I LOVE these guys!

This week, I' no longer bored. Thanks to my cousin for introducing these guys.

They're SUPER JUNIOR!!!

Cute boys, aren't they? And they look adorable. I've been watching their video clips in Youtube and the TV shows that feature them, called EHB. I forget what it stands for. But they're so hilarious in that show.

Freakin' Holiday!!

Alright, I'm not in mood for the February US trip today. Haha. So, February US Trip series (eh?) will be postponed until, maybe next week. Besides, I feel like I want to tell about something else today.

As you know, or you might not know, I'm having a summer break right now for like a month or three weeks? Actually you may call it as 'term break' since we don't have summer here. Ah, tropical country. But whatever. I tell you it's been very borrrriiiiingggg heerreee...You notice that I wrote boring in an exaggerating way. But really, especially this week and last week. It's been very boring. I mean, I did go out of the house to kill the boredom but it's just boring. I don't know why. At first, I love this holiday. I mean, when I woke up in the morning, I was excited enough to go in front of TV to see the latest summer movie on the local TV, but there weren't just good movies to watch. I mean there were some good cartoon movies to watch but unfortunately I wasn't really into them. Then I would be excited to go to the computer to check out the latest update of the forum I'm currently listed as a member. But since everybody (the other members) was going out of town, as they said in the Absence board, the activity of the forum slowly decreased and the forum lacks of updates.

So those stuffs mentioned above are currently happening this week and already happened last week. But the previous, previous week (the first week of holiday) turned out to be the opposite. It was a heeecccctiiicccc week (again, written in an exaggerating way). No day without relaxation. In fact, I wanted the first week to be a relaxing one, but apparently it didn't turn out to be that way. So, the first week, I was busy with TOEFL schedules and violin rehearsals for Graduation performance. That happened continuously in seven days, especially the freakin' TOEFL. The real TOEFL test just happened to be at the end of the week, which was on Sunday, 21st of June. And the Graduation was on the 18th. I was scheduled to perform with the other school violinists three songs.

FIRST HECTIC WEEK STORY
(haha turns out I made this post into chapters)

• Monday: Relaxation day, thank goodness...but it only happened for a day.
  
  
• Tuesday: TOEFL torture begins. TOEFL practice began that day.
  Since TOEFL test was at the end of the week, I had to continuously practice through the week in my TOEFL course. And everyday, I had to go through the complete test which last in 3 freaking hours. It was like the real TOEFL test, but it was just for practice, so that I could get the picture how the test would be like. And you know, the complete test really burned my mind. So you can imagine how I was everyday. It was like NO DAY WITHOUT YOUR BRAIN BEING BURNED BY FREAKIN' TOEFL.
  
  
• Wednesday: No practice. The course place had a day off since the employees and teachers were off to Safari Park for a vacation. (what?) I was thinking, aaahh another relaxation day, Thank God. But then, my phone just beeped and my school English teacher who happened to be the music teacher as well, texted me and told me to go to school for the last rehearsal of violin before tomorrow's performance at 1.00 pm that afternoon, I went to the dead quiet school in a school uniform, bringing my violin. But it turned out the streets leading to the school was flooded. So I had to go through the Langgar Alley through an ojek ride. I paid Rp. 5.000,00. I met my school teacher and my other violinist partner, Clara. My teacher thanked me and Clara for coming and apologized that the rehearsal was cancelled that day, due to the absence of the other violinists. I was kind of panicked that I wouldn't be able to find another ojek ride to go to the main street from school. But thank God, the ojek I rode earlier was waiting for me (or so I thought). So I had to take another Rp 5.000,00 ojek ride.
  
  It turns out in total Rp. 10.000,00 were spent for NOTHING. Oh and I watched Slumdog Millionaire in the night.
  
  
• Thursday: Big day today. Graduation today. (actually a big day for the seniors)
  I woke up at 6.30 am, got dressed in a uniform, and went to Gedung Serbaguna near Atlet Century Park Hotel at Senayan for Final Rehearsal. The graduation would be held by late afternoon. The rehearsal ended at 12 pm, had a lunch, and went home to take a rest. I was thinking to drop by and take a rest at my cousin's, but my mom told me to go straight home.
  
  Then at 3.00 pm, I went back to the Gedung Serbaguna and I arrived just in time. The stage had already been set up. By the last minute before the whole graduation began, she told us all that the whole song structure for Hymne Guru and Terima Kasih Guru (which we were going to play) were changed. It turned out I was asked to play the melody and my teacher has the music sheet arranged for me. But lucky me, I was able to memorize the song without having to read the sheet. The graduation ended at 10.00 pm. I went home straight after a tearful moment gathering with the seniors and hugging each other (even though I'm a junior, hehe)
  
  
• Friday: TOEFL practice again, duh, plus violin course at 5.30
  
  
• Saturday: I woke up to find that I had a fever. I cancelled my piano course but I realized that since today was the last day for TOEFL practice, I had to attend, somehow. Then I went through 3 freaking hours inside the classroom with the computer, while trying to ignore the high fever. My face was red as a tomato due to the fever, as one of the TOEFL teachers pointed out. At the end, they gave me a sore throat medicine and told me to take a rest for the rest of the day and night to prepare for the real TOEFL test the next day.
  
  
• Sunday: Woke up at 6.00, still in fever, but I got better. Wrapped in long sleeved shirt, complete with the sweater, thick jeans, and sport shoes (if I added a scarf, gloves, and hat, I would look like an Eskimo person), I took off from house and arrived at Plaza Central at 7.00 pm as scheduled. I was the only one who looked pretty weak than the others, who seemed to be ready enough for the test. I just prayed that hopefully I would be just OK through the 3 hours of test. But thank goodness, it turns out that once the test began, I actually felt much better. The fever slowly decreased by the afternoon. But I was still weak enough that I had to stay at home for the rest of the night. By the late evening, the fever increased again
  
  
• Monday:This is the start for the boring week, after having been through the previous hectic week. My fever decreased when I woke up and it never came up again, luckily. But my mom and dad told me not to open the computer first and instead I should better watch TV and read magazines or books. And by 9.00 pm, the electricity was dead for 4 hours until 1.oo pm. The hot weather didn't help at all, so I was sweating in the heat of day. Ugh.Tuesday and the rest of the days, I started to get better and better.
  

Well during the events happening above, I suddenly got these four free pass tickets to watch a movie in Blok M Plaza from my mom! Of course, I thought like ah, this is my life safer!! THANK GOODNESS!!! And I started calling my besties about it and apparently they were excited too and couldn't wait to go watch a movie together. It happened before I fell sick, but apparently I needed to postpone the plan until I got better.

Then, not to my knowledge, apparently my younger cousin has been drown in the boredom as well. Her parents were away to accompany her sister in a homestay program in Taiwan that she didn't come along. At the end, she had to stay at home all day long until now. She is even more bored than I was. It turns out, I came to visit her frequently and brought her some DVDs to watch. We watched Barbie of Swan Lake and Night at the Museum 2 by the weekend. Poor her.

SECOND BORING WEEK STORY

• Monday: Take a rest at home. I went to the doctor and it turned out I got a typhus.
• Tuesday: Bedrest at home. But no fever. I felt better like I said earlier.
• Wednesday: DND (Do nothing day). Dad took days off due to have the same typhus symptoms.
• Thursday: A day with dad at home. Another DND
• Saturday: Went to my cousin's house for 2 hours to watch Barbie of Swan Lake.
• Sunday: Watched Night at the Museum 2 with my cousin

Yesterday, finally all my plans came to reality. I got to hang out with my friends and used my free pass tickets to watch Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Then we had lunch in Hoka-Hoka Bento, played in the Amazone, had a photobox moment. Speaking of photobox, here's the result.



Haha quite silly, isn't it? From Left to Right: Me, Agnes, Marcella (Agnes' cousin), Carmen, and Widya.

I don't know what to do for the rest of the week. By Friday, I will take off for a China tour. Yeah! Vacation!!! Finally...a chance to get out of this place. Hahahaaa... But as for today and the rest of the days before the departure, maybe spending time with my cousin, computer, and TV? As for today as well, I think I found blogging as an alternative way to share my boring stories (yeah they're considerably boring). And this afternoon, my cousin will be visiting me!!!! Yayness!!!

* * *

PLUS

I'd like to say hi to Elda in this opportunity, for dropping by in my blog and gave comments. Thanks for your time reading my super long US trip. I will sure update it once i get back from my vacation.

Anyway, you should check Elda's blog in my "Circle of Friends" list, under My Little Notes.

My Feb US Trip - Part 3

Previously: We went home in the evening, dinner in the hotel, and slept while watching HBO. I remembered it was...One Missed Call? The movie? While sleeping, I was a bit nervous about tomorrow. Hollywood. As in one of the places I was dying to go to. And the next day it would come to reality. Wow. Tomorrow's gonna be exciting.

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Saturday, February 12, 2009

LA & HOLLYWOOD TIME!!! I almost couldn't believe that I actually was about to visit one of

the places I'd really wanted to see! At about 6, my mom woke me up using this Mexican radio channel (so you wouldn't even imagine that I woke up for listening to someone talking Spanish all of sudden in my ear, and it was quite earsplitting). We went for breakfast in the restaurant and I checked my facebook. I didn't recall if I actually wrote that I was going to Hollywood, because I didn't really want my friends to know that I was actually on vacation.

Then the bus arrived and picked us up. Actually the bus wasn't going to take us straight to LA, but we were going to be taken to like a bus terminal where we would reconfirm our tickets then we would go straight to LA. After picking up several tourists from travellodges, the bus took off to the terminal and my mom went to reconfirm the ticket to LA and Hollywood tour. Some tourists decided to sip a cup of coffee for warming up before taking off

After reconfirming, the bus took off to LA! While driving, the driver also played a role as a tour guide, explaining about the history of LA (that the city was formed by a group of families), Anaheim, and also when we went through a highway, he explained that it was a highway used in the movie Speed, featuring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

Also while passing through the highway we spotted the HOLLYWOOD sign at the right side of the street (it was on a hill). The driver told us that the sign had been through some hard times, since people had tried to steal some of the letters. Like stealing the H making it an OLLYWOOD sign. lol. Too bad I didn't get the picture of it since the bus was passing really fast so the picture was blur.

In just half an hour, the bus arrived in LA. First destination was to Music Center. It used to be home to the Oscars but now the function was only for plays and concerts.

Me in front of the Music Center

Fountain outside the Music Center

After taking pictures here and there, we got on the bus again and this time, we went straight to Hollywood. It didn't take a while from the Music Center to Hollywood. We actually spotted a prison near the Music Center where Paris Hilton was arrested due to DUI. It was not so long ago so I'm sure all of you still remember it.

Then we arrived in Hollywood Boulevard!!!! OMG, I could even hardly believe that I actually went there. Due to the Oscars which would be held tomorrow, the Hollywood Boulevard was closed so the bus needed to find a parking space to park. But fortunately, the bus parked not really far from the phenomenal Hollywood Boulevard. My mom, my dad's friend's wife, and I took a walk down the Hollywood Boulevard. It was quite surreal even when I saw the sign "Hollywood Boulevard".

Not to mention, before going to the Mann Chinese Theatre and Kodak Theatre, we took pictures in the walk of fame.

OK, these are 2 of so many walk of fames I captured on photos. After taking pictures, we went to Mann's Chinese Theatre, where they were some people working as what you call "cosplayers" , wearing costumes from famous movies. I did take a picture with a few of my favorite characters, like Catwoman, Batman, and Jack Sparrow. When I took a picture with Catwoman, she asked me where I came from and I said that I was from Indonesia. She asked how to say Thanks in my language and I told her "It's Terima Kasih" . And she tried to spell that. It worked really well!

Unfortunately, my mom forgot to switch the "Video" mode to "Photo" mode so when I took picture with Catwoman and the other cosplayers, it turned out to be a video instead.

Then I took picture with hand/foot signs plus signatures of the stars in front of Mann Chinese Theatre. I only spotted a few, like Harrison Ford's and Eddie Murphy's.

My dad's friend's wife was quite enthusiast to go to the building next to Mann, and it was no other thaaaannn... The Kodak Theatre itself. The theatre was closed obviously due to the Oscars, but in fact it was also a good thing, since I got to take pictures of the red carpet and the famous huge Oscar statue itself. It was still hard to believe that I actually got to see the red carpet of one of the most important event in motion picture, which I'd like to work in one day in the future (not as an actress, but at least getting involved in movie production, maybe a scriptwriter lol). I even spotted the bridge on which the E! channel presenter likes to give her reports on the Oscars.

So after that, we went to the gift shops nearby which sold plastic Oscar trophy for souvenirs (Instead of "Best Lead Actress" award and so on, they were instead written "Best Dad" or "Best Teacher" lol). I bought some keychains for my friends as well.

The famous Hollywood Boulevard

O_O

After spending for about two to three hours in Hollywood Boulevard. We got on the bus and took off. We took a bus ride around Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, and Sunset Boulevard. By mid-day, we got a bit further from Hollywood (but it's still in Hollywood territory) and stopped in Farmer's Market for lunch. It was like an outdoor foodcourt. My mom, I, and my dad's friend's wife ordered a huge size of fries to eat together, while watching a live music performance.

Suddenly, people gathered at one place. Then I noticed someone was standing on a balcony building, throwing colorful beads for people to grab (It was February, the season of Mardi Gras, and throwing beads is like the tradition). When I thought of Mardi Gras, actually I came to think of Tardigras, my school's last year event with Mardi Gras themed. At first, we weren't interested to join but then a nice old woman who just came back with her beads suggested us to join. Then we joined and finally got three beads!

Then we got on the bus and this time we headed to Santa Monica, where we would likely spend three hours shopping there (because Santa Monica got a nice shopping mall and city walk). The driver explained that some buildings there were actually owned by Governor of California himself, yeah that actor, you know.

Santa Monica was actually located on the shore and probably well-known with Santa Monica pier and a theme park there. We were thinking to go to the pier but it was too far and we couldn't get to bus on time due to the long walk. So we decided to just stick around in the mall. I was about to buy some boots but they were too...expensive for my taste. Haha. My mom ended up buying Victoria's Secret perfumes for my teacher and I ended up buying Starbucks green tea (because I felt soooo cooooolllld).

After approximately three hours of shopping, we headed back towards where the bus dropped us. But the bus wasn't there!!!! We thought we got left behind but apparently some people who were in the same tour also gathered and thought the same thing. In the end, the bus just happened to come late.

The next and last destination is...Venice Beach!!!! You know that place too, don't you? The name is quite familiar. Venice Beach wasn't so far from Santa Monica. There wasn't so much to see there. It reminded me of Kuta Beach, where there was a row of shops along the shore selling shirts and souvenirs, and not to mention, in Venice Beach, there was this interesting acrobatic performance which this stuntman jumped over bending people (or salto), which was great.

We took off from Venice Beach by the sunset and we all slept in the bus. It was very, very, very satisfying, I must say. When we arrived in Anaheim, the bus started dropping off some tourists in their travellodges. But when we were passing a quite neighborhood, the bus suddenly stopped because one of the headlights was apparently broken.

In the end, the driver called for a service and assistance finally came in about an hour. It was quite long. After the headlight was fixed, the bus was ready to go and next destination was...Best Western: Stovall's Inn. We finally arrived in Stovall's Inn and happened to pass Coco's. Coincidentally, we happened to see my dad and his friends were having a dinner there by the window and we were asked to join them. Maria was there (remember? The nice waitress the other day?).

At last, we shared our stories that day and that we happened to see the red carpet of Oscars (still it was one of the most memorable moments ever to happen that day). As I was eating my spaghetti, my mom said that the next day we would go to Disneyland (round 2), since we had two days passes.

Alright, we went home to the hotel and crashed on the bed, ready for Disneyland round 2 the next day!!!

TO BE CONTINUED

My Feb US Trip - Part 2

Previously: At 5.30, my dad, mom, and I had a dinner in this Chinese Restaurant called Panda, minus his friends. It's a bit further than Disneyland so you have to walk less than a mile to get to this restaurant. This Panda restaurant was verrrryyyy quiet and it was located in a row of quiet restaurants as well. So it seemed that my family was the only ones to eat there. But whatever.
Then we went home to the hotel and slept at 6.00 pm!! Wow, too early?
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Friday, February 20, 2009

DISNEYLAND DAY!!! So as planned last night? Forgot to mention: when my family went

home to the hotel, we met my dad's friends who apparently planned to go to Disneyland the next day. So we couldn't surely shake our heads at that.

We woke up in the morning, around 6 and had breakfast in this small restaurant. It's not a luxury restaurant this hotel has anyway. It doesn't even have a name but still it got some tasty food. I ate two cold, boiled eggs, a sandwich, and sipped hot chocolate. Seriously, when I sipped hot chocolate, this kinda reminds me about school, since I loved buying hot chocolate in the first break time.

Anyway, after the breakfast, we got ready and went to the receptionist to ask the route to get to the entrance of Disneyland. She said that we needed to cross the crossroad to go to this hotel called PARADISE PIER (it's a nice, 5 star hotel with some Little Mermaid-ish theme, yet with "nice" rate as well, hehe). Across this hotel is another nice hotel called The Grand Californian, to which the receptionist said we needed to go through the lobby and there was a connecting door to Disney Downtown (it's like a row of shops in which Disneyland entrance is located at the end of it). It's 10 minutes walk from the hotel.

In front of Paradise Pier (I feel weird here. Don't I look like a twelve year-old?)

In front of the travel lodge where we stayed

Disney Downtown

Also, my dad's friend's wife suggested that the next day we could take a stroll in LA and Hollywood. So my mom booked for Hollywood trip tomorrow for three people, minus the guys since they had some meetings to catch up on. While my mom was booking, I had my time to log on to my Facebook where one of my friends greeted me and asked "You haven't slept yet? It's late." and I told her that I was in America and it was morning there. She was like wow. I know, somehow I felt guilty for leaving school and trading it with vacation. La!
My mom decided to buy two days pass tickets for her and me, because we would most likely spend another day there. But my dad and his friends - due to their meetings - couldn't come to Disneyland another day.

We entered some rides such as:

• Jungle Cruise (the first ride)
• Haunted Mansion
• Pirates of the Carribbean
• Finding Nemo
• Peter Pan's Flight
• Alice in Wonderland Autopia
• Mad Tea Party
• Snow White's Scary Adventure

Morning snack in an ice cream parlor

Attraction on the Main Street USA

Getting off the jungle cruise

Quotes by Disney??

Entering Disneyland

Anyway, we took a walk down the Main Street of USA and stopped to see an ensemble of unique dressed people playing instruments and singing familiar Disney songs. Then we warmed up before entering some rides by stopping in an ice cream parlor to have morning snacks.

Tomorrow's gonna be exciting.By the afternoon, we paused our activities for lunch and while having lunch, we happened to see a Star Wars Show for kids. It's like a Jedi Padawan training, where kids were chosen to come to the stage and were given some tips how to be a Padawan. A bit strange though, since it's a Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox production, not Disney. Anyway still it's funny to watch. lol

We went home in the evening, dinner in a diner called Coco's (right in the parking lot of the travellodge) and happened to meet a nice waitress named Maria, then after going back to the hotel, I slept while watching HBO. I remembered it was...One Missed Call? The movie? While sleeping, I was a bit nervous about tomorrow. Hollywood. As in one of the places I was dying to go to. And the next day it would come to reality. Wow.

TO BE CONTINUED.

My Feb US Trip - Part 1

OK, I have nothing to do at home now, except waiting within twelve hours for the judgment day tomorrow (as in report card day, arrgh). I just collected my US photos and vids from my camera and I was thinking hey, why don't I share with all of you guys?

Actually there are bunch of images, since I love taking pictures and videos, but I could only upload a few here. I'll upload the rest next time.

P.S: Sorry for the low quality of the pics
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Thursday, February 19, 2009

So, I woke up in the morning at 5, like I was going to school only earlier, and suddenly realized that hey, I wouldn't go to school that day. I was going to someplace else, a place far away from this messy city. At 6.14, my dad, mom, and I took off and went to my aunt's house to drop some offer my uncle a ride to the airport (apparently he was about to go to the airport as well), but he already got a taxi so we took off. Actually you can say that it's a vacation for me and for my mom, but not for my dad, since he was going to America for a business trip but he brought me and mom along. As for me, I took days off from school. So when we arrived at the airport, we met two of my dad's friends and one of them had his wife with him.

So after taking care of the fiscal, checking in, and so on, we entered the gate and took off with Cathay Pacific at 9.00 am. The plane had a freaking TV in each seats!! No kidding, I was surprised to know we could actually watch TV in an airplane. Though since it's a short flight from Jakarta to HK, we couldn't pick movies but we actually could change channels which broadcast different movies.

I watched:
- The Duchess
- HSM 3
- City of Ember
- Bangkok Dangerous.

See? And they're also awesome movies as well. Anyway, we arrived in HK at 3.00 pm after 6 hours of flight, and at 3.30 we had late lunch with a bowl of meatball noodle. HK airport is well known for its elegance and enormous size. So I was quite fascinated to see how huuugggeee the airport really was.

You can see what I mean below.



OK, so the left picture is the travel group consisting my dad's friends. And the right, well you already know what it is. The food court was located at one corner of the airport building, which is faaaarrr from the gate. So to get to the gate, we must walk along the long hall. It was quite exhausting, I'm telling you.

The plane took off at 4.30 and to be honest the plane was more convinient with more awesome features. This time, we were able to pick the movies and it got big collection of movies. So I watched:
- Wild Child
- How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
- Ghost Town (I watched this by the midnight, so I had to turn it off when I felt sleepy and when I woke up, I turned it on again to continue the movie. I did that for three times)
- The Aristocats
- SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
- The Simpsons Movie

At 4.30 pm local time, the plane landed in LAX. There was something interesting prior to the landing. When I looked out of the window, everything outside was white, referring to the buildings duh. Usually in Jakarta before the plane lands, you can see everything's green (the fields) and the houses' red bricks. But in LA, the buildings are just pure white with neat structure of roads (mostly squares divided into blocks, unlike Jakarta, which are well, messy).

We went straight to the hotel in Anaheim (called Best Western: Stovall's Inn, it's like a travellodge not exactly a hotel) with Supershuttle. It's like a taxi service but it can carry up to eight people, not to mention it's a minivan.

Anaheim is quite well known with its famous Disneyland. Actually it's a small city, you can say it's like Jakarta's "Depok". Anaheim is actually quite a quiet city, but thanks to Disneyland, this place has lots of visitor and has been a tourism site. So no wonder that you will notice a few hotels but lots of travellodge.

To my surprise, Stovall's Inn is located right across Disneyland's entrance!!! So from the hotel lobby, you can already see some high and big rides such as roller coaster and drop rides! Seeing this made me quite impatient to go to this theme park, but since it was already late afternoon, surely we couldn't go there. My dad and his friends were planning to go to Disneyland the next day, while since we just arrived, we would spend the rest of the night having dinner. Not to mention, I took some brochures to see fun activities and places to visit for the next four days.

In fact in the hotel lobby, there was an automatic ticketing machine for Disneyland's admission with a golden Mickey statue standing on top of it. Wow. -->

At 5.30, my dad, mom, and I had a dinner in this Chinese Restaurant called Panda, minus his friends. It's a bit further than Disneyland so you have to walk less than a mile to get to this restaurant. This Panda restaurant was verrrryyyy quiet and it was located in a row of quiet restaurants as well. So it seemed that my family was the only ones to eat there. But whatever. So here's a tips: if you go to America and suddenly you feel like you want to eat rice, then I recommend this place.

Then we went home to the hotel and slept at 6.00 pm!! Wow, too early?

TO BE CONTINUED

Countryside School Trip

It's called Live in. Well at first. I hesitated to go, because I felt like it's better to be home in Jakarta, hanging out with friends, but when I came to think it over, I think it's going to be fun. You know, living with the villagers, having farmers as your host dad/mom. It's always fascinating to learn something new and also to discover what is outside this messy place called Jakarta. Little knows that Java is dominated by rural area and Jakarta is probably the only business district with skycrapers in Indonesia.Not to mention the scenery. The green grass fields, hills, and breathtaking views spread before your eyes. Those views are very refreshing, and also the clear non-polluted air.

I did the packing yesterday and I will depart from Jakarta at 3.30 PM. I'll leave home at 12.00 so I can load my things to the bus and take a rest first. Oh and it's going to be a very long journey, probably the longest on-land trip I'll ever have. So wish me a nice and safe trip, guys. I'll be back on the ninth of June.

Those People...

I don't know why but some strangers keep popping up in my Facebook friend request. I mean, I'd love to make new friends but it's just they're too much. Even two of them have sent me a message and posted in my wall, saying 'Hey, which one is you on the photo? The one with the bright teal blue shirt?' (referring to my photo with my friends in a reunion, which I display in my primary photo). Honestly but sometimes it gets uncomfortable when strangers keep nailing you like that. I don't know if I should ignore them or what but I'm type of a person that doesn't want to hurt other people's feelings. I tend to respond to their messages and not to ignore them.

Yeah, I'm being too nice. That's the thing.

And also, I still have that old-fashioned catchphrase parents usually tell their children: Don't Talk to Strangers.

Now I'm being nailed by strangers.

Not to mention, my friend's boyfriend somehow got my phone number and kept texting me, asking me unnecessary messages. At first I was OK, but I was like 'how did you get my phone number and W-H-Y?'. He said he was just curious. I mean, OK, it's fine. It's good to know your friend's boyfriend and that can expand your network but until now, he keeps texting me, and apparently it turns out that two of my friends are also being nailed.

Apparently, it started when two of my friends and I visited my friend in the hospital (she got an appendix). My friend's boyfriend called and she said that her friends were there. He told her that he wanted to talk to her girlfriend's friends. We chatted through loudspeakers and it just didn't stop there. In the end, he grew curious to her girlfriend's friends, asking for my friends' and my phone numbers, and texted me. My two friends are asked about their opinions on his girlfriend, to what I assume he must indirectly spy on her and make sure she doesn't get closer to any other boys (jealousy *grumbles*).

But at me, he just keeps saying 'what are you up to?' something like that.

Honestly, I don't like how people suddenly just get my phone number and nail me intentionally, especially I haven't given permission to him/her to know my phone number. And you know, nowadays, strangers like to pick random number, text to the person and say 'Hey, I want to know you. Who are you?'.

Dear strangers, if you want to know the person you text to, you should introduce YOURSELF, not to ask the person you text to about THEMSELVES.

Kk, let's wrap up about those things. I don't want to think about those strangers nailing not only me but also other people through cyber or media like facebook, picking random number, or even getting to know people's numbers without their permissions! OK, it's your teacher or at least someone you know or at least for something important.

Honestly, not to compare myself to celebrities but can I call them stalkers?

OK. I need some sleep now. Tomorrow I'm going to have a loooong journey to Central Java for School Trip. Wish me a nice and safe trip, fellas!

My Book is Done

Yay! My book is finally done. Anyway it's my major project this year (apart from paper, which is coming up late this year, hopefully I will make it to the senior grade, amen). It is a remake of my short story published in ILP Press in 2006, inspired by my friend's experience (apparently now, two friends' experiences).

Synopsis:
This story is about a girl who just moves in to her new house in a small town called Aberfeldy in Scotland (which has the most amazing countryside scenery I've ever seen). The girl's name is Julia and she has pretty much a gloomy background: her mother divorces and gets engaged with a guy Julia dislikes. In her new house, or exactly her bedroom, in Aberfeldy, Julia feels as if she's haunted by a ghost. After gaining information through internet and her medium friend, Julia discovers that the ghost that has been haunting her is Cornelius Houtten, coming from World War I era. At first, Cornelius intends to ask Julia for help so that he can return to the place where he belongs: afterlife, even though Julia is not a paranormal. But for Julia and Cornelius, they never expect that they will face a new obstacle heading their way: love.

The short story kind of sucks so when I read it over and over again, I felt like I really should make it a novel, since there are a lot of stuff to add in it and some exciting scenes. So voila, the book is done in just matter of four months and I finished the book a few days before final exam. The beginning of the book is kind of like a horror story, maybe because of the atmosphere (Julia is haunted by the apparition of the pale ghost in her room), but when it comes to the middle of the book, romance starts to bloom.

I dedicate this book to no other than Natush.

I plan to get this published. Though at first I'm pretty confused which publisher I should contact to get it published. As far as I know, Gramedia and other famous publishers do not accept English novels. But thanks to my English teacher, ma'am Lucy, for pointing out that she knows a publisher. Yay!

Oh and my dad suggested that I should design the rough drafts of the cover, since I've been into Adobe Photoshop lately. I adopted the name Carrie Hawkins to be my pseudonym (because I believe people won't read English books written by a so-called Indonesian). I eventually came up with these two cover versions, which I can't upload now (since I forget where I put them, shit).