gaaaaaaaaaaaah

....... and I went berserk with knitwear-shopping. Again.

It was "oooh look there's free delivery" (for the inner shopping couch potato that I am), "oooh it's on sale", "oooh look I got price-off vouchers" and "oooh I don't have this colour" (my layering-up knitwear pieces are predominantly of the black/grey range and as a colour whore I am keen to change the mix.) By this stage it should be obvious where the money is draning away to. This pre-Christmas's tally count is five. The First-Year replacement remains elusive, though, as I find myself dragging my heels to actually go to a brick-and-mortar store. As a rule of thumb, I don't purchase trousers/pants online due to a plethora of possible fitting issues. Yet I don't like queueing in store.

Also, someone thinks dear WW is my father.
(Hell yeah!! Different surnames there, love.)
I blog quite a bit for some years now, but it doesn't mean everyone in my family is as keen as I am, the way I'm not so keen on playing tennis or practising on the piano. But yeah, like my real father, I like airborne-related sports.......... cue in horses, flying jumps, and speeding bicycles. When I lose my balance, gravity wins. But I'd probably do parkour if I were grittier.

Anyways, time to go now. Bye bye!

(grinagog)

Just to make it brief: I'm having a PV orgy! This post is going to be splattered with a lot of music videos. No, I'm not gonna blame it on cr (yes, because of youu...) but Nodame Cantabile is one good lot of entertainment. The classical music reference alone is worth listening too, along with alien-sounding sound and visual effects. Hopefully my dad buys into this...


Allegro Cantabile - if there was one song that got me hooked to Suemitsu & the Suemith, this was the one. It's like refreshing tonic for the soul... I see this one as a pick-me-up music and the MP3 stays in the mobile phone. Anne thinks the PV is murder on white piano.


Konna ni Chikaku de - last post's title. The blame goes to some cr guy and wikipedia, but the singer's voice is appealing. Her ethnicity is interesting, too: she's half African American, half Korean... and sings in Japanese with no trace of engrish (extra brownie points for her ^^ ) She vaguely reminds me of Kurara Chibana.


Sagittarius - a newcomer, having first heard of it within the past 48 hours. It comes from [what I see as] an 'approved of' artist/musician. I haven't got a file, but I reckon my housemate (who is bound to return by the end of the month) would be able to get me the CD... there should be no major problem.

(I'm trying to work out some illustrations out of these musics...)

By the way, it seems like grinagog (sans derogative sense) is quite illustrative a description of my mood right now...

Lastly, which one of these three songs do you enjoy the most? Take care! ^__^

The One Thing

Hey hey ^__^

I came across this article on Hubble Telescope while browsing/surfing online. By the article's subject, it is somehow bound to generate a lot of opinions and differences in perspective. Honestly, I love cosmology and the studies of heavenly bodies (as those stars and galaxies are alternatively referred to). Since humans started recording their states of being, there are records of the sky. To cut things short, here are several simple reasons why [I think] heavenly bodies exist:
1. They fuel our desire to advance sciences. Insulating materials and gravity-free pens are pretty commonplace nowadays (although the later is still a bit pricey), and both hailed from supplementary researches into keeping humans alive and working well in space. Why send humans into space? Because, believe it or not, we want to see how far we can physically go.
2. The sight of heavenly bodies is a vitamin for the soul. We anticipate shooting stars and look forward to watching meteor showers and eclipses; I personally love looking at the starry night sky. It makes me go 'wow!'
3. Heavenly bodies exist as they give livelihoods to scientists and astronauts dedicating their lives (and making their living by) studying them. IMO, this is very very important ^^

As for myself... having to live on a budget is definitely fun and creative, if not life-changing.

I'm glad I found out how to grow crystals on rusty wires, but I'm concerned about how to arrange the wires before dipping the whole thing into a bath of calcium sulphate concentrate ^^; Oh well, I am getting the concentrate tomorrow for sure. Sea salt and Epsom salt just don't cut it - they crumble when pressure is applied.

I also find designing pantalon/pants to be more difficult in comparison to designing skirts and dresses - that's probably because I don't wear pants often enough (huh?) Friends and colleagues would certainly sing in unison if asked what Marsha would wear today - it's likely to be a skirt or a dress! Meh... this is something I need to closely work on 9__9;>

Alright, have a good Sunday ^^ take care!

I've questioned significance
Meaning and relevance
Does the work I'm doing really matter at all?
Well I've questioned my friendships
Alliance, dependence
Who will still be here when I fall?

But the one thing I don't question is you
You really love me like you say you do
So hold me, hold me
Hold me
Hold me

Only one thing doesn't change
Only one thing stays the same
All I know at the end of the day is your love remains
Only one thing doesn't change
Only one thing stays the same
All I know at the end of the day is your love remains

(cravings)

Regardless of the amount of time I have spent being educated overseas, my gastronomical appreciations are decidedly Asian.

After the daylight savings time ended, the weather took an impromptu change. Last week temperatures briefly hit below zero at night. Along with the need to keep one's body temperature constant, I started craving for sweet stuff. Getting sugar/glucose hits intermittently is a sure way to increase calories intake without turning diabetic, and as it was rather impossible to double the size of my meals... I opted for desserts instead. Yum yum.

The sweet tooth journey started off with the ubiquitous chocolate-filled pudding and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Hallowe'en was a day of home-made pastries (filled with cream cheese and Nutella), there were days of sticky toffee pudding and trifle days. I wonder whether any supermarket sells ready-to-microwave sticky date puddings, though.

Winters in my high-school years were filled with warm double chocolate muffins, scones and hot puds from Kerry's tuckshop. Well, a funny thing happened today... I was doing my grocery shopping in a normal supermarket (with no in-store bakery facilities) when a hot dessert-y smell came to air... it was weird enough because the supermarket's next-door neighbour is a pharmacy, and pharmacies don't serve hot desserts! Oh well. I ended up salivating in my head, dreaming about the elusive martabak telur and martabak manis that are in abundance in Jakarta (pictures included.) My favourite haunt is Martabak Rudy on Jalan Angkasa, Kemayoran. I have been paying a visit to the encik martabak on a regular basis since I was a schoolkid, and if you're lucky your martabak will be prepared by none other than the engko, a plump gentleman with the one of the best set of hands to make these delicacies. I wonder why the stall stopped selling kue bantal (pillow-shaped fried cakes), though.

The savoury, duck-egg filled variety commonly found in South Asia.

The sweet variety commonly associated with Peranakan cuisines.

I was also told by one of my work colleagues that *somebody* in Indonesia literally took the pains to search for the best martabak in the country. I wonder where the stall is located, and how much it'd cost. I'd love to eat them ^^

That's the end of my cravings' story. This week is a no-class week, but it is by no means a complete break from studies. I need to make a journey to a place two hours away from London (wherever it may be), and record the journey as well as the destination. Plus, there are museum visits to do too.

One of my favourite study-related things to do, apart from the Photodiary project, is draping. The lessons will start in the coming winter term, but I try to spend some free time playing around with the dummies, getting to know how different fabrics behave. One funny fact I learnt is a piece of lambskin leather normally has an area of between 5 to 8 square feet (8.5 sq ft if you were lucky). That's as huge as a lamb gets... otherwise, you would need to look for cows or some larger animals if you don't want joining stitches across your piece. Hee hee.

(wagashi)

I have a growing addiction towards wagashi, and more specifically to dango and hakuun-no-hotori. Yum yum stuff. They are really sweet and have a delicate texture, although they definitely aren't the sweetest confectioneries on earth IMO (the honour goes to those red-and-green gulali sweets sold in Kelapa Gading for giving me a sore throat.)



Other than being really nice to look at, wagashi has a delicate yet contrasting texture and feel when you consume it. It has a nice smell, too, which all adds up to a good dessert experience without being overbearing. It is said the sweetness dried persimmon fruits is one of wagashi chefs' culinary benchmarks.

In London, decent wagashi is available in Minamoto Kitchoan, which is located smack bang on Piccadilly. The store is neighbour to La Maison du Chocolate, another purveyor of fine and horribly expensive desserts.

And as a final note, persimmons grown in Israel are affectionately named Sharon fruits. Nice ^^

(the Royal Game of Ur)

Good morning everyone.

I'm yet to figure out how to re-set the time configurations to GMT, but anyways... this is morning for me (at 11:16, it's not yet past midday.) This morning was the first time in my life I was woken up by a fire alarm. A nice, loud dummy drill for sure.

Even though the museums are likely to be packed today, I'm going. The British Museum is particularly interesting. As a teacher of mine commented, it's where you can go and see "what we have stolen from other countries in the past" (what a witty Brit he is. Kevin, don't be flattered.) There is this interesting exhibition on the Royal Game of Ur, where you have to move pieces around a funny-shaped board and knock/send your opponent's pieces back home. The museum's website has got a demo of the game online. It's interesting to see that we haven't changed that much from the old ages: we crave security, we want a solid base prior to launching an offense, we'd love to kick others around if we're not in our preferred circumstances and yada yada yada. This might be happening just on me as somebody who's got an I-want-to-win-every-competition-I-enter-in-a-fair-manner attitude, but it provides a good chance to discover more about oneself.

(As my [relatively] wise sister briefed me once, never say one wants to explore oneself. It's not something a well-bred woman would say.)

This game got me thinking again. I know the British Museum has considerably more money to throw around than the National Museum of Indonesia. OK, that being said, I'm impressed by how BM has the willingness to employ a team of programmers to develop an online board game just for the sake of getting people interested to come along. I felt that I was intellectually stimulated by the game and that it fuelled me to be more determined to go to the museum... just to see what the game these ancient people made up thousands of years ago. The game generates genuine interest in common people to see and learn more about other cultures, something in which I reluctantly admit Indonesians are not very good at. I'm not saying that Indonesians who do not see items of antiquities with their own eyes as uneducated, but rather their willingness to find out about things novel and unfamiliar to them is rather low. Can it be linked to the markedly low average ability to read? Heck, if it's linked, then my MI proposal hits the issue bulls-eye.

My hunger brings me to the point that I need to go and prepare some sort of decent meal for Dad and me... which will then enable us to walk the miles, queue up and see how this board game really looks like. And then again, the Museum may cop up some spare change when we grab a board game or two to bring home and share to others. You see, sometimes expenses aren't as bad as they may initially seem to be. They have the potentials to turn into investments if you know how to handle them. That being said, we as humans are the managers of funds, not the managed.

(I seriously haven't listened to an awful lot of songs lately... really sorry about that! x-{ )

Take care and enjoy your weekend!

(GIGO)

Have you watched the movie "The Da Vinci Code"?

Just to clear things up for the conspiracy-hungry crowd: the novel is based on a document called 'Dossier Secret', as well as several books that were written based on this 'Dossier Secret'.

Well then, have you heard of the term 'GIGO'?
If you haven't, it's the abbreviation of "garbage in, garbage out", a phrase denoting that any low-grade material used in producing another will definitely yield low-grade products or services (it's like cooking chicken cordon bleu using chicken breast meat that has gone off.) This is exactly how "The Da Vinci Code" (and other above-mentioned books) blur the line between facts and cooked-up imagination. 'Dossier Secret' is a hoax created by Pierre Plantard, wanting to milk cash out of unsuspecting persons. Hence, if the novel's main assertions are based on hoax, the whole thing is a hoax.
(Ooh yeah. Now recall those get-rich schemes you come across. This is a believe-me scheme you're coming across.)

Let's return to this post's topic. I think the movie sucks the way Memoirs of a Geisha disappoints me because the producers are trying to wedge a thick, five-hour-to-read novel (for me anyway) into a 150-minute movie. The CGs (if CGs were used at all) suck. Memoirs of a Geisha saved its face with its cinematography, costumes, sets and Zhang Ziyi; The Da Vinci Code blew itself up with its storyline in disarray and the fact Ms Tautou has none of the sexiness supossedly portrayed by Sophie Neveu's character. Okay, I like guys and I'm straight, but the costume team really didn't get how 'smart and sexy' is not pleated skirt and cardigan - that's schoolgirl look, by the way.

Save your buck and watch X-Men III instead.

(linguistics)

Shalom Aleichem
A greeting commonly spoken throughout the Jewish community. It translates as "Peace be upon you".

Asalamualaikum
A greeting commonly spoken in the Arab world and throughout Moslem communities. It translates as "May peace of Allah be with you".

Despite striking similarities, certain vocal groups of minorities do enjoy making gory battles out of personal issues. I am not saying matters of belief are unimportant, but one should not hurt another for not being in the same boat. Please be reasonable and compassionate.

Take care and treat others as you would yourself. Cheers! ^__^

Between You and Me

Feeling demotivated.

But then, what is felt doesn't necessarily correspond with what is actually happening in the real world. Hence, to rely solely on feelings is a rather fickle move.

I did this brain sex ID test: if your brain's a 'totally woman' brain then a score of -50 is assigned, if it is a 'totally male' then a +50 is assigned (the signs are used merely to extrapolate the differences and not to assign superiority/inferiority to one sex ID or another.) I scored a 0. Which is similar to having an androgynous way of thinking. Hmmm...

Also played quite a bit of Sudoku lately. The best time I managed to score was 4 minutes and 27 seconds, performing in the top 10% of the millions of games played without mistakes (and without pausing) for the past week. It was under the Easy mode, though, so I will rake up my courage and switch to playing the Medium mode. I wonder when I'll get to the Evil mode...

Still feeling down, though. Now let's draw... take care and thanks for your concern. I'm honestly looking, looking forward to be able to shop to my heart's will in Melbourne (and that includes Akira.) For now, I'll just do drawings of them ^.^;

Sorrow is a lonely feeling
Unsettled is a painful place
I've lived with both for far too long now
Since we've parted ways
I've been wrestling with my conscience
And I found myself to blame
If there's to be any resolution
I've got to peel my pride away

Just between you and me
I've got something to say
I wanna get it straight
Before the sun goes down
Just between you and me
Confession needs to be made
Recompense is my way to freedom [now]
Just between you and me, I've got something to say...

All Around

There are many things I can be grateful of:
1. Ability to blab here *points at blogger.com*
2. Jesus is personal
3. Having a fair boss at the office (his boss is fair, too, which is just plain good.)
4. Being able to study pattern-making
5. Driving myself around in a car under relatively safe conditions (then again, Jakarta's so-called 'safety' is different to what I grew up with)
6. Earning good income (for the standards here though) and having PayPal
7. My room! This computer! The sewing machine!
8. A colleague's generosity to let me toy with her fabrics in order to make her daughter some dresses
9. Air conditioning (dead without them, I'm as good as fish in the market without it.)
10. Cable connection
11. The latex mattress - it's better than springform mattresses!
12. Brownie for keeping a watch
13. The physical exhaustion I'm having

I'm going to have a good sleep soon... I don't mind studying in Esmod other than the fact short course students are unable to borrow books from its library. If the library's open during normal daytime business hours Mondays to Fridays, short courses' students are unable to borrow books and they students have project on which they may require the use of library books... then the fact that you're able neither to borrow nor to read it during the library hours are a bit of a Catch-22. That's okay, I'll figure out a solution soon.

For my friends who are currently blogging... thank you for letting me put your blog addresses here. It gives me an insight of how you're faring - well, a minimum of 8% effective communication [through literal words] is better than nothing at all, isn't it? As I get to know people, this 8% figure increases accordingly... hehehe... I miss my sister, she'd be telling me to go to bed now. I miss Bandit too, as Brownie is a bit too smelly/dirty to be hugged around.

As for the drama... I'm going nuts as one of the coordinators (i.e. my quasi-supervisor) requested a prolog be inserted into the beginning of the drama at under 48 hours from the scheduled recording session. The play is to be acted out within nine days. The answer is simple: no thank you... but presenting the answer is one of my weaknesses.

Okay people, my eyes are about to give up! Take care, and love you all.

Let the nations sing, let the people shout
Let Your kingdom come, pour Your Spirit out
Manifest, manifest Your love
Manifest, manifest Your love

All around, all around
Everywhere I look Your love is all around
All around, all around
Everywhere I look Your love is all around
Everywhere I look Your love is all around

Only Hope

I feel destructive. It feels like, there are so much things I need to get off myself I need to douse myself in some violence in order to dissipate energies generated by anger. My goodness, I admit feeling like ripping necks off people. It's good I don't have combat-themed video games around, or else I would be more motivated to bring the idea into reality.

By the way, do you know that directors are aptly referred to as "realisateurs" in French? They brought ideas into life through the screen; in other words, they realise imaginations into movies.

Things are improving marks-wise for the LLB studies... I'm trying to stick the topics into my brain even though it's hard to do so... I feel indifferent towards it... it's actually better to feel plain like/hate towards the area of study because you can easily determine what you will do. You tend to get carried away or unmoved/uninspired when you feel indifferent. I wish more liking/hating can be found so that I can make a firm decision.

One of the things that console me is dancing. As many friends would have noticed, dancing heals and brings out the real me. The other is PK. It's when I can go berserk (as well as when dancing). Well, I go berserk pretty much every second minute but these berserk-y scenes tend to happen at the back of my mind and unseen by the general population. Close friends have the pleasure (discomfort? :p) of witnessing these moments, and I guess these are what make them true friends. I really thank people who let me go berserk around them because they are simply great people! Not for the fact that they are my friends, but rather for their sacrifice of comfort. Thank you lots and lots and lots...

Today I had flashbacks about the place where I grew up. The lake, the sports centre, the kiosk opposite the house I lived in, next-door neighbours, places of worship, tree-lined streets, fly-invested communal bins, muddy alleyways, where my dog was buried... by the way, I just remembered that I played NFS2 a lot back in junior high, when the PC allocated to me had a RAM of 32MB after being updated one Saturday afternoon. Now, even 256MB of RAM doesn't seem to be enough ^.^;

I also went out with my cousins (and one guy PDKT-ing my cousin) for dinner in relation to a birthday. I ate a lot till it feels like I'm bursting at seams. The food was good, though, and I got to eat barramundi as well ^o^ yaaaay! We also took some VERY candid shots in the restaurant. I wondered why the manager did not attempt to kick us out. My goodness...

Alright, that's all for now, it's time to get back to the books. The LLB program is an important leverage for me, although I wish for things to be much simpler than what they are like now. Also saving up for an overlocker, it's much needed and long overdue! .\/.

Take care!

Sing to me the song of the stars
Of your galaxy dancing and laughing and laughing again
When it feels like my dream is so far
Sing to me of the plans that you have for me over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray to be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope.

(Fountain Gate)

Finally, a short word on the whereabouts of Fountain Gate, the future home of Melbourne's first Krispy Kreme. It is located approximately 6km east of Dandenong, and it seems to be outside the reach of public transport and walking on foot. GAH. However, it is easily accessible from Princes Hwy, so having a driver (or my own probationary licence) would help much.

So much for Krispy Kreme 9__9;

(caveat emptor)

Just went through a Google search for hydroquinone. This material is widely used in all sorts of things, and particularly in topical skin lighteners. Just to clarify some things, I've included several links to clarify what this substance really is. Here's link #1, link #2 and link #3 (you can also ask Mr. Google for more information.) Hope this helps those who are about to buy their skin lightener/brightener make the right decision.

To be honest, I cringed when I heard one TV ad says, "this product contains 2% hydroquinone to effectively lighten your skin". Growing up reading ingredients list labelled on the back of skincare/cosmetics products, listening to that phrase spoken to aspiring ladies out there made me shiver at how greedy all these producers are: luring them to buy their products with a sweet promise of clearer, lighter-toned skin. Once the products are bought and the money flows, it became of no concern to these producers that these ladies are in considerable health risk. I don't know whether it's their ignorance or their unwillingness to research for the best that makes them to resort to such actions. The fact that not a lot of people actually read labels off adds to the potential time-bomb of mutations and carcinogenic reactions.

And what about me now? As usual, feeling sweaty. It had just begun raining a couple of minutes ago. Practically this is my second last day of vacation before work starts on Wednesday. Yesterday the whole family went to Mango Two on a shopping trip; I got a suit. Anyway, it was surprising to see how big the whole place is right now, as compared to years ago. For today, me and Poink are going to Monalisa, to Freeze Frame (I wish there'd be no blotchy makeup job later on), and to the dentist's (I actually love going there ^^) Oh yeah, Michael is coming tomorrow, and tomorrow is also Irene's birthday... just an early note, happy birthday Irene! ^^ As for my mental note, I'm learning to contain myself while being ignored. Heheheheh...

Alright, that's just about everything. Take care and see you around! ^^