realized that...wow, my life is so variable. For example, my life was once an empty box but then it was filled out with so many things (stop being so philosophical, Car!). I've done (or have been doing) things ranging from academic, art and design, even to sport - where I'm weakest at - all but to train my psychometric, develop my talents, and even to make more friends or expand my network. For example: English, TOEFL, French, fine art drawing, manga, Math, piano, violin, school academic lessons, swimming, Creative Writing, and lately ballet jazz.

One of my friends came up and said. "You really are as busy as bee, have you ever had time of your own? Just for leisure or to study?" Well, I guess I can say that I'm active in courses for almost six days. All of my close friends have known about my busy activity and assumed that I might be doing that because my mom forces me to. Then she came up again and said. "Have you ever thought of taking a break from your busy schedule of courses? Everyone would do that, since we're now twelfth graders - meaning we should spend more time studying - focusing more for the (stupid) UAN - rather than doing random stuffs like you do that have nothing to do with the national exam, like 'BTA' or Bimbel?"

I guess that makes sense. Everyone in their twelfth graders would definitely stop or postpone their random activities, extracurricular, or courses and instead join intensive Bimbel courses which obviously has something to do with UAN - which all of the seniors in Indonesia are terrified of. Well, I myself don't join that sort of academic activity, but I have good reasons: first, I'm in the Language department, while the Bimbel doesn't have that lessons for our program, instead they have programs for Social Science and Science itself. Second, it's my final year in the high school before stepping into a higher education. I think it's my chance to develop my potential and talents in fields that I'm interested in, for example: music, performing arts, academic, or even sport. But then I realize that my friends won't really get my reasons. Still, they think quitting all of those potential-developing courses and instead joining Bimbel would be the best choice of all, or maybe you would even think that I was too underestimating UAN for joining Bimbel courses.

If you think that way, then you're wrong. No matter in what programs or departments we are in, UAN is still the most terrifying thing students would ever hear in their last year of school.

DIFFERENT PEOPLE
I'm happy though, because through various of courses that I've joined, I got to meet a lot of people - different people with different quirks, personalities, traits, and even talents. I got to meet an attractive Japanese (Machiko Sensei) in manga class; lots and lots and lots of different bules, from many countries ranging from Australia, to Singapore, to US, even to UK...from the narsis typo one who pretty much boasted much about his baldness to a humble, mateks looking one (not to mention the handsome one, aww); a talented artist Pak Solomon in my fine art drawing course (sooo long ago); an Indonesian Idol wannabe like Kevin in Creative Writing course or a rookie photographer like Vasha at the same class; slender yet graceful girls with extraordinary flexible bodies and long legs at my age in Ballet Jazz course; French-fluent teacher; working women (yup, much older women) in TOEFL preparation course where I felt that I was the youngest one in their group, but luckily I could fit well; happy yet 'crazy' freshmen and colleagues in English Club (and 'crazy' teacher as well) who always makes me laugh at every meetings; snake-obsessed friend in EF; K-Pop fanatics like Inez in Math course, or the woman with many jobs who also teaches Math for me... well, and still a lot of other different people I've met.

At least, those examples above could represent the differences that I meant, couldn't they? Through many experiences, many personalities that I've met, I began to realize that how people in different talents can also affect their personalities.

Anyway, back to the so-called talent-developing stuff. That was one point I recently felt that how variable my life really was. Actually it happened recently. You know I just had a violin concert right? Well, the day before the concert, I had a ballet jazz class. Shortly after the class, I went home and went on directly to practice for my concert tomorrow. So, from body-swaying-and-moving part, I quickly changed my legging and my whole dancing "costume" then wear my black elegant outfit for the concert, not to mention: the part where I'm holding Vi (my violin's name) and getting ready to play her. When I put off my dancing "costume" and switched to elegant one, I felt like I might be having split personalities, because I felt that when I switched my appearance, I became someone very different. Maybe everyone would say "How can a dancer (not) so energetic become an elegant violinist in just a sec?"

A GIRL WHO GETS LOST IN TRANSLATION VERY OFTEN
Learning different and new languages also catches my attention. So far I've been learning Chinese, Japanese, French, and German (excluding English). It's not easy though, especially when you get all mixed up with one vocab from one language to another different vocab from a different language. Pronunciation also makes an influence. For example: one day, I'm at a German class at school, the teacher asked "What is the German word for hospital?" I automatically raised my hand and answered "L'hospital" (spelled Lopital). My friend looked at me in a "What-the-heck-are-you-talking-about?we're-NOT-in-French-class-now" kind of look. Oopsie? Really, I didn't have any intention at all for saying that word. It's just recently I learned that word, adding a new French vocab, and the unique-ness of the word seemed to have stuck in my mind. "It's Krankenhaus" my teacher corrected, without realizing that I said the word in a different language.

Another one, still involving French and German, it was when I told my teacher in German that I liked reading novels. French and German both have same words for novel, which is Roman. It's just Germans spell the -N in a normal -N pronunciation, while French spell the -N in their French way (by spelling -NG, so it becomes like Romang). At a German class, I said "Ich liebe Romang." The teacher seemed not to notice it, but my friend did, and pointed that out.

So the point is, I get lost in translation very often. Haha.

Haha, now I'm talking too much, can someone bring me a tape and stick one on my mouth to stop me from blabbering?

Oh by the way, speaking of blabbering, I just changed the banner to a slightly different yet new one. You can see that the font has changed from Jane Austen to Eras Light (a much simpler font) and I added sort of a tagline below it "Cause I Blabber About Everything". Well, that sentence quite describes me nowadays, because everytime there's something popping out in my mind, I just couldn't help but to write it down.

Anywaayys....back to random stuff again. I'm planning to post some more about my stories and experiences in the past, especially focusing on this year, like the Tarphrodite event, City Tour, Bintan Trip, China Tour, and even...ooh...I haven't even got a chance to finish "My February US Trip"! Haha, I'm going to finish it before the New Year guys. Wish me luck, but still...no rush. Basically, I really really thank 2009 for giving me lots of unforgettable experiences. Hope you won't be too bored.

My hands ache!! Gyaa...I'm writing more and longer than I expected to write!!!

So yes, Carissa definitely blabbers almost about everything!