:: physically absent

do you know what are some bad things that usually happened while you're away from your own home country ?

in my case, four years being absent from dearest family and friends, this is my missed out list;

one cousin's wedding and one old pal's wedding,
two new year's eves with family,
three cousins' births,
four friend's visits from overseas [and only god knows when they'll visit jakarta again],
five best friend's graduation days,
some family trips/holidays,
umpteenth family birthdays and gatherings.

and will miss out some more later on;

the first opening day of my bestest friend's business end of this month,
my very first [niece/nephew] birth in september,
two new cousins' birth also in september,
a friend's wedding in november,
another good friend's wedding in january.

please note that i'm not complaining or regret a thing. but, do you notice how this wedding thing has become frighteningly popular in my age? o_O

ahh..tell me about it ;)

:: traveler wannabe

raise you hand if you are a traveler wannabe!
raise your hand if dealing with immigration department always gives you unnecessary headache. or may be your 'perforced thrifty lifestyle' disable you to fly to other countries?

then, welcome to my day-dreaming world! and let's go with me to visit other cities from our own tiny monitors...

i have some cool sites here i always love to check out every single day. they are daily updated and positively enjoyable. they show pictures, pictures and pictures! *now you know why...*

let me show you some of my favourites. so, here is my birth city. this and this are my current city. oww, don't forget here, my dream city. i also regularly check out singapore, sydney, paris and some other cities. for complete list of other cities, feel free to click here.

do you know what are the best things from all those sites? i think they're cool because those pictures are daily updated *d'oh!* so these pictures are sort of updated. and those pictures look so special cuz' they are not those you'll find in tourist brochures or travel agent advertisments. those pictures, either taken by amateurs and pro's, are original photos from the actual people who live in that particular city. their point of views and stories behind those pictures, what i think, are interesting.

for other purpose, these links are also useful as your future traveling references.

for now, i'll just stick to my original purpose of day dreaming. .

.....
We upstage.
A bird seeking
Freedom of the cage
To be young remain young
And never ever age.

by. firoze shakir

goodness! it seems like my brain doesn't corporate really well with me. i'm completely blank and less inspired to write. absolutely no in the mood to write something genius or inspiring (now who says i always do?), even reading books doesn't interest me. it came to the worst when it took more than two weeks just to finish 180-something pages book.

but i'm so into photography thingy right now. i've been bringing my camera where ever i go. i went to many different places last week and took so many photographs.

then, let's talk about those boring pics i took. and for your warning, as you can see, i'm definitely not a pro so hopefully i won't bore you to death. fyi, you can enlarge the image in order to get bigger and better view by simply click on the image.

so, the first picture you're looking at is the toilet door at my campus. yeah... i know i'm weird. anyway, i just love those posters or writings plastered all over the door. it surely didn't look good, but i found that some conversations are very interesting! i had great times and smirks on my face while reading those comments, thoughts and excerpts, my only entertainment during the loo time at uni.

second is the picture of an old lady on her wheelchair. she was having a relax afternooon with her daughter along the shops in clarendon st. while her daughter was picking some flowers in a florist shop, she grabbed a cigarette from her bag and smoked. then me, i grabbed my camera from my own bag cuz' i just seemed interesting for me. this old lady seemed so enjoying her smoking time. i'm sorry for not so nice and clear picture, but i was trying my best to be seen not so obvious while taking her picture. i just feel not right everytime i take someone's pictures especially a particular stranger, even though i really like to catch people's facial expression.

the third picture is a beautiful building of port philip city council and was former south melbourne city council in 1901. isn't that a beautiful old building? some fine details, high and tall pillars and great old antique victorian style make this building very distinct and so precious. there are something special about old buildings that we we will not find in modern building nowadays. luckily we have quite a bunch of these kind of buildings in victoria. nice.

the next photo is one of my favourite indonesian cakes; the layered cake! i always love this cake made my auntie back in my home country. thanks to my mom who nicely sent the cake to me via my housemate who just came back from her holiday.this layered cake is made from many intriguing thin layers. i wonder how my auntie, as a baker, can deal with it every single day. and i just can't have enough of this cake.

and finally, here is the last picture. some of you might know that i've been practising with macro function in my camera. it is surprisingly cool, and i like it so much. most of my macro objects are flowers and food. but personally, i love to take shot of flower because it is lovely and to take a picture of its detailed complexity and beautiful hues, is just fun! i could spent almost an hour only to take shot of one pot of flowers from every angle. the last time i did it in front of state library, to my surprise a lady walked toward me and directly look at my camera. and when i perplexedly looked back at her, she was just smile and went away. i thought i might be looked so funny for her.

one day i told my friend that i think it'd be so hard to become a pro photographer. i know that they can't help it when they look at a particular object that interests them from their point of views but may be not for others. for example, taking picture of a bird, door handle, cup of coffee or even just a simply blue sky. others might think it is a bit 'unusual' to take picture of a door knob, but who knows they will end up with those trully kick-ass photo.

and yes...it is hard to be a pro.

...

Qoute from Mer's Blog: Miss Indonesia Says Indonesia is A City.

" Being able to speak English is a plus, not a necessity, for Indonesians. In fact, most people in Indonesia do not speak fluent English. My parents, for example, don’t speak English at all. And there’s nothing wrong with it. There’s no real need to speak English in the country. Nobody is valued less for his/her inability to speak English.

However, representing Indonesia in international context is different than merely being Indonesian. For country representatives, being able to speak English properly, if not fluently, in my opinion, is a must. And sometimes, it’s better to speak in your own language — meaning: having an interpreter — rather than forcing yourself to speak English just to put an egg on your face. And hey, not only on your face, but on the face of your country!"

i received this email few days ago from a friend in indonesia. along with these couple of paragraphs, the writer also transcribed the actual interview of Nadine Chandrawinata, indonesian representative for Miss Universe Pageant this year.

at first, i didn't believe what i saw with my own eyes. i mean, i seriously thought that the transcript made here was merely a joke. so i decided to go to the official miss universe website, hoping i could find the record of the interview. and i did. and i was...

*speechless*

and i couldn't be more agree with what Mer said above. even the transcript still looked better after listening to the actual interview. i was so stumbled, not in admiration, but in confusion. however, i will not try to judge her in anyway. my english is not flawless so i won't judge her english skills. even though from what i've heard, there were some major errors she'd made grammatically and to make it even worse, sometimes after a long line she'd spoken, the sentence became trully meaningless, if not funny.

now this miss-indonesia-interview-thingy has been badly ridiculed in our country. oh dear, may be this is just another big rock nadine had to jump over it. surely, it must be a challenge for a person whose english isn't her mother tongue to speak fluent english in front of set of juries. and recorded. i believe, she had this HUGE nervous attack!

on the other hand, unfortunately, public were not happy about this. since nadine is a miss indonesia, plus a miss universe contestant, people off course have a very big expectation towards her. because nadine couldn't be mistakenly chosen and has been carefuly prepared, so people are naturally believe that she, as an indonesian representative for international relations, is capable of -at least- speaking proper and correct english.

however, nadine is a beautiful girl with that body every girl would die for. i do believe she'd prepared for this pageant the best she could. to be honest, it wasn't a good interview. but she's been gone so well out there and her own controversy really has brought her to fame. i think it is unfair for her to be mocked around by her own countrymen, how about support? she did something embarrassing, obviously! but it was not a mischievous mistake. at least she didn't do corruption like some governments do. she is representing indonesia in eye's world.

so c'mon guys, give her a break....

playboy indonesia *again*

i'm still surprised even after the third issue of this magazine in indonesia, some people are still being so fussy about it. i thought this so-called 'pornography issue' are no longer a big topic in indonesia, but surprisingly according to the news it's been quite difficult to find this magazine issue. so i guess there is still quite a controversy going on about this magazine being published in this country.

and most of the news agencies and news stands in indonesia even refuse to sell this magazine. according to them, they are afraid and worry for selling Playboy (PB) magazine due to some threats that might bring them to 'danger' if they keep selling the magazine. so that is why this magazine can hardly find anywhere in jakarta. even if they are willing to sell it, they can not sell it publicly.

this topic might be an old topic and sound less interesting to be discussed nowadays. but i just can't stand it and my question is WHAT'S SO BIG DEAL ABOUT IT? i mean, if it's all about the degradation of our nation's moral, then by burning down the magazine and publicly threated the magazine publisher, does it mean they're showing to indonesian future generation of how a good moral should be? puahleassee...

FYI, i'm not a big fan of pornography. as for myself, i might probably will never buy that kind of magazine. do you see what i mean? i mean, the choice to buy and consume the magazine is fully on the right of the customer. they are the ones who own the money. if those extremists think that PB as a state of demoralization, what about the other published magazines in indonesia? not only some international magazines like Maxim or FHM, don't forget the local magazines or newspapers like Popular and Bibir Merah? they are far worse that the first issue of PB itself.

and if some people think PB is degrading moral of the future generation, why not educate the distributor and the newpaper agency to sell the issues under certain conditions? for example, by refuse to sell the magazine under 18 years old. or in any other way that i think those smart indonesia people are able to think of. why not setting strict regulations about how to sell and distribute matured-age magazines? it worries me so much cuz the kids can very easily buy matured age magazine in our country.

the most hurting part is how these people are very uneducated about sex. it's very sad to see there are so many cases out there; when the morons are happened put a hidden camera inside ladies fitting room or even toilet and distribute the records and the photos in the internet.

from my point of view, those indonesian perverts are evidently in a very need of 'that' kind of entertainment. so i think by playboy is being published in indonesia, does it mean the need of this kind of entertainment are utterly fulfilled? and to save those innocence girls who are embarrassingly harrashed without the knowledge of being so, isn't it better to see the ladies in the approriate magazine who are really really willing to elegantly pose for them? rather than putting inappropriate pictures of a girl in a toilet??? whatda?

and even the most ridiculous part is when they brought the covergirl model of the first PB issue to the police. the police then suspected her for doing something with indecency and pornography action. what about the above case i've mentioned before? have any of them bring down the moron who evilly placed a camera inside the ladies fitting room and intentionally distibuted the records for public consumption? how the hell with that? where all the police when we need them to do right things?

*sigh*

sometimes it's really hard to understand some people's point of view. even though i value the idea of diversity but still violance and threathening actions are two ideas i couldn't agree with. i still believe this matter can be solved in a mannerly way *finger crossed*. in my opinion, to build a good moral in our country is by setting a example of positive attitudes. and the above two way of approaches are not even close for being just good.

note: this posting is simply a wondering notes and writer's way of thinking. the purpose is to share my idea and stories based on what i've read, seen and heard via internet and news. i'm not trying to attack anybody in any ways, who am i to judge? i'm just being a smart-ass! ;)

:: My Neighborhood

this is picture i took from my room window. that building is the other apartment building right across my apartment, and as you can see the view of the other building is quite clear. may be we can even see each other from our own windows...

while looking at the other apartment building, i sometimes wonder what are those people in there doing. not that i mind people's business, but just looking here, back from my room, through the window, we may know how society in this so-called 21st century looks like.

some rooms are bright and some are dark. some people let their glass door open, while the other close it tight. some people are watching tv, they don't aware that their very neighbour are watching the same channel. some let the light on during sleep time, some turn it off. i saw some people chatting with their friends, while some sit in front of the computer. some people obviously enjoying drinking, while the other are just sit on the couch, alone. most people haven't reached home before midnight, and some are staying at home on friday night.

even though apparently neighborhood in apartment building is very minimal, from what i can see from here there is a possibility for them to actually get connected to each other. as i said before, some of them incidently watching the same tv show. or some of them are just sitting on their sofa on friday night. you see how these kind of similarities could actually bind them together, but who the hell cares?

in fact, the rapport within our neighborhood nowadays are just as simple as "hey,imkindarunoutofsugar" or "turndownthemusic,goddamnit". you see? even in my apartment if someone apparently disturbing us with their loud music, all we have to do just go down and talk to our concierge and let him do the job! as per security point of view, this is the right thing to do. who knows what is going to happen if i, for example, have to face a big and drunken guy in the middle of his party?

is it somebody's fault? nope. it's nobody's fault. in the mean time, security might have taken our first priority, left behind other things. this is modern neighborhood, live with it!

::Missing Summer

melbourne's weather has been so 'cruel' these days. constant temperature between 6 - 13 celcius degrees. not to mention the rain.

i miss blue sky, heat of the sun, shorts, and pair of havainas *sigh*

::Moment of Truth

tomorrow is the my official exam result release. 13/07/2006, 12.00 pm. but thanks to modern mobile technology, students can apply for sms services for free in order to receive their results via sms.

i and my other friends always use this service every semester. interestingly, our results release through sms are earlier than the release through monash website itself. and since all of us are kinda of familiar with this service, we know exactly what time approximately this 'most anticipated' message will come and how exactly the message will look like.

so here is the drama on how and when the message came through our mobile; first, start from 3 pm monash usually started sending the message. second, the number is unknown. third, the content of the message will certainly giving you several abrupt reactions for both physically and mentally; you'll smile and be happy when the results are fine or you'll get upset or even crying when the results are not as expected. so...

and since our official result will come out tomorrow, we had predicted that the result were likely come out today. and since then each time i heard my mobile phone beeped, i got a sudden heart attack. and i don't know why today i received many sms' from unknown numbers more than usual, so you can imagine how i felt.

the location may vary. last semester, i was drinking hot chocolate at Max Brenner, QV. today i was at Borders, Melbourne Central while reading a book: Beijing from Lonely Planet. and i heard my mobile beeped, and again my heart was jolted down. while i was trying to find my mobile inside the bag, my mind went nuts. i couldn't wait another minute...

and there it is...

unknown number. the message starts with this: my.monash S1 results:....

after re-read it for onlygodknows times, i put down my phone. slowly laid my head back to the wall behind me. i closed my eyes for a minute and thank God to find...

i'm no longer a student.

"hello! do you need any help?"

...
"do i?"

i went to peer support program at monash caulfield this morning. i decided to volunteer for this program to help new students who are new to monash, or may be to melbourne. i never expected helping these peeps could be so fun and exciting, if not funny. well, four years a go i was exactly in their shoes ,so i perfectly understand how it felt; happy, excited, jittery,clueless, bemused, any adjectives in the whole dictionary, you name it!

i and other vietnamese girl peer leader sat on the registration desk to greet the new students. we were really eager to say hi to every new students who passed by in front of our table. some of them were very friendly, some asked general question such as enrollment or unit adding, some of them asked only God knows the answer question {well, not really} and some of them even looked at us in horror as if they were looking at ghosts!

what we practically did were actually welcoming them, asked if they found any hard times doing the enrollment. if they did, then we refered them to right person. if they were pretty much done with those things, we then encouraged them to have a cup of coffee or tea together. then while they were enjoying their meals, some of peer support leaders would then had a bit chit chat with them. we usually started with a bit of introduction {i can't remember how many times i said things like this today: "hi, welcome to monash! my name is vveen, nice meeting you. i'm doing master of business system. what major are you doing and so on and so on.." we offered them helps if needed, such as accomodation, transportation or grocery things. it's pretty much basic things.

the most amusing was when i chatted with whole bunch of indonesian students. i explained them so many thing they inquiried like, culture issues, foods, mobile phone plan option, explained to them what 'cap' means, uni exams and assignments. and just like i hated it when the lecturers and the librarians kept mentioning about plagiarism and references, i eventually had to share it to them because i know in indonesia plagiarism is not a big issue and reference or citations are not big deal. see, even things that we thought are very ordinary or even never been considered as a knowledge, surprisingly for some people could be very helpful and useful.

it's true: and the great thing in 'give & take' is to take, but the greatest thing is to give.

and do you know the best part of being peer support leader, other than free monash t-shirt and free lunch? i don't have any idea before how many new friends i've met in just less than a week. and they're from everywhere in the world! isn't that fascinating? some of them are wackos, control-freak, and even gay :p but they're all nice friends.

i'll be missing another fun uni activity. damn...damn...damn!

for the past three months, i have finally returned to my gym routine like i used to do. even though gym routine is obviously not fun, i'll always try my best to make it to go to gym. i don't mind to go alone, or with friends. i enjoy to follow class especially non cardio programs such as pilates and body pump. i do combat and jam sometimes, but i don't prefer them. i avoid yoga, definitely. it makes me fly...to the lala-land.

i won't deny that sometimes those programs are tedious and repetitive, they bore me to death. but each time i can manage to lift certain level of weight in pump class, or certain pilates workout i wasn't able to do before, the good feeling of achievement definitely creeps in. and that makes me want to do it more.

it hurts, for sure. hell, it always hurts. even i've done the same workout so many times, it still hurts. and each time while i'm doing it, i always say to myself, "why the hell i'm doing this for? it bloody painful!" and yeah, i think, "why am i doing this to myself? so i can fit in my pair of skinny jeans or keeping my size under 8? or sink down my body weight under 50kgs *which is very impossible for now*" i'm not a person who very much obsessed with skinny body nor a diet freak. i'm the last person on earth who cares about low-carbs diet, atkins diet or whoever-he-is diet, or yo-yo diet (what the heck is that anyway), i never give so much attention to all that. life is too short to be wasted, and one from many ways to enjoy life is eat.

because i enjoy good foods. because i never skip desserts. because most of the time during pms i'm a sweet-toothed. because oh...i love carbs! (puahlease..i'm an asian). because i like to bake and make dessert. because when i bake a cake or cookies, i avoid low-fat ingredients (cuz' last time i used low-fat thick cream, the tiramisu turned out to be a bowl of porridge!). from physical health perspective, i have low blood pressure. if i don't go for workout, i'll be very weak and get dizzy easily . lack of energy is a big no-no for a person like me cuz' i always go everywhere within 1 km by walk. i drink alcohol occasionally. i drink beer and wine. in fact, sometimes i prefer beer instead *but looking at homer simson's picture on the wall...i'll probably need to cut it off*

i checked out my bin just now, and i remember, i ate a bar of chocolate waffer and a box of banana pocky just before i went to sleep last night *blush*

i always remember what my auntie said to me about diet and things like that. she said she used to easily manage her body when she was young, but when you get older, it seems like a bite of chocolate bar in your mouth could change your body entirely. it sounds overstated but you know what she means. as we get older, as well as our inside body systems are really hard to get compromised. that is why i think one way of keeping our body healthy and to stay in good shape is by doing a healthy habit since we're young. keeping our food intake and constant workout are the least things we can do.

mantain a healthy lifestyle since we're young. that's the key.

let's keep these in mind.

1. no pain, no gain.

2. we feel your pain, we celebrate your gain.

3. energy: the more you give, the more you gain.

in case one of you who read this is a manager of a fitness center, please do think to hire me. cuz' i start to really sound like a fitness first sales person now :D

:: Bacon & Eggs

found this short parables from a bulletin church this morning:

what is the difference between involvement and commitment?

perhaps i can best explain this by way of analogy with bacon and eggs.

in bacon and egg, the hen is involved but the pig is commited.