Your Highness!

Hello!! It's Thursday yay! Weekend is coming close

crap I have an evening class starting in half an hour...

Hope you guys have been having a good week. My week has been so-so. A bit exhausting actually, thanks to the business exam at the beginning of the week that took up lots of my time. Anyway...

I got a bad news. I lost my camera battery charger, so I won't be posting anything going on my daily life unless I got a new one (which I'm planning to do) or I borrow one that Elda has... :( :( It was sooo puny it disappeared all of a sudden and immediately.

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I have a new addiction! Well, only for this particularly drama that makes you scream "I want more!" or "I can't wait for next week!" after one episode ends.

Rooftop Prince has been aired in SBS since March. I was first recommended by a friend and immediately got captivated by the story and everything else of the drama. I guess what captivates me the most aside from the sweet love story, which I would say a bit typical for a Korean drama, are the historical reference. Well, I know even the historical reference is completely inaccurate because the prince that Yoochun portrayed, as well as the complex plot involving the crown princess and her sister, are not real.

Perhaps the theme of the movie itself involves reincarnation, fate, time traveling, which adds more plus point to this drama that makes it distinct from any other typical Korean drama.

The Plot

While investigating the death of his wife, The Crown Prince of Joseon, Yi Gak, with his minions, Do Chi San, Woo Yong Sul, and Song Man Bo, were catapulted 300 years ahead. They landed on Park Ha's rooftop in the present day of Seoul. After a while, the prince and the minions found themselves quickly dependent on Park Ha, who provided her rooftop house to be their shelter.

One day, Yi Gak caught a glimpse of Se Na, Park Ha's sister, who bears an extreme resemblance to Yi Gak's late wife. At the same time, Yi Gak was mistaken to be the company's owner's lost grandson, Yong Tae Yong, a situation which forced the crown prince to pose as Tae Yong. Yi Gak was convinced that to be able to return to his era, he must get close to Se Na, realizing there was some kind of connection she had with the late Crown Princess.

The Lovers
Likely any other on screen Korean drama couples, Yi Gak and Park Ha entered a rough relationship as Park Ha found the prince to be completely clinging to her. I like their chemistry though, how Yi Gak's princely traits became the object of Park Ha's smart-mouthed scolds.

The Minions
The three minions are each gifted with distinct skills, which gave them advantages while living in the present era. I like the fact that they're the most adaptable compared to the prince (how their formal, ancient dialects shift to the casual, modern one).

The Baddies
Se Na might have the look and everything that a man desires, but the fact is, she's highly manipulative, cunning, and two face, traits that pretty much what bothers me. Her ally/lover is now notorious Tae Moo who started off as a nice guy at the beginning of the series.


I've never been this addicted to a Korean drama before. Well, I guess it shows how really good the drama really is it even captures a not-so-Korean-drama-fan's interest. I heard it got a quite decent rating, having its position along with The King 2 Hearts and Love Rain.

Episode 15 has been aired this week. 5 more episodes to go till we figure out what happens to these characters!

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Moving on from Korean stuff, time for a bit of fashion and western celebs!
MET Gala 2012 took place two days ago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Like usual, it was completely star-studded, say, an Oscar show for fashion. The best part of the whole red carpet moments was seeing fashion designers along with a celebrity as the red carpet "date", donning the designer's dress.

These are my 4 most favorite dresses spotted on the red carpet:

January Jones: She wore a bright yellow Versace number with some glass-ish features embedded on the chest line. Those glass actually what stands out among all features of her dress, which I found quite plain.
Sigrid Agren: There's something about her dress that appeals to me (guess she's in Chanel). For a dress that doesn't entirely touch the floor nor knee-length, I think she quite pulls of this dress. And I guess I fall in love with her heels...

Amber Heard: She pulls off an elegant look in Zac Posen's pink flowing dress, complete with the "mermaid tail" (I have a thing on "mermaid tail"-styled dresses). The pink looks a bit pale though. I love the features in the lower part of the dress, where the large bow attached to the hip line, and it goes well along with the whole dress design.

Scarlett Johansson: What's not to love about Scarlett? Well, I haven't seen her latest flick The Avengers, but she seriously got some charm on the red carpet! The dress design (Dolce and Gabbana) is good, but not really my favorite. The color, however, matches perfectly to her. One more thing, Scarlett always knows how to look pretty in an au-natural hair (I think she barely puts some touch up on it)

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Whoa, guess I talked more than I should tonight eh?

By the way, I just figured out that I could earn some money by blogging.

So I decided to subscribe myself to monetize the blog. It's a feature on blogger where you can earn money by blogging. The earnings are determined by the increasing traffic you have on your blog. I've checked on my traffic status and it seems quite many of you have dropped by to my blog. Thank you so much for that!

I seriously still don't get how this thing works, because despite the number of traffic I have, my earning is still 0.00. Anyone knows how to handle this issue?

Well, I guess the more people come by to my blog, the more I'll earn.

Bottomline, you know what this means...


Come through more often to my blog!!!
*hands a box of chocolate to every blog visitors*

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To end my night rambling, I dug into my photo gallery and found this.
So I thought it might be a good idea for me to share what that is.

Can someone ship this thing from Singapore?

I miss it so bad.

panda eyes

HIHIHIIII

I'm truly sorry that I've been missing for sooooo long. Wow that feels like ages, doesn't it? How are you guys doing so far? Hope everything goes well.

Well, first of all, Happy Super-Belated New Year. I know it's even meaningless to say so now seeing that we're entering the second month of the year already.

Anyway, onto a more serious business. It's sad for me to say that I'm not so sure if I can blog frequently like I did before for the next few weeks till two months. Well, as you guys may recall, I used to blog like crazy a couple of months ago before I stopped on around October for no reason. I wasn't really busy those days but it's just I had no muse in blogging -.-

I'm telling you why. There are three things:

1. I have TOEFL test in a matter of weeks and I have even barely touched the prep book...yet
   
   
2. I'm taking 2 arts classes this quarter. 3 units each. You say, oh it doesn't sound cos normally a class has 4-5 units. But seriously, the art projects are way more demanding that what the units are worth. So, lesson learned: never underestimate the amount of units.
   
   
3. In addition to the art classes, I'm taking 3 General Education classes. Each has more unit but strangely, less homework. But still, I need to put a lot of effort to them to get As :)
   
   
4. UNI APPLICATIONS...
   need to say more?
   I'm applying to bunch of universities and art schools now.
   

   ~Good stuff: I'm halfway to clearing up all my university applications. Yipee! I got two more tough applications to tough schools xD
   
   ~Bad stuff: Unlike normal universities where you can just submit your personal statements, transcripts, and everything in a flash, art schools require portfolio and sometimes one or TWO letters of recommendation. Even some schools require specific drawings. Quadruple the work? Definitely. But hopefully the results would turn out good *fingerscrossed*

Life after Christmas break was crazeeeeh.... I finished some of uni applications before the break but more coming afterwards! Hectic hectic hectic! Hopefully things would be settling down for real at around mid-March, cos that's when I estimate that my sources of hectic-ness will come to a stop. By then I'm sure to continue blogging like crazy and be even more productive in writing!

Well, I'm not saying I'm going to completely stop blogging. Between now and March, I'll probably post once a week if possible to keep this blog alive and running.

On the bright side, I'm bringing you some good news...

I definitely had a great time during the break and I would really love to share it to you guys. So hopefully I'll get to post the stories as soon as possible! Enthralling stories, cool pictures to come! Stay tuned!

By the way, check out this video.
How creepy that I see my mom figure in that guy.

"So skinny you need to eat more..." (yea right)

New Look!

Hey all!
See something different here? Yeah, maybe you've seen it up for a while. But yeah, finally, it's good to announce that...

We have a new look!

Getting out of the pink area! Yay!

I like summer-y color these days and I think it would be great to use them for my new theme. It also kinda shows that I've been into a combination colors of pastel pink, blue, green, and yellow/cream. These days, I also fall in love with stripes, which might explain why I have that up for the background.

I finished messing up around with the banner. As you can see, I first used a not-so-good yet temporary banner, but I thought putting up just a typography for a banner would suit just fine.

Well, I hope you like the new theme.
Anyway, I've got something for you guys. Out of the blue.

It's just some discussion I had with four of my friends on Facebook. We talked about a particular picture (a dream room for four of us) but ended up having 1,013 comments!

Have a great day!

Overheard on the weekend

Just some quotes overheard lately which I hoped would make you laugh your ass off as well (well, not that much though).

Conversation between me and my dad over Skype:

Me: "How will I be able to see the pictures from yesterday's event?"
Dad: "Hold on for a second, I'm tagging you on them (on Facebook) now." *pauses* "Wait, what's your name again?"

(My dad's possibly having trouble looking for my full name in order to tag me on those pics)
OMG, my dad forgot his own daughter's name T_T

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Random conversation among me and 3 of my friends during playing a race game on PS.
2 of my friends are Indonesians, another one is a Malay.

Everyone: *hands on joysticks, eyes on the screen*
Friend #1 (She's Indonesian): innocently "Hey, you know what? Another Indonesian classmate introduced this Malay word to me in the class."
Friend #2 (He's Malay): "What is it?"
Friend #1: "Rumah Sakit Korban Lelaki." (literally means "Hospital for the Victims of Men", but it actually means "Maternity Hospital". Quite ironic, eh?)

*awkward pause, suddenly...*

Me and another Indonesian friend (Friend #3): HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA

Me: *to Friend #2* "Is it really how you say it in Malay?"
Friend #2: *slightly embarrassed, I can tell* "Yes, it's actually true, or Klinik Ibu dan Anak (Mother and Child Clinic). How do you say that in Indonesian?"
Me: "We call it 'Rumah Sakit Bersalin'."
Friend #1: "But the Malay word for it makes an impression as if the guys there (in Malaysia) are all bad."
Everyone else: .....

If you don't know about this "joke", that's because it actually isn't a joke. It's true that Maternity Hospital is called...that...in Malay (I just double-checked it to Friend #2, to make sure that the Malay word for it isn't merely something made up by Indonesian people). So it's more like British people have "rubbish" and Americans have "garbage".

It's just that the phrase actually sounds funny to Indonesians. Since especially Indonesian people grow resent towards Malay since Malay people are said to have adopted and claimed Indonesian culture as theirs), it has become a joke among Indonesian people.

But really, no offense on me bringing up about this "joke". The "joke" here actually lies on the fact that me and Friend #3 have certainly heard about this "joke" back in our home country as something we talk to our fellow Indonesians (local joke), but we never expected we would hear this "joke" brought up in the presence of a real Malay person.

I feel a bit bad to that guy though, but good thing his reaction is cool and okay towards it.

And no, despite the commotion between Indonesians and Malays these days (due to the cultural conflict), my Indonesian friends and I never develop this hatred feeling towards our Malay friend. We even act as if such a thing never exists!
So let there be peace between us!!! :)

black black white white (ambiguity)

The title literally means "black black white white"
This entry is posted as requested by Elda
Just now we were arguing over something ridiculous, but I guess it'd be worth to post.

My earphone's speaker happened to nudge against the glass that stood in front of me, making a "cling" sound. Actually it was nothing much, but apparently Elda heard it and said.

Elda: "The sound reminds me of a food wagon in Indonesia that sells...." (halted for a second). "That black, white thingy...black and white... black...black...white...square...cube sized...."

Me: "What?"

Elda: "It's an Indonesian dessert. The black thing is soggy like jelly. The white thingy is..."

Me: "Es campur? (mixed ice)"

Elda: "No, the black thingy is cube sized, squares, yeah, and there's a lot of them in the dish."

Me: (frown) "Kolak? Cendol?"

Elda: "Noooo... You'd always have that to break fasting."

Me: "I'd always have either kolak or cendol to break fasting."

Elda: "Nooo, it's...umm...black, black, thingy...."

Me: "Kembang tahu? (douhua)" (trying to guess if maybe she meant the food was of hot black gravy with thin white tofu layers floating on it)

Elda: "No!! It's not hot. It's cold, it's a dessert, it's sweet!" (her tone rose)

Me: "What then? Nata de coco?"

Elda: "Yeaaaaah, you got the white thing right!! The black thing should be...should be...."

Me: "Gula jawa? (Javanese sugar, cos once it's blended with water, it'll make the water turn dark)"

Elda: "Nooo!!!"

Me: "Pudding?"

Elda: "Noo!!"

Me: "Jelly...jelly..."

Elda: "No!!! No jelly!!!"

Me: "Does it contain coconut milk?"

Elda: "Not even close!"

Me: "Err...es campur, es doger, es kacang hijau (pea ice)?" (going back to the very first guess)

Elda: "Nooo!"

Me: "Es kelapa muda? (coconut ice)"

Elda: "Nooooooooooo!!!"

Me: "Black, black, white, white huh?"

Elda: "Yeah, it's black, black, white, white!! Cube-sized!! Look it up on google! Search for...'Black black white white'."

(I guess we Indonesians always have that tendency to keep repeating an adjective word when it comes to exaggeration)

I literally typed 'black black white white' ridiculously in despair on Google search engine field. I knew no result would be found, but I was just under pressure of decoding the puzzle. Then I kept continuing to search for relating keywords, from Indonesian desserts to jelly.

After a minute of stressful moment, my search came to its end after I typed "Agar-agar hitam" which literally means "black jelly"

Right at the bottom of the first page, this word caught my attention

"Es Cingcau"
or literally means "Grass jelly beans"

Me: "Es Cincau?!!"

Elda: "Yeaaah, es cincau! Hahaha"

Aaaaaannnndddd...here's what she actually means:

And also the black thing Elda referred is...

Correction:
- It does contain of coconut milk
- It has black jelly beans inside its white milky like water.
- Most pictures that I found about this dessert have moss green jelly beans instead of black or brown
- IT'S NOT EVEN NATA DE COCO, because Nata de coco is white jelly beans. Duh. Sorry. My bad.

It's lame how I rarely encounter or even eat cincau. It's not my preference for dessert back in Indonesia. That's why it takes time for me to see what it really looks like.

The debate lasted after approximately two minutes long. I predicted it could've lasted for an hour long if not solved.

나는 이해를 못합니다... ^^"

The title literally means: I don't understand.
This is super random random and hopefully, considerably short for you guys. It's an interaction between me and a Korean guy at my volunteer club.

Guy: "Are you in the tennis class with me?"

Me: "No, why?"

Guy: "Really??" *frowns*

Me: "Yeah. I don't take any tennis classes. Maybe you mistake me as her?"

Guy: "Yeah maybe. You look just like her."

Me: *a bit crept out, starting to think whether I might have a doppleganger* "Hahaha really? That's interesting"

Guy: *laughs and suddenly...* "Are you Korean?"

Me: "Eh?" *dumbfounded* O___O

Guy: "Hahaha just kidding!"

Me: *sigh of relief*

I really wish I have enough guts to at least say "Annyeonghaseyo". After all, that's the only formal word I know in Korean. I'm not so sure if other words I picked up from Kdrama and Kpop reality shows are formal or not.

Seriously, this guy is the second Korean guy who thought of me as a Korean. I'm flattered really. I don't look a single thing like a Korean. Or maybe I look like a Korean for Korean people? I gotta ask Super Junior for clarification before I can stop blushing out of flatters.

Still about Korean people, I happened to make friends with a Korean lady in my dance class. She's older than me, older than any college students you've ever seen. She's most likely considered as an ahjumma, but what interesting is, she has young spirit and acts much like teenagers.

Lady: "Are you *my friend's name* friend?" (She's referring to a friend of mine which is also enrolled in the same class)

Me: "Yes."

Lady: "Oh, you're also from Vietnam then?" (Seriously, her Korean accent is cute!)

Me: "No, I'm from Indonesia."

Lady: "Ooh...Indonesia. I see."

Me: "Where are you from?"

Lady: "I'm from Korea"

Me: "Oh...*pauses* Annyeonghaseyo"

Lady: *smiles* "Ooooh...good, you speak it really good! Where did you learn that?"

Me: "I learned that from...*pauses for a second* my cousin. Yes, from my cousin. But I'm still learning."

Lady: "Oh but that's...gooood!"

Me: "Thank you."

You know, I was about to say that I learned it from Korean dramas and reality shows, but again, I have no guts to do that. She might think I'm some sort of an avid Kdrama and Kpop fan. And I don't want to embarrass myself for that as I'm not like a Korean maniac. :)

And finally...my very first real yet epic fail conversation with a real Korean. I don't mean to brag about it but for someone who doesn't have any backgrounds or informal/formal Korean language education like me, I'm quite proud that at least I can respond to basic phrases.

So this last conversation takes place when my friend from China brought along her Korean friend. My Chinese friend, who's a Kpop fan, happens to know that I love Korean music and dramas too. So she went...

Chinese friend to her Korean friend: "She's learning Korean too." *points at me*

Korean girl: (she spoke excitedly to me) "정말 (Jeongmal)?" (which means: "really?")

Me: *nervously* "네 (Ne)." (means: "yes")
I almost said 조금 "jogeum" which means "a little", but I was like having a cork stuck in one of my brain's nerves. So that word didn't make it out.

And OMG, I just realized now that "Ne" is "yes" in informal way.

Shoot, see? That's what you get from learning straight from Korean shows and dramas. But seen from my friend's reaction, I think she's totally okay with me. After all, she's about my age.

Finally I managed to at least respond to the simplest yet most basic Korean phrase. I have to thank those artists, singers, and actors I've seen for indirectly implanting me with some basic phrases. So...

너무 감사합니다... :)
(Thank you so much)

Let's get 'gila'!

I'm writing this an hour before leaving to SFO.
Just a quick post. Yesterday, Elda, Terry, and Aymee were having quite a lunatic night to celebrate our freedom after final exams. I started off the day by having a dance final exam, which turned out to be unexpected than what my dance partner and I expected to be. We prepared the whole choreography the day before and ended up getting a worthy score! Despite our inability to compose a choreography unlike other groups.

Then, I caught up with Elda and Aymee and together, we had a lunch at Quickly across our school. Anyway, we were going to have a sleepover yesterday and had planned to cook some curry (as suggested by Terry, our dearest friend from Japan).
After the quick shopping, we went to the cinema with the purchased tickets to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

For some reasons, we were quite disappointed with the story. Won't spoil it here though.
Anyway, we went straight to my apartment, only to find out that the curry spices we bought for dinner were only for one person per serving. So in other words, we had to do nothing but decided on making an alternative choice of food, which turned out to be soup in two flavors (tomato flavored and salty flavored).
The activity resumed with us taking silly webcams together.

Then we continued the rest of the night by watching Toy Story 3. That was the first time for Terry and Elda (Aymee had returned home) watching the movie. Since Terry is a Japanese and Elda is pretty much into Japanese stuff, so you can imagine the excitement they had when they spotted Totoro in the movie. In the end, the whole Toy Story movie suddenly turned to be "Totoro hunting", as we tried as hard as we could to spot the legendary character of Ghibli studio in any scenes of the movie.



So I guess that's about it. Actually I'm writing this in my bedroom. Somehow I couldn't make it to finish the whole post prior to my departure so I decided to continue the rest here.
My journey home was EPIC! I'd definitely share it here :D

Eavesdropped from my workplace!

Staff members = SM (Plural)

..Conversation 1
With a quite eccentric man in his forties.

Man: Afternoon ladies! (he said this in English quite excitedly) How're you today?
SM: (look awkwardly at him) F-fine...
Man: Let's see...this is an English course, isn't it?
SM: Um...yes.
Man: So all of you must be fluent in English. Are you? Are you? (points at the staff members one by one)
SM: (nods one by one)
Man: Who's the most fluent?
SM: Err...she is... (nervously points at the head of staff who happened to stand behind us)
Man: Oh well, anyway, I was wondering about the programs of this course since I'm planning to sign up for my son...
SM: (grabs the brochure and hands it over to him, then starts explaining about the levels and programs)

A few minutes later, we've done giving him the info about the course....

Man: Thanks very much. (spots a promo brochure with a famous entertainer Choki Sitohang on it) Is this Choki Sitohang?
SM: Yes
Man: Why is he doing there? (he means, what's he doing on the promo brochure)
SM: He's the icon of our course's promo
Man: Yeah, but why must be him?
SM: Err...the...headquarters happened to...offer him to become the icon of this course
Man: Ew, but he's ugly.

Inside, I screamed "NOO!! He's not!! He's darn fine! You said that because you're a guy!"

SM: (a moment of awkward silence) I guess he's lucky enough to be the icon of the course
Man: Um, okay then. (he stands up and prepares to leave) Thank you. Byee!!!
SM: (watch as the man closes the door behind him, then break into laughter)

Officially the most eccentric costumer ever met during my part-time working here.

..Conversation 2
A woman came to the course and asked information of the course. Same thing as the old man did before.

Woman: Thank you very much for the information
SM: You're welcome, ma'am.
Woman: (spots a banner with Choki on it) Send my regards to Choki!
SM: Errr...okay ma'am :)

That's fine ma'am. You're a lady, and many ladies at your age still fall in love with a guy as mesmerizing and as young as Choki Sitohang. It's a natural cause.

..Conversation 3
Me having a conversation with a woman over the phone

Me: Good afternoon, is this A's mother?
Woman: Yes, A's mother speaking. Who is this?
Me: I'm from the course. I learned that you visited us early to ask for our promo's info, didn't you?
Woman: Yeah, right.
Me: Cool. We'd like to remind you that the promo is about to end at the weekend. Is there any chance you're going to confirm about signing up your son here?
Woman: Oh, here's the thing. My son, well, he's still confused about that. But don't worry, I'm going to persuade him. I mean, he has to. I'll definitely sign up, but don't know when. I'll let you know about it.
Me: Al-alright ma'am. Thanks very much (hangs up)

Ma'am, you sound exactly like my mom when she was about to sign me up in the course long ago. She also told almost the same thing to the staff when I said I didn't want to join the course. Typical moms, eh?

when two worlds collide

So yesterday was my first meeting at a manga school in Jakarta since signing up for a photoshop class.

Before getting to the point, there are some things that you should know. You know what manga is, it's a form of comic originated from Japan before beginning to develop worldwide. Since the school itself was established by a Japanese, so you get the picture that everything in the classroom is dominated with all Japanese culture.

The place was peaceful though, with only a few quiet students scribbling their brush pens on a customized paper while the sensei (the Japanese lady that established the school) was explaining in front of the class with a sweet Japanese accent, and when she went out from the classroom for a minute or two, you'd hear her speaking in Japanese with a staff or on the phone.

Other things that complete the Japanese-ish vibe are Japanese songs played continously in the classroom (they even played Arashi songs!! How cool was that?), the Japanese magazines all over the places, with some Japanese-scribbled illustration works displayed in the wall.

Get the picture? Okay.

Anyway, you know that these days I've been really into Korean culture. It's been a while since I've kind of taken a break from listening to Larc en Ciel, NEWS, and Hey! Say! JUMP, apparently hypnotized enough by Kpop. So when I entered the classroom for the first time, I felt that my longing deep down moaned in satisfaction. I was like "Oh I miss these stuffs!".

With all thick Japanese vibe filling the room, I imagined that maybe the staff members and students are still fond of Jpop no matter how Kpop has widely developed. I thought I wouldn't bring up a question whether they like Kpop or not.

But not until...

The other class with whom I shared with was over, right before mine is too. So as the students were stepping out of the classroom, new ones entered - consisting of three teenage girls - and they were unexpectedly louder and noisier than the previous ones, who were effin' quiet. Guess what they were talking about...

(I write according to what I remembered, since I was working at my drawing at that moment)

Girl #1: "...oh yes, I know Dongho! From Ukiss right? He's such a sweetie!"

Girl #2: "Sure he is. Oh do you know Ukiss' song called Bingeul Bingeul? It goes like... *singing the song in Korean*"

My ears - unfamiliar to hear a foreign language spoken in such place - quickly perched up.

The girls entered the classroom and noticed me and my other classmate (of the same class) still working on our artwork. They went up to introduce themselves.

Girl #1: "Do you happen to like Kpop?"

Me: "Yes!" *surprised*

Girl #2: "Really?? What band then?"

Me: "I like all bands but my most favorite one is Super Junior."

*imagine seeing biased girls screaming and yelling when it comes to talking about their favorite artists. yep, that's what happened after that in response to my answer*

Girl #1: *taking a breath after screaming* "I can't believe!! Another ELF!! I met another ELF!" (ELF: Everlasting Friends or a name for Super Junior's fan)

Girl #2: "Which member is your favorite?"

Anyway the third girl is kind of quiet. So she just listened.

Me: "Kyuhyuuun!! *excitedly*"

*Another scene of screaming and jumping in excitement among these girls. I would call this situation as epic*

Girl #2: "Favorite pairing?"

Me: "Um...*I'm not getting used to picking my favorite pairings, but okay*
Kyumin - Kyuhyun and Sungmin (???)"

Girl #1: "Aww...too bad. I prefer Eunhae - Eunhyuk and Donghae - though."

Me: "They're fine too!"

Actually I wanted to mention something more about this Eunhae more and how Eunhyuk used to like Donghae for REAL years ago, but so little time we had since my class was almost over.

Sensei's assistant then came to us and happened to be involved in the conversation.

Sensei's assistant: "Ooh, you like Kpop too? I love Brown Eyed Girls, especially their Abracadabra song and their dances!"

HA! That place was unexpectedly dominated with Kpop fans, eh? Much to my surprise. I thought the girls coming and Sensei's assistant herself would be talking stuff like "Do you listen to Arashi?" or "Do you watch Dorama? Watch this anime? Read this manga?" Well, I didn't expect but I kind of hoped that the talk would at least support the atmosphere of the place. It was a place with strong Japanese vibe. Those kinds of talk would at least support it.

But then these girls just came up and finally, we ended up talking about our interests, which comes from Japan's neighboring country itself, Korea. We talked really loud after that, joined with sensei's hilarious assistant. The Arashi song playing softly in the background was slowly faded with our laughter and our Sorry Sorry singing.

I felt kind of awkward though, but all in all, it was a good moment of unexpectation and surprise.

Meeting Kpop fans is the last thing I thought would happen in that place, but well, a trend is a trend, and it's everywhere. Yes, I've met Kpop fans almost everywhere: in my jazz course, in my violin course, and also in my English course (though a friend of mine in my English course isn't too biased).

Thank goodness, Sensei herself was not at the classroom at that moment. She was outside for a moment or two. I imagine she would be like.

"What are you talking about?" ^^

私は日本と韓国の大衆文化を愛する。^__^
(trans=I love both Japanese and Korean pop culture)

Let's LOL about it!

Seems like I've been spamming my blog a lot with Suju stuff eh?

But this one, especially for Ryeowook's fans, it's a really must see video. Good God this guy really has an incredible acting skill aside from his angelic voice! These scenes themselves were taken from Super Junior's movie called "Attack of the Pin-up Boys" which follow the story of teenagers played by the members. So you can see that Ryeowook's role here is some sort of a vice school president, or more like Siwon's right hand man.

After I did a research, I found out that Ryeowook's role has been nominated for an award's category as a comedic performance. Way to go, oppa!! Even though you didn't win it, you still deserved that comedian title.

Of all scenes in this clip, the one in 4:45 is my most favorite. Aw, that shriek! ^^

So, enjoy your day watching this clip.

The Ballad of Meatball Soups, Ayam Penyet, and Four Singaporeans

Hey guys, this is an old post transferred and translated from my old blog, the one that was still hosted by Friendster Blogs. This event happened around three years ago, exactly on my vacation to Singapore on June 2007. Not too long ago, eh? Even some memorable moments are still stuck in my mind to this very second.

So, what I'm going to tell you here is one particular event that maybe, you will find it quite amusing or for me - specifically - hillarious. So it happened on one of my days in Singapore, exactly on dinner.

That early evening, me and my dad, left my aunt's apartment (where we stayed) for dinner. We decided to drop by for a bite to eat in a nearby outdoor foodcourt, that was located right next to the apartment. Anyway, you ask: where was my mom? Well, she had another plan apparently, shopping with my aunt who's her sister. Alright, back to the story. Once we arrived at the foodcourt, the place was incredibly crowded, hot, and sweaty people all around (you can't imagine how messy the situation was at that moment), despite the fact that it was raining. No wonder it was crowded, it was dinner time after all

We hardly found any available seats, but eventually, we found one. After my dad and I took our orders, which were Yong Tau Fu, we munched our meals quickly, before...those people came and the situation suddenly changed... (feel the aura?)

Those people turned out to be four Singaporeans, all of Chinese descents: 3 ladies in their forties, and a man who's about the same age. I assumed they must be siblings.

Lady 1: "May we share our seats with you?"

Dad: "Yes"

Later, the four adults took their orders and while waiting, they had a little chitchat with me and my dad. Not long after that, their orders arrived, which turned out they ordered meat ball soups. While eating on our meals, the adults asked about our origins and I said that we were Indonesians. And this was when the hillarity came...

Man: "Ah, Indonesia! The food is very good eh? Very famous here in Singapore."

Dad: (nodded)

Lady 1: "Yes! Various food, very delicious."

Lady 2: "I know one of them. You know, Ayam...Penyet?"

Dad: "Oh right."

Lady 3: "I wonder why it is called Ayam Penyet. Sounds rather unique."

Lady 2: "Penyet means...'squeezed' right? So the food itself means 'Squeezed Chicken', doesn't it?"

Man: "Aha, I know I know." (while munching on his meatball) "Possibly the chicken is crossing the street and at that moment, a truck speeds up and runs over the chicken. Therefore it is squeezed, crushed, penyet. So that's how it finally becomes Squeezed Chicken or Ayam Penyet."

All ladies and the man: (silence, then...) "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!" (endless laughter, that their meatballs they were eating were almost spit out)

Dad: "....." (still munching and showed a fake half-laughing-half-smiling, an attempt to support the silly joke)

Me: "....." (WTF)

Dad: *coughcough* (got choked)

Lady 2: "Aw, sir, sorry to make you laugh until you got choked." (un-apologetically)

Man: "Oh yes, seems like our joke is far too funny. See, you're laughing until you get yourself choked."

Me: "....." (still WTF)

Well, the thing is:

1. My dad WASN'T laughing AT ALL
2. The joke WASN'T funny AT ALL, instead, it was silly

Our day wasn't just ended with the joke, no, it wasn't done yet. There was something else that came up after that. Still, the four ladies and the man were still drown in their not-so-funny-squeezed-chicken-joke.

Lady 1: (taking a spoonful of the soup, apparently she hadn't eaten her meal. Suddenly she gasped, opening her mouth, revealing the meatball she was munching)

Lady 2: "What's wrong?"

Lady 1: "The soup...is...still hot..."

Lady 3: *laughing* "Don't worry, I'll handle it." (taking her glass of ice tea and spilt an ice cube INTO the bowl of hot meatball soup) "Try it, bet it's no longer hot."

Me and Dad: "......" (stopping munching our Yong Tau Fu, stared at that 'occurence' and took a second or two to realize what they did exactly. We could just stare at it in disgust)

Man and Lady 2: (laughing at the silliness of his sisters' doings and complimented how genius the idea was)

Lady 1: (Taking a spoonful ate the-now-ice-cube-from-ice-tea-glass-contaminated hot meatball soup) "Yeah, it's good already."

So, after witnessing the tragedy of 'the meatball soup contamination' (a bit hyperbole, yes), I immediately lost my appetite and so did my dad. We just couldn't stand the sight of a fresh, newly cooked, hot food being contaminated with something like, ice cube from an already-drunk ice tea. The idea of putting an ice cube to reduce the hotness of the soup might be quite a good idea, though I'm still against it. Somehow I still think it's never good to put something extremely cold as ice cube to the hot bowl of soup. This case I witnessed was even worse: the ice cube was taken from an already-sipped ice tea glass.

Can't imagine the taste of the then-yummy meatball soup with a little taste of ice tea.

Just yucky.

Anyway, my dad and I finished our meals up before the thought of the contaminated food reduced our appetites even more. If I hadn't finished the Yong Tau Fu up quickly, I would've thrown up. And if that happened, it would only make things worse.

So, that wrapped our evening up, meeting four unique yet silly Singaporeans with some wry jokes and unusual habits they displayed in the presence of strangers (me and dad). They...well, had no shame, I presumed, but I believe not all Singaporeans were like that. Really. They were just one in a million. They were...unique. I know Singaporeans are well-behaved people and surely have an etiquette in eating.

No ma'am, Ayam Penyet doesn't look like it's crushed or squeezed
It instead looks like a normal fried chicken. That's all :D

Holiday Getaway: Enjoying the Luxurious in just 24 hours

Yayy!! Finished with my paper!! But the torture is not over. Soon I'm going to have my term exam next week (in Indonesian, we call it: after getting out of a lion's cage, we enter the crocodile's mouth).

Anyway, in the mean time, do you feel like going out of your hectic routine and have a little relaxing time of yourself? But it's not on a holiday season? Even just for a day? Well, there's a way to experience that, and what you need is only a getaway. Avoid your hectic life! Although this kind of getaway may be considerably pricey. Actually I've done this kind of vacation before, exactly on April 2006 with my cousin and my aunt. My aunt happened to get a voucher to stay overnight in Grand Hyatt, so...why not? Besides, with a voucher, we didn't need to pay much for the accommodation.

The thought of recommending this kind of vacation to you guys about this came up when I was in Kempinski Hotel yesterday to attend a wedding. I was waiting for my mom in the lobby, walking around to enjoy the luxurious atmosphere. That was when I thought if I experienced it again, then it would be very amazing.

Right, I'm talking about spending 24 hours at a hotel, just to relax and enjoy its atmosphere and surroundings that you won't get everyday in every hectic seconds. Although this kind of vacation may sound impossible enough (only experienced by the writer, and it happened to me thanks to the luck), I thought it would be fun to share it to you guys. So, let's get started. Here's what you need to do to arrange your 24 hours "Holiday Getaway":

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THE STEPS

1. Book a suite in a five star hotel. You can manage to stay at a hotel at anytime, but strongly recommended on the weekend (Saturday - Sunday are good choices. Holidays that fall on Monday are even better. That way you can arrange your Sunday - Monday to stay overnight).

2. The hotel must be located near a shopping center, or it'll be much better if the building is combined with the shopping center itself. The hotel must also be strategic, in a shopping/business district in Jakarta. Try Grand Hyatt, which is very close to EX or Plaza Indonesia, or Kempinski Hotel, whose building is combined with Grand Indonesia.

3. Ask your friends or family to stay with you. Actually it'd be much better if you didn't stay with your main family (like mom and dad). Cousins, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa are good choices. I have a good reason for this which I'll explain to you guys later.

4. Check out the hotel's nearest cinema's schedule. Yes, for those who love watching movies, you must not miss this chance!

5. Money? Check. Clothes? Check. First aid kit? Check.

6. On the D day, arrange your meeting with your relatives or friends you ask to stay overnight with. It'd be better if you gather in your relative's house, which are close enough to the hotel. The check-in schedule will be approximately on midday. So be sure that you've arrived at your relative's house in the morning, to do the final check.

Soo..those are the steps. Now onto the schedule....

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THE SCHEDULE

Day 1

• 11.00 am: Arrival at the hotel. Check in.
  
  
• 11.00 am -11.30 am: Settling in. Looking around the room, adoring every corner of its luxury, trying out cool stuffs such as the "automatic curtain" that opens up by just pressing a button on the table, checking out channels provided on the flat screen, checking out the jacuzzi, the cool imported furnitures, minibar, etc.
  
  
• 11.30 am -1.00 pm: Fascinated yet? Don't spend too much time on the room for now. Make sure you haven't lied down on your warm, soft bed (because you'll be asleep very soon). You can do that later. Now, put on your shoes, and go downstairs to the nearest shopping center for lunch. Try not to shop first after lunch. You'll get that chance later.
  
  
• 1.00 pm - 3.30 pm: Already full? Then you must feel rather sleepy by now. Okay, now return to your hotel and have a nice nap or if you're not sleepy, just watch some TV or grab some snacks. You can also have a nice jacuzzi bath and watching TV at the same time. Basically this is your relaxing time. Feel free to rest your feet and have a cozy atmosphere of your luxurious suite. Also, spend some time looking up in the internet or newspaper about the current cinema schedule.
  
  
• 3.30 pm - 7.00 pm: It's your free time now. Feel free whether you still want to have a good sleep in your room or going downstairs to the shopping center. But I recommend you not to stay all the night being in your suite. If there are more than one shopping centers nearby, then try to go visit them. Not too far but it won't be really painful to take a walk right? Use this chance as well as you can. From sightseeing, windowshopping, shopping, or maybe have a good tea time in a cozy cafe. While having some good time at the shopping center, don't forget to do these things:
  

  --> Call your mom and dad. You have 2 options: first, invite them to come over to your suite at 6.30 pm, bringing some food for dinner to enjoy in the room together while watching a good show/movie on HBO; second, invite them to come over to a nearby restaurant in a shopping mall at 7.00 pm. I'd recommend the first option, because of course, no matter how you really love to enjoy much of your time in a shopping center, you wouldn't spend the whole afternoon there, would you? At least return to your suite just to rest your aching feet.
  
  --> Book several tickets at a nearby cinema for 9.00 pm or 8.00 pm show. Not too late, not too early, though it's strongly recommended to watch the 9.00 pm show. The possibility to get the ticket for 9.00 pm is big, because there won't be a lot of people watching that late right? While you're having this chance to stay at a hotel near the cinema and you will only take a few minutes walking back and forth to and from the cinema. One more thing, DO NOT LOSE THE TICKETS.
  

• 7.00 pm: Return to your suite. Call your parents and ask for their current positions. Your job is to stand by in the lobby, or wait in the room until they call you that they've arrived. Then go downstairs and pick them up. Don't forget to help them carrying these boxes of food. Dinner's coming!
  
  
• 7.00 pm - 8.20 pm: Dinner! Chat with your parents and show them about the "beauty" of the suite room you're staying in. While having dinner, pick up a good show to watch together on TV.
  
  
• 8.20 pm - 9.40 pm: It doesn't mean that you need to banish your parents, but tell them that you have this pretty film to watch at 9. In the other hand, don't let them go home to early. Ask them to go home at the same time you're going to the cinema. So you'll split up at the lobby . Your parents are heading home while you're going to the cinema. Don't forget to bring the tickets. Or you can also ask your parents to take you to the cinema. You'll split up there.
  
  
• 9.40 pm - 9.00 pm: The studio's door is usually opened earlier than the movie is scheduled, like 10 minutes earlier. Make sure you'll arrive there at least 10 minutes before the movie's scheduled. You can go to the restroom or buy some popcorns.
  
  
• 9.00 pm - 11.30 pm: Enjoy the movie!!
  
  
• 11.30 pm - 11.45 pm: How's the movie? Good? Tired enough? Now it's time for you return to your hotel suite. It's pretty rare for you to be in a shopping center this late right? Don't miss the chance of seeing couples hanging out in cozy cafes or some youths that are still lurking around. It's Saturday night! The later the night gets, the busier the shopping center becomes!
  
  
• 11.45 pm - 1.00 am: Go to your suite room. Put off your shoes, wash your face, brush your teeth, and change to your pajamas. Throw your body to the heavenly king size springbed, rest your head on the puffy pillow, snuggle against your warm blanket..... *the writer's drooling over her imagination right now*. You can go straight to sleep or you can watch some light shows on TV like cartoons or sitcoms. Don't stay up too long. You must already sleep at least at 1.00 am.

Well, have a good night!

* * * * * * * *

Day 2

• 7.00 am - 7.30 am: Good moooorrnnniing....Nice dream? Bet you have, because you're like staying in a "paradise". Don't spend too much time in your room. You can watch TV for a bit to watch some news or cartoons. But don't forget to take a bath and prepare for some breakfast. Try to at least start packing your things from now. You don't need to finish the whole packing but you don't want to do it entirely at the last minute before checking out, right?
  
  
• 7.30 am - 8.30 am: Breakfast time!!! While having breakfast, also try to look for information about a nearby place of interest (aside from mall). Like museums or just interesting things.
  
  
• 8.30 am - 11.00 am: Free time! Use this chance as well as possible. But again, don't spend too much time in your room. Here are the options:
  

  --> You can choose either to take a walk outside or go to a nearby place of interest. In choosing a place of interest, try to avoid using a taxi. You need to find a very near place of interest, that requires you take a walk or go by public transportation (aside from taxi) like Busway. Museum or a place like Monas will be a perfect choice.
  
  --> If you choose to go to the shopping center this morning, then you have to wait at least until 10.00 am. You can go to your suite and have your morning jacuzzi while waiting until 10.00 am.
  
  --> You can also choose to enjoy the facilities at the hotel, for example: spa, fitness, swimming....
  
  All activities must end at 11.00 am
  

• 11.00 am - 12.00: I know that you still want to spend some time with your activities. But look at the time! It's 11.00 am now. Time to pack up your things and make sure nothing gets left behind. Time to say goodbye to your luxurious suite room.
  
  
• 12.00 am: Go to the front desk. Check out. Are your parents already there? Then it's time to say goodbye to your holiday getaway. Aww......school's coming up tomorrow. That sucks.

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EXPENSES (all are approximate prices)

Suite room: Rp. 3.000.000,00 per night (except you have a discount voucher or something like that)
Movie: Rp. 50.000,00 per person
Dinner and Lunch: Rp. 100.000,00 per person
TOTAL: Rp. 3.150.000,00,00.

O.O...*drops jaw*

(These prices do not include things that you buy, admission fee for the place of interest, public transportation fee, or for other purposes)

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EXCEPTION!

This occasion can probably be best if held during important events, like New Year. If you stay over at a hotel during this event, then take a look at these exceptions out of the schedule

1. Make sure you book the hotel for at New Year's Eve

2. Don't arrange your movie at night like described above! This is a New Year's Eve, sure you want to go for the countdown event. Try to book a movie at late afternoon (like 3.00 pm).

3. After the movie, you have free time to do until 10.00 pm. But make sure you don't stay at your suite for the rest of the day. You sure don't want to miss the countdown. Also, if you're currently taking a break after the movie, use this chance to save your energy for the countdown tonight and find a nearby event for you to attend. Usually the hotel will hold sort of a live music to celebrate the Countdown in its lounge or maybe lobby, or maybe you can go to someplace else nearby that will provide fireworks.

4. Don't forget to take a break before attending the event and save your energy. Make sure you can stay up late for tonight

5. After dinner, prepare yourself.

6. The event will most likely be held in 10.00 pm. So just pleas do enjoy the rest of the evening. 5...4...3...2...1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

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Haha, what a long post right? Again, I just want to tell you that I wrote it for fun, just to kill time since there's nothing else to do (my paper's done!). All of this experience I recommend to you is based on a true story. I don't mean to boast anything about it or what. I didn't shop while staying at a luxurious hotel on 2006.

My aunt was fortunate enough to get discount vouchers to stay overnight in a hotel suite, and she also got a bonus and offered me and my cousin to watch a movie. So basically it all thanked to luck itself. I was so impressive by this experience that I've written this story into a documentary novel and even I still have some photos of my experience. Probably I'll share them to you next time. :)