Just a few rants, please bear with me.

Before I go on let me just say something. Sorry if you'll get confused when you're reading my blog. I can only tell you that I'm not the best writer, I even admit that I'm a lousy writer.
Even though I live in San Francisco for 7 years, my grammar doesn't get any better. That's why I enjoy talking more than writing, ha!
So, please bear with me if you get confused with my writing. If you find it too confusing, don't hesitate to comments and ask questions.

Let's move on.

Okay, I promise you to share my journey to Japan in here. I already posted the pre-journey experience on my previous entry, and the next one is coming, I promise!
I'm still writing it down on my Word document. Honestly I'm a little lazy to do it, to write and recall all the memories back then. But heck, let's just do it.

I'm not about to talk on that today. I'm going to rant about the experience I have with someone.
Someone that I often call him "Yes Man". You probably feeling familiar with that term. In fact that's the title of Jim Carrey's movie.
This person is pretty much like Jim Carrey character. He often answers "Yes" to every offer that me or my other friends asked. But when the time come to actually do the actual job, he always gets away with bunch of excuses. For example; (this happened quite often), I asked him to accompany me to go somewhere because I got nothing to do. I asked him few days before so he could manage his schedule ahead. Every time I asked him, in a second he replied "yes, let's go". During the day that we finally plan to go, he never texted me to inform what time he's going to pick me up or what's the plan for today. Until I texted him and ask, "are we really going to that place today?", and he's going to simply answer me, "I'm still not sure, if you want to go just go, don't wait for me." WTF?
Happens so many times, that now I only treat him like a fool and joker.

All I can say is, if you want a good impression among your friends don't just easily promise others with your "yes". Think carefully upon answering other, you don't want to make yourself look like a brainless grown-ups.

5 days in Tokyo (and beyond) – Pre-trip Drama.

The actual trip took place in August, but I had so many things going on after that, I forgot to write it down in here.

This trip was actually a spontaneous move that I did with my friend. I was actually planned to go to Japan on November. But the companion that about to go together are around 8 people of 2 families, and both of the families also related to each other. In other words, I’m the only stranger (in term of blood-relation) among them. Aside from that, I wasn’t too comfortable with that amount of people to travel with. Too many people = too many conflict of interest.

Around January or February, one of my friend (Dee) who works and lives in Singapore texted me, asked whether if I want to go to Japan during Hari Raya holiday, which was in early August.

I was so surprised and thinked that my dream of going to Japan was about to happen! But then Dee told me that she would have to confirm to me on how long the trip will be since she haven’t ask for her leave yet.

So I couldn’t proceed to book the ticket and hotel yet.

We were just guessing and roughly put a 7-day itinerary. I was doing all the research on the places that we wanted to visit. Yep, I’m that type of person who like to do the paperworks. HA!

I was so excited that I was done with the 7-day itinerary. I even timed out the hours and stuff. But then came the bummer, Dee told me that she only got 5 days off. I was a tad disappointed, but the plan must go on.

We squeezed everything in 5 days, including cutting down visits to other cities like Kyoto & Sendai. We just wanted to concentrate on exploring Tokyo & around.

While I was on a euphoria state, counting days to August, suddenly on April (if I’m not wrong) Dee texted me, said that she might have to cancel her Tokyo trip with me because her company got a big project ahead.

At that time, I felt like the time when I broke up with my boyfriend (kind of), the point is everything was so wrong that I almost couldn't think.

I was so confused, what should I do because the plane ticket was not refundable.

Then I asked my sis (DJ) whether she could accompanied me to Tokyo. Luckily, she agreed to do so. Only to found out that the cheap plane ticket was all sold out! So, she had to buy the (very) expensive one.

Few days after that, Dee informed me that their project has been postponed until further notice, meaning that YAY! WE’RE ALL GOING TO TOKYO! NO MORE PRE-TRIP DRAMA!

What a relief…*phew*

Everybody is happy, we’re going to Tokyo, yay! :D

Customer service is not the best part of Indonesian hospitality.

Here is my story dealing with the customer service in Indonesia.

It happened around last week, when I was in Jakarta. I was visiting Galeries Lafayette at Pacific Place, and found this very cute Marc By Marc Jacobs (MBMJ) shoes which I've been searching for since last year.
(Note: Indonesia tends to get rather late season in the retail industry. I already saw this shoes at MBMJ Singapore store LAST YEAR but couldn't find my size so I didn't buy it.)
I was rather skeptical at first that they're not going to have my size. Then the sales told me that "this is just in" and I was surprised because I already saw it last year in Singapore.
I asked her to get my number and they got it. I tried it and it was perfect fit and so comfy. Because I've been searching for it and it's comfy enough for a designer's brand, I decided to bought it.

FYI, this is a designer's shoes; meaning, it's not cheap. I'm not trying to brag, but it will come across my point later.

After I paid for my shoes, they told me to bring the invoice with my membership card to the customer service office up stairs to add more points.
Before I did that, I bought some pants, and while I was at the cashier the lady behind it told me that she could asked one of the sales to took my card and invoice to the customer service office to do the adding points thingy. I told her it was not necessary, I could do that by my own. She said, it was okay, it was part of their job. I insist that I could do that by myself, no need to troublesome them. SHE KEPT INSISTING TO OFFER ME THAT. Okay, I couldn't take her stubborn-attitude, so I let it slide.
I agreed and thanked her. She called another salesperson to took my card and the invoice to the CS office. I suddenly remember the invoice from MBMJ shoes, so I gave it to her and told her to accumulate it with the pants' invoice.
Before she handed it to her friend, she read the invoice. SHE READ THE INVOICE. And asked me what is this.
I have a nature of when people asked, I just replied to them--as honest as I could. Since I didn't expect what's her next comments, I simply answered her; "shoes".
Then she replied me this:
"Just a pair of shoes?"
"Yes." (me)
"Oh my. This is so expensive. Even my monthly salary couldn't afford this. Oh my."
I believe I was having a poker face at that moment. So I calmly answered her; "I've been searching for this shoes everywhere. So I think it's worth it."
She smiled at me politely and then handed over the invoice to her co-worker.

I told my cousin right away after that. She told me that the cashier-lady's comments was so not appropriate. I totally agree. I'm not blaming her for her opinion, I was angry at how she said it out loud in front of the customer. She should kept it to herself, or maybe gossiping about it behind customer's back, I don't care.
She almost made me felt guilty from buying the shoes. Heck!

I don't think I'm an adventurer (backpacker)

I've been reading blogs from foreigners who live in Indonesia, and most of them are English teachers. 

(FYI: I read and comments on their blogs, I'm not stalking them, get that straight!)

The thing that amazed me is, how they are so free-spirited, and they are dare to explore Indonesia until the very remote part of this country.

I'm talking about the life of backpacking travel. How they are willing to take a small-almost hole in the wall hostel, trekking inside the jungle, or even hike 'til the top of the mountain.

Their spirit for the adventure amazed me, and it really says: "life is short, travel more."

But I'm different. I love to travel, but I don't think I'm that backpacker type. 

Some of my excuses: 

I can't travel light

Seriously, this is my bad bad habit. I always stressing out on what clothes should I bring whenever I'm about to fly somewhere. At the end, it ended up too much at my suitcase.

Those small hostel/motel creep me out.

Not to say the effect of American's horror/thriller movies. But really, I don't like to sleep in a bed with dirty matreess and dirty bathroom. 

No time, no companion.

It said it all.

A habit from I was a little kid?

Every time there was an invitation to a school camping in the wild (during my elementary school days), my dad won't allow me to participate. Well, my dad is very protective to his daughters, even until now.

And because I already feel comfort in how the way I travel, I start to lose interest on the idea of 'backpacking'.

But that's my personal thought. Aside from it, to the English teachers in Indonesia, bravo to you guys and keep doing what you enjoy doing. :)

Bummer...

Today I arrived in Jakarta for my tri-monthly chores. And just when I arrived at the place where I usually stay (my uncle's house), I found out that they changed their wi-fi system.

Bummer, total bummer.

So the new wi-fi system is kinda suck big time. I can only browse the internet in the living room area. No air-con, just fan, and with the loyal companion from the beloved mosquitos.
Before, I could access the wi-fi from the bedroom where I sleep, with 16C air-con and lots of privacy. And it's gone now. Yep, no more wi-fi & internet inside the bedroom. Gotta do it in the public area.

Geez.

Now I feel missing my own home in Palembang already.

Oh geez.

Oh no, I did it again!
Yep, I neglect my blog (again). No excuse for this. I simply forget.

But, to my defense, I did got caught up in some busy situation which I couldn't ignore.

First, I went to Tokyo (Yaaay, first Japan trip!). It was so fun, I'll make a post about it later on.
Second, once I got back from Tokyo, my mom got sick, so I went to Singapore with her. Don't worry, she's all good.
Third, well, you know I got stuck up with the stuff I want to write. It's pretty much the same ritual every day. So yeah, life gets really boring to be written in a blog.

Cross my fingers that I'm going to keep up with this blog.

Vesak Day

On May 25th, we celebrate Vesak Day. It's one of the most major celebration and important day for the Buddhist. If I wrap it up in much simpler words, "It's like the Christmas for the Buddhist."

I can't say that I'm a good Buddhist. I don't go to the Vihara (place to worship for Buddhist) often. In fact, I only visit the Vihara on the Vesak Day. When I was much younger, I went to Vihara with my dad and sis, and we followed the ceremony procession.
(Even though I would complained that the procession took too long and I begged my dad to took us home because I was hungry. Well, I was a kid back then!)

But nowadays, I skip the whole ceremony, procession, prayers, the whole thing. I no it sound bad, but I get annoyed with large crowd. But hey, at least I still have my heart and time reserved to give my prayers.
I believe no matter where you are, as long as you have the heart and faith, you can always pray.
This is not my excuse!

On this year Vesak Day, as usual, the biggest celebration is held at Vihara Dharmakirti. Probably, the biggest Vihara here in Palembang.

The exterior of Vihara Dharmakirti

Once arrived, first I went to the small Buddha statue that been placed with altar in the front yard. People will burn 3 incenses and then use it to pray facing the Buddha statue, after that I sticked the incenses on the big bowl (not actually 'bowl' but I can't find the exact words) filled with sands.

The rather 'smaller' Buddha statue in the front yard

Then I went through the left side of the building, there is this small alley filled with people, literally! It was so crowded even the ceremony already ended. Plus, that's the only way to reach the main hall.

Along the alley, there is another small Buddha statue with a lot of small stupas on the altar. There is also lots of candles placed on the right and left side. If I'm not mistaken, this is the praying corner dedicated to the family members that already passed away. Usually, each of the candle represent the deceased family member.

The altar with Buddha statue, small stupas, and candles. Dedicated for the deceased family members

After fighting through the sea of people in the alley, I made it to the back side to reach the main hall. The main hall located a bit in the back side. The main hall is really spacious. It's indoor, and it's much cooler than the outside. It has 3 big Buddha statues in gold. I felt quite serene once I stepped in, even there were numbers of people there. 

Everybody who wants to go in, is forbid to burn and bring incenses here. We have to take out our shoes too. People usually pray, or do some chanting, or meditate, or just sit around.
I spent some time here, pray and have a moment there. Took some pictures because I think it's just so beautiful.

Entrance to the main hall

The interior of the main hall

The 3 Buddhas

From the main hall, looking out

The coordinator of the Vihara had provide free lunch for the visitors. They put the food in the way back of the field, and you have to somewhat go down the stairs. I didn't get the food there, because there were way too many people.

This way down to the free lunch

Visitors, enjoying lunch and catching up with friends and families

Oh hey, there's a pagoda too! But I'm just too lazy to climb up

And after that, I headed back home.

This event is a yearly thing that I always try to keep up. The celebration definitely is different from when I was younger. Back then it felt much "conservative", while I think nowadays is much more "lively" and attracts more younger crowds. 

If you are not locals, but happen to visit Palembang during the Vesak celebration (usually it's on the month of May), please join and blend in. You don't have to be a Buddhist. Just feel the experience to get a glance of different side of our people.

Until next year!

"I think Palembang is..."

I spoke to few foreigners who visited Palembang, some for working purpose, some for leisure.
Almost 90% of them said "I think Palembang is nice" when I asked how do they think about this city.

Well, I think they are just being nice to us as locals. The point is, they live in here temporarily and of course they don't want to offend anyone because of their subjective opinion.

I honestly don't like this city. Not hating it. I can't completely hating it since I was born and raised here. I have my beloved parents, my family, and lovely house.

I don't like it because, it lacks of entertainment, probably that's the most reason for me. If I try to dine out, I get less options on the places to go. I only watch movies from 1 cinema in the town. I only go to 1 to 2 malls in here. And we finally have Starbucks in 2013.

I experienced that the way local people joke to each other is somewhat rude. I hung out few times with several dudes that went to same high school with me. And all that I can say is, I'm not going to hang out with them anymore.
The way they talk and joke around, it almost feel like they have to offend someone. I personally think they are not grown up enough.
(Which this topic will lead to the mentality of local people think about getting married at the young age but still like to 'have fun' even they already have kids.)

Local people here, like to bump their body into yours! Seriously! Even the space next to them is still big enough for them to dodge, they just don't want to. They have to hit your shoulder, at least.
And this is the least thing I can tolerate, because I DON'T LIKE PEOPLE SCRUBBING ME WITH NO REASON ESPECIALLY STRANGERS!

You'll probably think that my reason is very naive and selfish. But if you have been living abroad, in those modern city, like San Francisco, New York, LA, Tokyo, Singapore, etc. you'll know that my reasons make a thousand senses.

So, for those foreigners (esp. who live to work here in Palembang), please please please, tell me your HONEST opinion about Palembang!
And if you are scared that your honest opinion is going to upset some people, feel free to spill it out at my e-mail, fjutamulia(at)gmail(dot)com.

It's my Birthday!

It's officially May 17 here in Indonesia (UTC+7). I'm officially 30 this year. Yes, it's my Birthday. Good times is just getting started! :-)

Many of young women whined that being 30 is such a big deal. First, most of them thinks "I'm old". Second, some of them thinks being 30 means your wrinkle starts to show up. Third, some of the singles are getting terrified by not married yet.

Well, I want to take a deep breath and enjoying my golden 30 moment.

First, I don't mind being 30 since nothing I can do about to undone it. Plus, most likely people cannot tell my real age. Most of them always thinks that I'm younger actually. (Not mean to brag, but seriously, it's true)

Second, I think I'm in a good hand of protecting my skin. My mom gives and teaches me to use really good products to prevent those wrinkles. So, thanks a bunch Mom!

Third, I'm still single. Yes, sometimes it feels suck, especially when all of your girl friends are either married or in a relationship. But I don't want the loneliness to become a desperate reason and action for me to find just any guys out there.
I believe one day I'll find it. But until then, let's enjoy what I have at the moment!

So, cheers to the great 30!

It's May!

Oh My God, it's May already?
I spent the first week of May at Jakarta. Same routine like every visits to Jakarta, but much shorter this time. Usually me & my parents spend a week there. But since my sister is sick, so we decided to cut the trip short. Which I don't really mind.

Got back home early, play with the pups, life is good!

Another thing about May, and it's extra special this year because:

1. MY BIRTHDAY, HELL YEAH! 
Yep. It's my 30th birthday this year. I'm not feeling old at all, except few sore in here and there, ha!
Well time sure does fly, isn't it? And suddenly I'm 30. Usually, my aunties will say something like, "What? You already 30? I feel like you were still 17 last year!".
Believe it or not, I'm 30!
(Although I really want to be back to 21...)

2. Star Trek: Into Darkness opens in theater during the week of my birthday.
F-yeah! What a great way to celebrate it with one of my most anticipated movie.

3. Heard that there's a Mexican Food Festival for the whole month in Novotel Palembang.
Mexican food? Really? In Palembang? Never heard in ages that someone is going to introduce Mexican food to our community. In fact, most of Palembang-ers only know tacos. And probably, they don't even know it's Mexican.
But I heard that they're not going to have burrito, which is pretty sad. Out of all of Mexican food, I'm craving for burrito the most.

Of course, I do hope the month of May will turn up even better than my list above.
^_^

Failed Attempt on Tasting The First High Tea.

I heard the so much hyped about this place called "Brava Parlour" at Arista Hotel, Palembang.
My friend was there last month, and told me the ambience is so cool, almost like Social House at Grand Indonesia, Jakarta.
So, I'm thinking, this place gotta be dope, right?

I searched online about the place, and apparently it's mentioned that they got "TEA TIME".
And once I saw that word.. TEA TIME. I immediately got excited. My mind is imagining about the afternoon tea that I had at Lovejoy's, Crown & Crumpets, and Rotunda at San Francisco, and also TWG Salon at Singapore.

Here's a brief explanation about "tea time". People around the world usually called it with several names; tea time, high tea, or afternoon tea.
Here are some descriptions that I cited from Wikipedia ('cos I'm too lazy to summon the descriptions in my own words);

• Afternoon tea or low tea is a small meal snack typically eaten between 4 pm and 6 pm. Observance of the custom originated amongst the wealthy classes in England in the 1840s.
• Traditionally, loose tea is brewed in a teapot and served with milk and sugar. 
• For laborers, the tea was sometimes accompanied by a small sandwich or baked snack (such as scones) that had been packed for them in the morning. For the more privileged, afternoon tea was accompanied by luxury ingredient sandwiches (customarily cucumber, egg and cress, fish paste, ham, and smoked salmon), scones (with clotted cream and jam) and usually cakes and pastries.
• In hotels and tea shops the food is often served on a tiered stand; there may be no sandwiches, but bread or scones with butter or margarine and optional jam or other spread, or toast, muffins or crumpets.

A few pictures of afternoon tea meals that I had before;

Afternoon tea usually comes with snacks/finger foods type of meal as the companion with the tea.

(Rotunda - Neiman Marcus, San Francisco)

It's usually served in two or three tier of serving. The savory and sweets are placed accordingly. 

(Crown & Crumpets, San Francisco)

Finger (mini) sandwiches.

(Lovejoy's Tearoom, San Francisco)

Now with the expectations according to the above pictures, of course I'm pretty excited to go to Brava, meet my girls, and have a wonderful tea time.

As I walked in, the ambience is nice. Not crowded at all (in fact, nobody's there, ha!). And they played a smooth jazz music which is perfect for relaxing and a long chat time with friends.

I grab a seat with my girls, and the nice lady came to us, offering their menu. I quickly asked about the tea time, and apparently.... SHE'S CONFUSED! What the... 

So I have to described it again, the so-called "tea time" that they promoted in their website. And the lady said that THEY DON'T HAVE ANY PROMO YET ON THE TEA TIME.

Why the heck you put it on your website if you don't have it at all? Then she offered other "promotion" about getting a main course dish, with free tea or coffee, et cetera. NO! I WANT MY AFTERNOON TEA! *sobs*

But to wipe away my disappointment was rather quick. Their "tea mudd" is quite good. I order the kiwi tea mudd, which basically is tea infused with chopped of kiwi fruit. It's refreshing. And after a long and great chat with the girls, I didn't really think about the tea time anymore.

But what I really hope is, they're going to bring the afternoon tea to their menu. If they're not going to, better delete that section on their website. Rather than giving a prospect customers a false hope.

Or maybe I should open my own afternoon tea place?

When you are right in the middle of THAT situation.

I guess when I grow older, I don't make a lot of friends as many as when I was in high school or college.
Even worse, some close friends turn out as foes through complicated matters and conflicts.
And maybe it's myself who like to set myself apart from those "reunion". For example; when I met one of my high school friend in the mall, I recognize him right away, and I know he's kind of questioning himself "Wait, is that...". But I discourage myself from saying "Hi" to him. I acted like I didn't know him at all.
Maybe based on that attitude, people starting to pull themselves away from me.

I think I personally try to avoid those cliche questions;
"What do you do now?",
"Have you married?",
"Why haven't you got married? Oh you must be really choosy when picking boyfriend!",
"You don't have boyfriend? Liar!",
And the typical of conversations with locals in Palembang who like to brag about their business;
"My job is....",
"I know this governor, that general, this coal mine boss",
"I made $$$ this month. How about you?"
Usually when I start to hear that kind of conversation, I feel I want to run away and hide.

And my recent confrontation was with a long lost "frenemy" (frien-enemy) that I've been trying to avoid to meet.
I know we live in the same city. I know apparently we'll meet each other one day. But, oh-my-Lord, why it had to be on that day?
The conversation went awkward, well, for me. And I could tell that I was putting a fake smile in my face.
I don't really know if he know our situation, but I think he's just too ignorant to know that I actually not so fond of him (anymore).
But thanks God it didn't last for too long. I got off from the scene and liberated myself.
Now I hope that I don't have to meet him again.

Mean? Probably I am. It's something personal to me. Yeah, I'm the kind of person who's rather picky in making friends.
But don't we're all like that? I mean, you can't befriended all of the human in this universe, right?

Feeling old now.

I'm not becoming any younger for sure. Looks might deceiving, as many people can't really tell my real age (uh-huh!). But it does reflect on my attitude and what I feel inside.

I get irritated easily with people around me, including my family members. Simple little things annoyed me. And when I get annoyed, I simply burst out of anger. I feel that my toleration level is become thinner than before.
I remember during my junior high time, one of my friend told me that I always smiled at every situation even it's not a nice one. She said that I looked like I didn't have any burden at all in my life.
Well, as time passes by, I wish I still can put that kind of face.

My body, that's another thing. I feel that my bones can't take much heavy pressure as before. Not to mention that I had to suffer from sciatica (back pain) in 2011. And my right knee has this kind of thing that hurts if I sit for too long.
Even I was much over weight back then, I feel that I'm not as quick as before. But lately, I discover that  when it comes to exercise, I begin to love the sport that I hated before, running.
I'm not talking a running in a marathon matter, but more to small run in the thread mill.

Honestly, I'm a pretty lazy person. I don't find sport is a fun thing to do. Slap me in the butt, but yeah...
Hopefully, I'll do more running.

Why Hating on Your Natural Haircolor?

Around 3 years ago, during the preparation of my sister's wedding day. I accompanied her to this hair salon where she got her hair and make up set for her big day.
We were there for make up test, trying on the dress, and hairdo consultation.
The stylist kept asking her to dye her hair a bit lighter. (FYI: my sis never colors her hair. Her hair is like, perfect black, very healthy.)
She refused to do it. But the stylist still said; it's better to have lighter hair color. Then we asked, "Why?". She answered,

the light color gives dimension to your hair. When you pull one section across another, you can see the depth, and it will looks nicer. While black hair, will appear with no depth, one dimensional, and heavy.

Well yeah, if I look at those Japanese Hairstyle magazine, almost everyone inside has at least brown-ish kind of hair color.
Me personally, at that time, had a red-auburn color. I keep dying my hair, because I have gray hair that's growing like crazy. Gray is contrasting so much with my black hair, so I decided on red or light brown to 'camouflage' them.

My sister is a woman with a strong will, stubborn I might say for sometimes. So she decided "No, no matter what, I'm keeping my beautiful black hair."

In another occasion when we were together having out haircut at a Japanese hair salon in Jakarta, the hair stylist also kept telling her to dye her hair.

What's wrong with keeping your natural black color hair?  Personally, I simply get bored looking at my dark hair. So, I experience with different color.
But for this past year, I've been dying my hair back to black. I'm loving it. See no problem with those "depth" issue. Except for my gray hair will be noted right away. But that's just a minor problem, I'll just cover them with the black dye again.

What do you think?

Goodbye, Brownie...

As I'm writing, I'm still pretty upset. I don't know where should I leash out my sadness and anger. Been crying for this past 2 hours. But it just doesn't solve anything.

So, this is the story of Brownie. A puppy from the stray dog that me, my sis, and her husband have been feed and taking care of. The day when she was born, she had 5 siblings. Couple of days after that, 1 of them died. Probably because it was too weak. Then 5 of them survive. We watch them closely. We put them on a wooden box. We make sure that they are okay.

They grow up so fast. And it's been 1 month since the day they were born. One puppy catch my attention is the brown one. In fact, she's the only brown from the rest. So does my mom, my sis, my brother in law, all of us are fall in love with her.
My mom told me, "Let's named her Brown!". Then I think "Brownie" sounds cuter. So I decide on my own to call her Brownie.

Because they live outside the house, on the street, they're still pretty stink. My plan is to wait until Brownie is about 3 months old, then take her for a bath, then put her inside out house.
But I have no heart to do it, because I see Brownie liked to play in pack with her sisters and brother.
How if I separate her, then she keep on crying? Or the mom will looking for her? I just couldn't take her right away like this. Not in this condition. So I'll just wait, I said to myself.

Tonight, three of us (me, my sis and her husband) went out for dinner. When we got home, mom told us Brownie got hit by a car, and died immediately. At that time, I didn't want to believe it, I still don't want to believe it. But it's the truth. I went to the street, and saw only 4 of them now. And they already buried her few meter from our house.
I don't know what to say. So I start to cry. Cry and cry.

I asked the people outside (they are the night watch), who hit her. They told me it was our neighbor's car.
Now, I don't really know who's to blame because I didn't see it. But if it's true, then this accident marks the long list of my somewhat problems with my neighbor.
I feel sad. I feel angry. I feel empty at the same time.
Then I go outside to see the rest of the puppies. I pet them one by one. As I put my hand on their body one by one, I started to cry again. I just can't believe, out of the pack, I can't see Brownie anymore.
I feel it's just never be the same anymore without Brownie, my favorite.

I really want to find the culprit/ Probably throw some rocks at his car. Or do something bad to his dog. But at the end, I just blame myself. Why didn't I put her inside sooner? Why? Why? Why?

Rest in peace, Brownie. Goodbye. I hope your last minutes was not painful. And I hope you are happy now. You'll be missed badly.

I never like the rain.

Yes. I never like the rain. Nor when I was a little girl, or when I'm an adult now.

• When it's raining, I can't go out. And when I have a plan to go out, and it's raining, and it makes me can't go out, I get upset.
• When it's raining like in Palembang, there will be flood. And when there's flood, there's traffic jam. I hate traffic jam.
• When it's raining like in Palembang, and it's flooding, I can't go out.
• When it's raining, if I really really have to go out, I have to carry umbrella. I don't like to carry things other than my handbag.
• When it's raining, it looks like a doomsday scenery in those apocalyptic Hollywood movies. I don't like that.
• When it's raining, the ground becomes wet and slippery. I got injured once because of that. 
• When it's raining, the raindrops got caught on my glasses and I can't see.
• When it's raining, I can't feed the dog outside.

So, that "Singing In The Rain" song? It's totally a bullcrap for me.

The Modern Mall with Not So Modern Facility.

Brace yourself for my long complains!

I was accompanying my dad to meet his acupuncture doctor. It's a regular visit every three to four month, every time we are at Jakarta.

This doctor located inside a mall in the North part if the city. The mall is called Pluit Village, formerly known as Megamal Pluit.
It's a tipycal of second-grade mall if you compare it to Plaza Senayan or Plaza Indonesia. But that's not the main teason for the poor facility.

My dad doesn't have a strong pair of legs. Every time he comes to the mall, we have to put him on wheelchair.
And you know, people in wheelchair need the elevator to climb to the top floor.
Unfortunately, the doctor is located at the very top floor which is the 4th.
And today we found out that the two elevators are out of service. They simply just put barriers in front of the door.
So, we were trying to find another solution which is taking another elevator located inside Matahari. And guess what? Tadah! It is also out of service!

So, here we are in a megapolitan city of Jakarta. Where the service for handicap people is simply not provided at all.
And I wonder, how do handicap people in here go everywhere? I mean, they need to go out too! And with no support like this, are they supposed to just stay at home?

*long sigh*

The 85th Academy Awards.

"Those actresses are so slim and tall, make them look like the Oscar statue."
As quoted from my lovely sister. And it's true. Plus, their shiny dresses (what? metallic is back in trend?) even make them look like the statue!

My experience on watching The Oscars is not so loyal. If I look back, there are some years that I just didn't care. And the others, I waited through the whole tv time.
And I always fail at trying to watch it live, ever since I moved back to Indonesia. I can't help it. It started in the morning!

So does this year. I ended up skipping the whole live show. But--not because I was still in bed. It was rather hilarious. As I switched my tv on, I saw the black screen with a blue pop up window with words:

NO SIGNAL RECEIVED. PLEASE WAIT OR CALL YOUR LOCAL OPERATOR IF PROBLEM PERSIST. 

(Or something sounds like that. You got what I mean.)
I want to laugh out loud, but of course I didn't or if I did my mom would asked whether I'm okay or not.
So, I just ignored it. Missing the Oscars didn't make me sad or anything. I continued to pack my stuff for Jakarta's visit. But once in a while, I switched the tv on again. Guess what? It was still like that. *sigh*
Well, thanks to the internet and my friend who keep me updated of the winners, without the cable tv.

At the end, I managed to watched the replay of the Oscars at night.

For those of you who need infos on the winner, here is the list from http://oscar.go.com

Best Picture - Argo
Actor in A Leading Role - Daniel Day Lewis (Lincoln)
Actress in A Leading Role - Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
Actor in A Supporting Role - Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
Actress in A Supporting Role - Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)
Animated Feature Film - Brave
Cinematography - Life of Pi
Costume Design - Anna Karenina 
Directing - Ang Lee (Life of Pi) 
Film Editing - Argo
Original Score - Life of Pi 
Original Song - Skyfall 
Visual Effects - Life of Pi
Adapted Screenplay - Argo
Original Screenplay - Django Unchained 
Sound Editing - Skyfall
Sound Mixing - Les Misérables
Short Live Action Film - Curfew
Short Animated Film - Paperman
Production Design - Lincoln
Foreign Language Film - Amour (from Austria)
Makeup & Hairstyling - Les Misérables
Documentary Feature - Searching for Sugar Man
Documentary Short - Inocente

Sorry if I missed out any. Please check the website that I included above for the complete list.
Although, I think I already listed out all.

"Native" : OneRepublic's latest album.

It's been a high expectation for OneRepublic's newest album. At least for me.
"Native" is the title of the album, and I've already listened to 3 samples of tracks. My reaction? AWESOMENESS!

The main single that just released is called "If I Lose Myself" and I love love it. Especially the instrumental part, it just sounds out of this world!
"If I Lose Myself" official music video

Another 2 songs that I love are: "Life In Color" and "Counting Stars".
You can find the sample of the songs from Youtube.

Now, I'm not an expert in music so I honestly can't give deep explanation about how their new songs listened like, what kinds of music influence, etc. All I can say is, they make GREAT music.

"Native" is expected to be released on March 26, 2013.

(image credits to Billboard.com)

Bread Pudding.

I brave myself to bake bread pudding this evening. This is my second time baking this lovely dessert. The first bread pudding that I baked was okay. I think it lacked in term of volume, might as well because I haven't bought the right oven to bake.

I simply just follow whatever is written from here:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-bread-pudding-with-vanilla-sauce/ 

Turned out, my oven baked waaay longer than what the recipe told. (Well, as you know, baking time may vary depends on your oven.)
I think I had to bake it for at least 1 hour.
Then came the worst part. While cooking the vanilla sauce, I heard the 'ding' sound from the oven. So I rushed to check, got it out from the oven, put on the foil to cover the top, then put it back on the oven again.
I rushed back to check my sauce, and guess what? I left it for too long and it started to burn! I really want to curse at that time, because I hate when things go wrong! (Especially, with baking.)
I removed it from the heat, and tried to save whatever I could have. The sauce was now looking like a bowl of oatmeal or porridge *gah*.
So I have to strained all of the remaining sauce to get all the lumps out. Luckily, I managed to get quite amount of vanilla sauce.

Well, lesson learned; don't leave anything that is still cooking on the stove, even for a minute!

Other than that, my bread pudding with vanilla sauce is still edible. And the whole house is munching on it! Nothing makes me happy than other people are happily eating my desserts! :)

So, I start to blog again.

The last time I wrote a blog; that I could remember, was about 10 years ago. During my college years, to be exact.
At that time I was still in relationship with someone, had a lot of friends, a lot of projects, etc. Yes, it was the happy twenties. Of course, with all of that, there were so many things to be written in a blog.

Then came the one and only, Twitter. Ever since I'm using that incredible social media, I immediately stop blogging. In other hand, let's just say I'm getting older and lazier.
I feel lazy that I have to write more than 140 words.
I feel lazy that I have to do design and coding for the background.
I feel that I have no more drama to tell to the world.

Suddenly, my life become this boring.

But, that was in the past. What's the point of looking back? Although I admit, my early twenties was probably the best time in my life yet.

So, here I am. In my last twenties, counting months to enter the big three-o. And I decided, oh well, why don't I start to blog again.
Get ready for my rants.

:-)