MY 20th Birthday : Dispatches of Two Decades of Earth Dwelling

Hello Avid Readers and Blogrollers,

I am finally twenty! Last Saturday was my birthday and I was so happy of being able to happily celebrate it on my hometown with dearest family, pets, and friends! I was so lazy to update this blog concerning my daunting upsurge of school assignments and some uni stuffs. But hey, I could only be 20 once in a lifetime, and this post should play a role of reminiscing what I have done on that special day. Sorry if this was typical boring diary writing,nonetheless this is my personal day and I want someday you all know that THESE people have made me overwhelmingly happy during my birthday! lol.

So I was watching Dexter with my Mom on her bedroom, it was sometimes around 10pm. The dim of the lights, bit showery outside and breezy air conditions has sent me to bed hitherto (I found this new vocab from my Kashmiri readings) a sharing session with my Mom. I apparently had this over-worry of being a twenty years old girl- young adults. I myself dont regard myself as a mature, wise and responsible person and I was not ready to bear the upringing typical of HOW A 20 YO SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE. And I fell asleep somehow. Whereas I promised myself that I have to survive the night, and embrace my latest minutes of being a teenager with praying and doing a little self-reflection by talking to my Mom or simply watching TV. I opened myself to astonishment glaze over the clock which point to 1.13 AM. *DANG! .My Mom was entirely sleeping tight. And I rushed to my room, opened up the laptop and went online. I was stunned by dozens of text messages twitter post and facebook message (no e-mail, blame the short attention span' generation!!) of sweet messages saying happy birthday to me. Some people even buzzed me on MSN and called in to greet me merry birthday. OK I must say I thanked my intuition of getting up on time, where I had this faintest idea to deliberately check the cyber space, just to know that people still care for my birthday and they really do. ( Even so, I just found out that Mom told me that I was born on 10AM that day, so I was basically forgiven for not staying awake.)

:::::THESE ARE WHAT I DID ON MY BIRTHDAY ::::::

What a beautiful day,unlike any other birthdays of my life that is associated with rain or showers. It was bright sunny day. And my sister drove me up and down to Dreamland Beach. We have been trying to avoid the raid of DOMESTIC TOURISTS by getting away to an expensive restaurant/club named KLAPA. The pool is great but the foods aren't. I don't recommend you this place if you are hungry and broke, a portion of NASI GORENG can cost you 100K rupiah + tax. Suck-o

Trying to sip in some papaya juices and escaping the sunstroke under a shadowy trees. SEE the view behind. isn't it swell??? and then I had the CRAPPIEST FISH AND CHIPS of my life which cost me 25thousand RP. FUG.

Trying out my new D10 - Underwater camera, this happened to be a gift from my Mom. Kudos.
But I regret that the visibility of poolwater of Klapa, its blurry.

A birthday dinner celebration of me and Saknia at Ultimo. Yes we share the same birthdays. We have some of our bestfriends in the table and we are very sorry for some of you who failed to attend the dinner, no re-celebration is gonna be thrown at the very moment, but I can still feel the presence of your joy that sent.

The crowds that rocked. Sarah, my diving pal, left earlier, but she was there too

One of many controversial gifts wrapped in for me and Saknia. Thank you ;)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS :

1. Wanna thanks these special people for being there in my life :

1. I know I might have forgotten God and Holy Mary for quite sometimes, and I hardly or less oftenly pray these days, but I am so grateful that I still have the heart to belief that goodwill and love that has surrounded me thus far, are originated from the Mighty. and I am so thankful for Thee, for the following people that I have. I am now educated and surrounded by people whose belief recline the existence of God, but that doesn't make them bad, but I just want people to know that these people wont be there for me without God's will.
2. My Mom - I want to thank her for giving me a life, this wont be a birthday of mine if it was not necessarily because of her who gave birth for me. she’s the one who makes me who I am today – bad or good. She calls me every morning to unlock this clogged spirit and keeps telling me that I am me no matter what, and I should never be an ambitious kind of person so I still have to keep my feet on the ground and remain humble to others, She texts me every afternoon just to remind me of the mealtime. She buys me black flats shoes, when she knows that these are my very favorite tyoe of shoes and she knows that mine are worn out already, and I didn’t tell her about this, but she bought them anyway and sent them before my door, in two pairs. She provides me wool blanket whenever I fall asleep on the tv room. She puts sandwiches or cookies to my school backpack, just in case I got bored with school cafeteria’s meals or starving at the classroom and was too lazy to go to the canteen.
3. My sister - Despite this conflict and peace kind of relationship with her, I know that she is my real best friend and I have to say thank you for many times that she drives me around (cause I cannot drive) just to get my ID card done, grocery shopping. I had no idea that this surprise party was pretty much her idea, not to mention most of the gifts that were thrown, the passport to diving all around the world (she makes sure that I have to log my divebook in for all these diving sites) and one lousy t-shirt with my awkward sleeping pose on it. I am so thankful that she introduces me to her bestfriends and I manage to hang out with her besties too.
4. My Dad - especially for noticing that i am in dire need of having a pair of Chuck Taylor, for those nice conversations we used to share during my way to school
5. Closest friends. I cant mention your name. but yeah I have to mention Ken Swari Maharani, my college friend, for multiples messages she sent to Rainn Wilson (incoincidence on name similarity and adolescence of a figure called Dwight Schrute of The Office) and the fact that Rain had sent me a birthday messages. Even some of my best friends are away from where I was during the celebration, but advances of technology has diminished the distant, and even though I am a thousand miles away from you all, I still feel the love and bonds ;)For those of you who stopped by my house during the birthday and dropped some gifts, for those of you who gave me T-shirt with NOORDIN M.TOP-Like picture printed on it, for those of you who reached out and called in and could not attend my birthday dinner, for my neighbors on the house who just threw me a surprise by maing a very sweet choco pudding with some M&M's and cheese spread on it, still thanks. For All :Thanks for all sweet messages, prayers and gifts. GOd Bless. It seems that I really cannot reply each of your messages but in the vacant meantime, I will do that and I am so thankful that lots of long lost friend did sent me messages, its just the chance for another ice breaking.
6. I wish that Wayanwati was home, and I regret the chance of not celebrating this special day without her presence

Cheers ;)

INTO THE WILD : COUNTING ON THE COBRASNAKE

Back on the road = Renaissance = Enlightenment. My mind works better with the boost of dophamine, some fashion and travel magz, fancy but affordable accessories and clothes and a little rehab of TV Cable time. Yes, I have come back for Bali for renewing my ID card as I am turning 20 this weekend (RSVP urself to a dramatic dinner in either Queen Tandoor's Seminyak or Dahana Oberoi). In the meantime, i have seen insurgency from my upcoming deadline of article reviews and presentation. The hell with them, I am enjoying myself. I would say that I feel a little bit disadvantaged of going home when our domestic worker is not available, this has doubled my job even more. Yes, I got to do house chores too! To make it worse, our washing machine is not working really well. Chances are : I have to either send the used clothes to laundry or wash them manually.

The weather has been soooo UNFRIENDLY recently, because of thick clouds encounter humidity and storm most of the days. We barely see strong sunlight and blue sky. Raiding tourists from different areas and countries has driven my laziness to not visit some of my fave places, cause I know they'll be raiding such places.

So as usual, we have to go to some remote places , where less people is hanging round and maybe only some apes, monkeys and fisherman are dwelling upon there.

I like this one,mostly because of the thorny cactus. If only I stroke a better pose....

I was braless, if you know what I mean

My Wishlist

At the very outset, let me apologize for my seldom posting or semi-hiatus from blogspot. I am currently been raiding by schoolworks and college stuffs, besides, Twitter and Tumblr has made me a very instant author by posting my instant thought in unelaborative way and to a certain extent has eroded my ability in describing and analyzing, which is bad. But, the hell ith that I dont think I have lots of avid readers except several people who are really paying attention for whatever I am saying, which is bad too.

Concerning my soon-to-be coming birthday, I want people to notice that I have these several wishlist of items for the short term, you dont ought to buy me any, you just simply ought to know

1. A pair of brown platform heels of ALDO
2. A Rug in IKEA called "Bellinge" (I have been emailing the customer service, my mom has made a visit to the respective store but they claimed there has been some issue on shipping the rug from India or Maldives to Singapore)
3. DVD of Breakfast Club or Garden State or Elephant Man
4. A Set of UNO Attack
5. Quality dinner at Queen's Tandoor ( My mom has apparently booked some chairs for my birthday night)
6. Nail polish remover
7. Pair of Swimming googles
8. Got a subscription waive at Last.fm

Apparently, I have never thrown any party in my life for my birthday cause and it seems that even so I am turning 20 really soon, no party is gonna be thrown, cause most of the hippest crowds in Bali are away for college or either is about to go back to college during my birthday. I can't either celebrate this with my college friends who are away in Jakarta. So sorry on this particular issue.

I want to be in any of Cobrasnake's entry. SOON!

Above was a downloaded pic (I was pressing the magic keys of Command +Shift+4) of National Geographic' recent most comprehensive report of what after the climate change worldwide. Indonesia seems pretty secured from any threats, viewing from the pic. Or it just needs more bigger space so as to put a HUGE label on it? . Albeit so sad. Click on the "What You Can Do to Help" button. I dont know how,but something says I have to help easing burdens of climate change. HOW HOW HOW? Im using electricity though efficiently but sometimes way too excessive. I dont recycle too, but I prefer decent public transportation mode.



Today:

Irritating. Muti and I went swimming (not casual, but real lap-over sort of exercises). I dont know which evil that had forced us to swim and fry ourselves under the burning peak day of sunshine. We totally burned (its worse than tan). We did 20 laps by width and several exhausting laps for Free Style improvement. Totally worth spending of time and money :). We started by 12 noon and didnt realize that by time being, even my 30SPF sunscreen wont give enough help. It was nice afternoon, and as usual,our conversation lent the everyday theme of casual boyfriendless life of ours.lolAdina joined the company by late afternoon and treated us rounds of sushii at Asahi. Adina also pointed me a nice cab with a TV on it on my way back.
Ah, I made a visit to Ak sa Ra again. This time I checked Mike Snow's newest album and soe magazines and a book called"A La Twitter".I most likely have to cancel my hiking trip to Gunung Salak, im broke and my travel/training shoes are wearing out. Help!

OK Blame Aksara Book/CD shop for propelling such thoughts.

A Cure for Whining and Unmotivated Hearts

Attempt #1 :

Check your pulse it's proof that you're not listening to
The call your life's been issuing you
The rhythm of a line of idle days
Scared of a world outside you should go explore
Pull all the shades and wander the great indoors
The great indoors

(John Mayer - Great Indoors)

Cold heart, unwillingness to explore the world, closed-minded of other's criticism are most likely contributing to your constant whining upbringing. Books, movies and songs are made cause the creators experience the real thing that would never be found in human's most comfort zone. I hate to say this, but this post are open for criticism, cause I am criticizing a person here. I must say this is my last resort of saying it out loud. I sound like Marshanda's recent videoblog , yes big chances are. But my opinion should be weighed as legit cause I believe that freedom of expression is guaranteed in my country to the point where i dont trespass other's freedom at the very first place.

Truly Yours,

A very sarcastic at heart kind of friend

Camping in Situgunung

Last weekend, Maria,Erika and I accidentally bumped into our uni's Catholic group for a day retreat/adventure off to Situgunung,Sukabumi. The others might arguing that the reason why we came up with such faintest idea is to extend our social circles, take into account that our singleness might be caused by less knowledge of people and around. I bet that was true up to some bottom point. I cannot fully agree. lol.

We hitched on the Navy's truck,that is supposedly used for the arms on several occasions. It feels like hell during the peak of the day, especially when the truck got stuck on a filthy dusty roadside during traffic. I just hated that. I was thinking that the Navy's truck would get all the privilege of passing by smaller vehicles simply just by switch on the sirene. Maybe this one special truck was lame.

The air was mild and fresh once we got there. Hundred years of age of pines are all over us. I experienced sudden change of weather by a slight distant of places. I mean, Jakarta is only 3 hours away, but there in Situgunung the air was soo comfy after a long breathe. We should take a walk up for 20 mins to the lodging. Turns out, the very place is usualy used by campers or big company for outbond purposes and it was the independence day's weekend. It got pretty packed at afternoon and heavily noisy by karaoke tunes by night.

It feels like the old winter days during the night. Even my sweatshirt,thick socks and the roasted corn cannot cope my freezing. The committee organized a little treasure hunting across the jungle and the tip of the lake. They also put me in a group with people I barely know! but it was fun of knowing more people from my uni. We had fun making some clothes for traditional fashion show. I feel empowered after assigned of making two Dayak traditional vest from newspapers. and they all fit into bodies!. Ok back to the treasure hunt topic, There was no clue whatsoever to guide you through next post, they just put some torches to indicate the direction. We had to make a rest stop-cum-problem solving at each post. The hunting involves lots of leeches bites, rollover screams, stone hitting and astonishment over the lake view during the night (there was this glow coming from our lodge/campsite , and I assumed that it was the only place around which has electricity running around) After a while the commitee cancelled the bonfire, cause it showered a little. But a new buddy from School of Economics, offered us some photo sessions together with her SLR. (which I was waiting so badly, cuz i dont have any camera atm).


next day, Up! I had to wake up really early cause I had stomachache and the weather was just so cold. (Thank God I had sleeping bag and iPod and a SPACE for sleep, credit for Seniors of Communication Studies though). We rolled for 1,5 hour trekking accross woods of bamboo and rocky track. I had to impersonate an action of any travelling presenter just to make my friends out of boredom of climbing up the slippery track. Erika said that I got boost up by a dopping/drug that I took beforehand. trust me it was just an antidote for my stomach flu or my antacyd. That was pretty fun sunday morning. I laughed my self so hard cause I found it hard to get my self across a two logs width of traditional bridge. Friends said there was nothing to lose even if you happened to fall down. But I said to them "man, getting laughed by others suck. i'd better not fall down).


That was the waterfall, which was our destination after long awaited trekking. I even had to put this credit for my friend, Momo who took this pic. and I took it out of her facebook . Wew I have seen better waterfall before. But i got irritated because I didnt swim, the weather was so cold and I didnt have any spare clothes. All i got were just a sweatshirt and a cargo trousers. I didnt dip my feet to the water nor doing any further exploration down to the bank. I dont know why .But I saw some of the boys swimming and did a poor dives from the cliff. I didnt know how they survived the cold though.

It was a funny way to spend a weekend. I got spiritually healed a bit too. And most of all, I was exposed to much bigger social circles and networks.

I have to thank Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin's track of Yr Broom to accompany me during that cold cold night by the tip of the toilet nearby the lake where I helped some kids to grill the corns.

Igniting My International Relations Appetite

My mom called in first thing in the morning, telling me how much she misses me and call me to come back as soon as I can or as job-less as I am. Subsequently, I dwell upon my sigh and went to the bathroom. Jesus , I found a gecko insight. I am screwed, so I was screaming on the phone too! pleading for the Densus 88 to rescue me out of this . Mom easily dropped her so-so solvency:" spray some insects repellent and there you go open up all the windows in the room." I just dont see it as a way out. Sorry.
So I happen to open,err,reopen and reinterpreting the latest message on My MUN mailing group. One of which happened to be neglected by me, is actually contained an important stuffs inside. I failed to attend the very first training last week due to the appointment with some sponsors, the coaches made me writing an essay about international politics and foreign policy. I told people so many times. I had been brain-dead ever since I got back from Singapore and subsequently resuming my adventures outdoor. I hardly read anything, not even bits of International politics, which I previously felt enthusiast upon.
I propel myself to stay tune to my pages (fyi, Mac's pages > Microsoft Words!) , to attempt paragraph making over some international politics terminology. Results are: I made myself opening and reaping up old lecture notes and K.J Holsti's textbook. They were still there, the very items that I really want to search and try to re-comprehend. I still remember the position of where i put highlights on or simpky strike a note in between words. Now i feel awkwardly motivated.But still feeling lucky to finish a 600 words of foreign policy 101 in two hours. (cause I was watching Michael Jackson's recorded live performance on tv)
In addition, I want people to know that I am tired of saying that I am not going to pick any of the concentration./major cluster next term. Simply because I wasnt allowed for I didnt take some of pre-requisite courses last sem. It got me thinking, that If only I didnt skip next semester for a scholarship in Singapore. If only I had the gut to wait for the upcoming terms for another open chance of scholarship/living abroad. There are too many if(s). And only the pragmatist had the gut to continue my what if(s) goes on. I want people to know that there are so many reasons why I am grateful for deciding what I did. I also have to convince myself that this writing is not a mode to boost a self-righteous out of me. In fact, I wont be who I am today without experiencing what I was back then. I just realized that I cannot have everything, I must lose sometimes. And i would be fully entertained If tomorrow, I happen to receive the fact that i can take max 24 AUS/Credits next sem. Most peers over-dilemma of picking their best interests has so far got me nerve-wrecking sensation too. What am I myself gonna pick next year? I love environment, and I know international cooperation bring more good in order to save wildlife animal and conserving marine life, Or I know lots of world conflicts and has been idolizing movies such as Tears of the Sun or Delta Force 1-5, simply to know, it takes coercive action and magnificent military maneuvers to achieve one country's best interests? Somehow I have been wondering myself negotiating trading in WTO or International trading boards, play with stockmarkets and just stay home watching tv and keep myself updated with the stockmarket newscasts. Thank you Lord, you know I am somehow confuse, still. Thanks for giving me another year to re-think. Whatever it is gonna be, I believe with the line: your major or concentration would not contribute much to your CV, its just gonna set a framework of thinking of yours. Thats epic. I love my major! ( I know I dont sound like a very charismatic-thinkful international relations/foreign policy analyst).

Roll over my newest most favorite tunes at the moment :

Davendra Barnhart - Lover
Fiona Apple - Why Try to Change Me Now
The Submarine - Xavia
Alicia Keys - Like You'll Never See Me Again

How do I kill my time?

A friend keep bugging me with this question : HOW DO I KILL MY TIME (in jakarta)?


1. Maximizing my online life to the fullest! or simply mess up with my laptop

I put youtube to generalize my addiction over watching tv series online. Or generally refer to my online life. Lock me in a room with my mac and my usb modem, do not feed me, i'll say , i'll be staying alive in two weeks ahead. I twitter, facebook and youtube. (they are even a VERB now) Sometimes I send hello to friends from email and post message on travel forum too.

My laptop is my best friend, he/she (well i dont give name to my mac, unlike most of my friends who named their laptops) never complains after working overtime. I guess God gave me this laptop through the hands of my mother to substitute my boyfriend-less friend. Its better cause it never gets jealous or overruled or cheating on you!

the casts of Secret Life of American Teenager (word has it, that this show even topples Gossip Girls rating every weekend, its just that its not famous in Asia, or surprisingly none of the tv cable's station has a gut to host the show). I've been sleepless only for watching the series online!

My favorite clip. I got so mad and had my nails scratch to the skin of the head. cause a guy like Ben never exist in reality.But oh I did sent a message via twitter to Ken Baumann the lead actor. I like it that he has a blog and tumblr and a website that he manages himself.


2. Incarcerating myself in a bookshop/cd shop

I have a terrible habit of checking out books, imported cd all at once from the Aksara bookshop (cause trust me there aint better bookshop or library than it, in Jakarta) and then am overwhelmed and can’t get around to more than one of them without freaking out and using a whole pad of post-it notes to mark things that I-omg-need-to-make-a -list-of -songs-to-be-download

3. watching too many dvds, take a pause, toast the breads, sip some hot lemon tea, fall asleep and wake up with the dvd's still on ON position, and then lost a remote

4. Go to some free gigs, music gigs

5. Doing some laundries, eat snacks, dancing, singing, procrastinating, talk in msn

(the lesser the rank, the less important they truly are)

Jakarta's Saturday Out on a Shoe-String : A Guide

Hello blogrollers, travelers, writers, soldiers, teachers, nurses, diplomats and terrorists!

Disclaimer : I just want to try writing with non-paragraphical style and I dont want to stay in my room for the rest of the days, I just want a small adventure, regardless its smoky sky , high humidity and unforgivable traffic and air pollution. I once said to my friends, Jakarta is enjoyable, if you have a driver and a car. I dont have a driver and a car here, cause I cant drive a car and my mom wont be just as mad as can be, if I demand a driver.Or else, My Dad will be using his classic argument of : "Whose daughter do you think you are?". Moreover, I live in Bali so practically I wont be having a car in Jakarta, unless that belongs to my cousins of my father side. Alright, Let me try my luck. Today and (most of the days on this week) I've visited some of the main spots of Jakarta, follow my route :

1. I took a fast train from my campus to Gondangdia St, aiming for the thrift market of Senen. It was so hot as hell. That time I was wishing that I could have a gut to wear a sleeveless and a shorts shorts. I mean, come on Jakarta it was probably 40c degree or upper, and i was there with loose t-shirt and a leotard.
2. I got two skinny blazers of grey and light blue, three pairs of levis denim shorts for $9 only. Really thrilling thrift market. and a $4 piece of Aigner handwatch.geez.
3. Went to a Japanese fast food for a short getaway (read : Air conditioned-room)
4. Glaze to Jakarta Convention Centre for Pameran Ekonomi Kreatif, powered by Indonesia's Trading Ministry. I went there solely for free gigs of Balawan and Batuan Ethnic's Fusion (Balinese pride of jazz/rock Guitar hero specializing in two hands tapping , fused with Balinese gamelan and contemporary beats of drums and artificial strings from keyboard) and SORE band (i dont really know how to describe their music genre, what I know they are really good and distinct)
5. While on the wait of two different gigs, we noticed that around was somehow a beautiful display of Indonesian creative industries. Stuffs like Batik,paintings, traditional foods, music even local software are being exhibited. I signed myself up to a local traditional theatre. I also got a chance of trying Klappertaart of North Celebes , and undeliberately suggested my friends to try Ayam Betutu Gilimanuk from Bali. (I cannot believe it, i miss home made food, including ayam betutu)

Disclaimer : I lost my digital camera =( . so sorry there are no pictures which are even posted. I got some pictures from my 1,3 megapixel cameraphone, which cant be transferred at the moment.

Here in Jakarta, adventure mostly contains endless night of movie marathon and gigs hunting, or even small shopping or simply drooling myself with internet addiction. I know its not healthy lifestyle. But I work out too, I swim and jog too.

Here in Jakarta, every weekdays I will be making a plan to execute an extraordinary weekend.

Have a nice weekend

p.s I ;ve never been so glad over an obituary. But Noordin M.Top, a terroristchief has been captured dead. Hallelujah


Rain

Place to go in London Town : Camden Markets

London is surely included on my TOP 100 cities i have to visit before I die. Camden Market which located on the heart of London Town is paradise of vintage clothings and accessories. It must be like Cathucak Market of Bangkok and Bugis Village of Singapore, where you can bargain things off.




Both pictures are taken from an Indonesian flickr account who happens to reside in London. Frankly she opens this wayang (indonesian puppet) workshop inside Camden Market Area.