(Ban Ban)

I kinda miss Bandit a lot, so here is one of my favourite pictures I keep in the office:

Awesome

I've been working for three days now, and I'm glad I still keep my sanity intact whenever I'm driving myself to and from work. I'm also thankful God has been waking me up a couple of minutes before my alarm rings - yes, and He is telling me to go to bed now too! ^.^;

On Saturday evening, I went out to have dinner with my family. We decided to eat seafoods: my dad ordered fried fish, my mum ordered otak-otak (yum!), and I ordered mussels and a crab. Since my dad was allergic to eating crabs, my mum and I happily lapped the crab. And then... on Sunday evening, we started feeling unwell. We kinda suspect we got food poisoning from eating the crab, as my dad was the only one who was in a relatively well condition compared to both of us. Earlier in the morning, I didn't really want to go to work because of the food poisoning (went in and out and in and out of the restroom many times), but I argued with myself (get-moving-or-lose-the-job arguments) and dragged myself into work today. Luckily, I recovered. As for my mum, the last time I saw her a couple of hours ago, she was still unwell she took time off from work (which is rare.) Hopefully she'll get better by tomorrow.


Lastly, dear Ponky and Andri, thank you for the book! It's really awesome!! TTvTT Can't believe it... hehehe... thank youuuu ^^

Alright, going to bed now... take care. I've decided that I will be a civilised/courteous/well-mannered driver regardless of how silly or futile others think the effort may be. To change a society, one needs to change oneself. It's a challenging effort, but I'm sticking up with it anyway. At least I drive on my own, so when I get irritated I can always sing on top of my lungs without turning anybody else deaf ^^; Tee hee. Take care, good night, sleep well!

P. S.: I miss my Ban Ban, PK and ICM the most. My sister, you rank in later ^^ (we chat quite often anyway.) Hope you'll have better eyesight than me soon! Although I would still like to be the one with better eyesight... hehehe...

Maravillado estoy de ti
Maravillado estoy de ti
Santo Dios
De quien la gloria es
Maravillado estoy
Maravillado estoy

So Little Time

Well, there's kinda little time left for me to *enjoy life* (this is a phrase I coined to justify the sloth mode I'm getting into for the past few weeks.) On Sunday, I was asked whether I was still in studying in HSC or was already studying in university - the true answer was neither

Anyways, the new computer system has been hanging around my room for a couple of days by now. It came in late on Friday evening... something like 10PM?!?! Gosh, the flood was real bad that day. I was grateful it was raining heavily though - habits from dry-as-bones Melbourne?? Liked the rain though, it went well with yum cha at Plaza Indonesia (you now do have a reason to call me a sloth.) I went home just before 5PM, dropped my friend at Sunter (less than 5kms away from home), then drove home... and got into the house at several minutes past 7PM. It took me forty minutes to circumnavigate on the flooded roads! I chose one which was least flooded, but that road was still... flooded. People were dragging their legs through masses of water, which went past their knees and almost reached their thighs. I could hear water gurgling under the car; the sound made my hairs stand on its end. Bulu kuduk! It was definitely an eye-opener, if not a nightmare and reverse cultural shock rolled into one. And all these in the middle of the dry season. When I got home, I got quite a long lecture from my dad about being... being... more careful and strategic?!

This reminds me of home... yes, home in Melbourne. I miss hugging and kissing Bandit, especially since Brownie proves to be less of a companion and more of a guide-dog ignorant of its masters. Even though I don't like him that much, it's pitiable. He needs to be washed (which I will do if weather and time permit.) He needs to learn how to be cuddled. I miss my Ban Baaaaaaaaan... >.<

This is the new computer system (the PSC and CPU tower weren't photographed.) Like it heaps! The 17" flatscreen display and optical mouse are great improvements when compared with the 15" display and rollover mouse back in Melbourne. They were good though. Apart from minor power/frequency choke-ups, the screen works well. The rollover mouse? Well... I resorted to borrowing Yvonne's for the past few weeks. I'm determined not to go back to rollover mouse anymore ^.^ the only way is up and up to Wacom tablets. As for my dad, his point of view is that whatever he spends should become an investment. It's a view he's firmly establishing with me doing his requests to do brochures.

My sister just had her eyes operated upon last week! Now she's half-blind (but reading comics book... how can that be?), half trigger-happy (the drugs), and... I don't know what to say. Ponky without glasses was a rare sight so I can't really imagine her not wearing it. But then again, thick-rimmed glasses increases the smart/intelligent/wise look if one's applying for jobs. Better grab a normal pair even if your eyes are fine without prescriptions...

I'm going to Gunung Sahari tomorrow. This is not a mountain by the name of Sahari, but rather a suburb's name in Jakarta. What for? To buy a tambourine! ^.^ I went there last Friday, but missed it since the store was already closed. The maidservants who were looking over the place said it was a dressmaking business though, and not one selling tambourines. I am pretty sure *that* place was the one I visited back in early 2001. Hopefully. Amen ^^ There aren't many hours left till work starts. It'll start [most likely] on Wednesday.

It will soon be the end of one phase of life, and the start of another. Can this realisation be long overdue... by something like four months? Or even six? I am unsure of how the work will go about. I'm also on the list of several other prospective employers, but the prospect of some multinational corporation binding me for a two-year period and risk getting paid zilch for breaking the contract seems bizarre for me (if not overly constricting.) Will I like the work? (Well, yes, better than not knowing what to do.) Was I made for this work? (Don't know, although would like to shout 'no' the instance I know I wasn't made for it.) Do I commit myself to doing design? (yes...?) Will I go back to Melbourne, ever? (...yes.)

Sometimes there are only so little visible indicators of returning it seems vain to hold onto the hope, but hanging on the thread is better than not trying at all. I hope the thread lasts till the end.

It's funny that I feel homesick nowadays. I bat my eyelids and try to explain to curious probes why I end up *here* after being *there*. There are days I feel too angry to agree but too tired to explain. There are moments, especially when I go to church, when I miss the fellowship with my friends and dancing the most. Sometimes I feel I am being robbed of the joy of living I once experienced, but I also know the statement I just expressed isn't entirely true. At the end, no matter how hard one wishes to undo the flow of time, one will only lose it even more.

(Someone told me I'm getting ungrateful of my circumstances. I pray I won't be ungrateful of it anymore.)

Uni times were definitely one of the best times in life! Needless to say "assignments and final exams are evil because they reduce sleep time", I love the lifestyle. There are some things that made life at uni felt great:
1. Friends - indispensible.
2. Flexible hours - well, that depends on your timetable too, but you can cram a week's worth of classes into a little over two days (not recommended for those with short attention span.)
3. Fun - ...scav hunt :p regardless of it, outreach activities are fun and nerve-racking.
Can't think of other things... so let's call it the 3F joys of studying in uni. Tee hee ^o^

Last bit of news: I had my medical check-up on Tuesday last week. It was a bit extensive, and I had to fast for at least ten hours prior to the appointment. Needless to say, when I got there I was hungry (and tired and exhausted and a bit snappy - got caught in traffic jams.) Before too long I was called to have my blood sampled... went straight into the cubicle with the nurse... and I saw the needle she had with her. MY GOODNESS!! IT WAS BIG!! It was one of those needles with a clearly visible hole through it. My stomach churned when the nurse started 'preparing' my veins. I turned away, trying to ignore the pain, and I told her that I'm turning away and fantasising "some other things so that I won't think of it at all." I started visualising the Latin dance classes I went to a couple of months back, and got taken away with the music. The next thing I saw was two ladies standing over me with half-exasperated faces.

(You guys can pretty much guess what happened... 9__9;)

Anyway, that's all for tonight. I'm going to bed soon. Take care, sleep tight!

So little time so much to do,
I rather spend my days with you
So little time so much to do,
I rather spend my days with you
And if that day is not enough,
maybe we can stay in touch,
but I'm not making plans for tomorrow
For tomorrow never comes.

Moon River

Now that Blogger supports photo displays, I found no need to switch to MSN's Personal Space. Hooray! ^o^ Now, some vanity moments for me hehehe...

Nikhen's wedding was on Saturday night. There were me, Peter, Vanny Hartadi, Alex, Ichad and Annette who were present at the party. Peter was in the groom's family (apparently, doh.) Hartadi was Nikhen's best man. Vanny was made the maid of honour. She looked real pretty! It's a pity I didn't have a chance to take a proper picture of her to show around ^.^; Poor Nikhen and Stephanie... they looked like they could not stand another moment standing to greet incoming guests, or to proceed with 'items for the night'. We shared food in a bid to cut down on time spent queueing for food. Alex tried to figure out of "another way" to arrange party activities in a bid to have an enjoyable wedding party in Jakarta. I spent much of my time watching for my dress train, or gracefully smiling at whoever stepped on it before exerting an authoritative "excuse me, sire/ma'am/miss."

Forgot to say that I *almost* got the bouquet. The bouquet's ribbons were entangled in my finger when another girl grabbed it from my hand (or was it a shove?) Anyways ^^; I wasn't keen on demonstrating footy moves, so she ended up having it. It's not such a big deal since I have caught a bride's bouquet beforehand, but it was an attractive activity to get involved in because the bouquet came along with a one-million rupiah shopping voucher. Then again, that would not have been such a bad catch... hmmm...

Anyway, I love my dress ^.^ I love shopping. And I'd love Ponky to get her IXUS 700 as soon as possible... hehehe... mak is currently against giving you any extra shopping allowances! It'll be a while before my poor sister has a digicam on hand once again.

Today I also rummaged through the picture chest at home. I came across lots of photos, most of them recognisable. My dad was really head over heels about my mum! There were several albums filled with her pictures (both coloured and B&W prints), and in most of them she was unaware she was being photographed. It feels like I came across some evidence of stalking activities. The most interesting pictures I came across today, however, were the B&W ones from their uni days. He would make an excellent photojournalist. His pictures have this innocent quality to it... in a lot of those B&W pictures, most of its objects were not extremely aware of the camera's presence. I'll try to scan some of his pictures in the near future.

I'm also supposed to be getting a desk delivered to my place today. It was purchased on Sunday afternoon and was to be delivered at around 3PM max on Monday (which was yesterday.) It wasn't delivered at the promised time, though. The driver was sick yesterday, the car was coming in late today... I don't know what other kind of excuses will be coined up to me in the next 24hrs. Probably I should just cancel the transaction if it doesn't arrive in the next hour or two .\\//. feeling rather grumpy.

My room is starting to look like a hellhole. There are way too many things my mum keeps in it, turning it from a decent bedroom into a storeroom. At least two-thirds of the cupboards are filled with her dresses, sarong, kebaya and who-know-whats... Right now I'm trying to make a treadmill disappear into thin air so that the new desk would fit into my room without making it look overcrowded.

I'm planning of going to Mangga Dua tomorrow. I'll be driving an automatic car - yay! - I've had enough of driving a manual Kijang on a packed and practically lawless road. These are actually the first few days I have had time to take a break from my activities. There were exams till 20/6, driving lessons and portfolio preparation till 30/6, the interview at Cilandak on 1/7, and the wedding on 2/7. It feels good to step back, although I'm keen to start work within a week or so. AI sure is taking its time in deciding to employ me... -__-;

Yesterday I meet Punyet and DW (who happened to be in town). Both were in good shape. Punyet looked like a Myer salesperson!! ^^; (sorry, white shirt and black pants are synonimous to Myer's dress code.) I also managed to drag them home to have a small reunion-like meeting. It's a pity I forgot to take pictures last night >.<

All the best for those waiting for their results! And Ponky, if you want *thatthing*, you better send me *whatyouneedtosend* tonight once you receive it... you already know my plans for tomorrow. Take care! ^^

Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style some day
You dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're going, I'm going your way

Two drifters off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end
Waiting round the band
My huckleberry friend, moon river
...and me