Monday, August 27, 2012

The Gardens By The Bay

After a long long day of accompanying Thas shopping around orchard for her uni life (which has already started) in Holland, we stop by Wisma Atria food court to eat a late lunch and met Uwi. When one random idea from Thas came. Next stop from Wisma Atria ---> The Gardens By The Bay.

We arrived and sat by the lake for quite a long time. It was really peaceful and windy and it's such a beautiful place I'm not gonna lie! There are 2 conservatories, both have numerous of plants from around the world. We couldn't get in because it's so expensive (for us). It was around $25-28 to get in the two buildings. There are also thematic section of the gardens. The one I remember was the Indian Garden and it has all the spices of Indian cuisine and Thas said it smells like coconut.

The final decision is to go to the OCBC Supertree Grove (because it was only $5/person) which has a skywalk around 22 metres above the ground. It was SOO COOL!! You can walk through or even sit down on the bridge. The thing that makes it a wee bit scary is just the fact that sometimes when a lot of people walk or jump it feels like the bridge is bouncing up and down.. But still it's cool!! :D

These are the pictures I took when I was walking on the bridge :)

*One of the supertree grove. Look at how small people are down there!*

*the view of the CBD buildings*

*ze famouz Marina Bay Sands hotel*

One thing to note, don't go there past 7PM because the mosquitoes are... A LOT. Other than that, it's such a peaceful calm quite place. Me Gusta!

We still think that if you say the name fast enough, you'll be rapping your rhythm out.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Smart vs. Dumb Phone

Keberadaan teknologi seperti handphone canggih, gue akuin, sedikit atau bahkan sangat merusak diri gue.

Kenapa?

Inget ngga sih dulu waktu kecil, yang namanya main ke rumah temen itu hal yang penting. Lo sisihin waktu khusus buat ketemu sama temen-temen lo. Dulu kalo gue mau main ke rumah tetangga, PR harus diselesein dulu, plus harus tidur siang dulu (karena mainnya sore). Terus pasti adaaa aja bahan yang dibuat main. Entah sepeda bareng, main masak-masakan, bahkan main bola gawang sendal atau kejar-kejaran aja udah bikin kita bahagia banget. Pas udah gede dikiit, ngapelin gebetan juga pasti bikin semangat banget walaupun capek abis sekolah seharian...

Inget ngga waktu kecil yang namanya telepon itu udah kaya barang ajaib. Waktu kecil, siapa sih yang ngga pernah berebut sama orang serumah untuk ngangkat telpon doang? Ngga ngomong loh ya.. Ngangkat aja. Dan sekalinya dapet kesempatan untuk nelpon pasti bakalan seneeng banget ngomong sama orang di seberang telpon, siapapun itu; keluarga, temen, atau bahkan mas-mas delivery makanan. Begitu gede dikiiit, ngedenger suara si dia di seberang telpon aja udah bisa bikin hati panas dingin bergetar-getar...

Coba bandingin sama sekarang, zamannya udah adah BBM, Whatsapp, LINE, iMessage, Skype, MSN, YM!, dan benda benda lain yang intinya chatting.

Berapa sering sih lo nyisihin waktu buat main sama temen lo, ketemu sama badannya juga? Mungkin kalo cuman sahabatan deket atau temen sekolah pasti sering. Kalo temen lama? Waktu kecil kan mau gamau harus pergi ke rumahnya baru ketemu.. Lah sekarang? Tinggal bbm, selesai. Ngobrol di whatsapp, udah.

Sekarang kalo mau diitung pake jari berapa kali kita pake telpon kaya dulu kita pake telpon juga bisa kan? Sekarang aja kalo disuruh pake telpon rasanya malesnya minta ampun. Selalu kalo ada apa apa bilang, "Lewat BBM aja ya" atau "Punya nomer kan? Whatsapp aja". Padahal dulu kan nomer handphone atau telepon buat nelpon dulu baru sms bukan buat whatsapp doang.

Akibatnya ke gue pribadi banyak banget. Gue semakin males nelpon orang. Setiap harus nelpon apalagi ke orang orang yang ga gue kenal (seperti mbak mas delivery atau telpon taksi atau apapun) pasti gue deg-degan setengah mati. Kalo disuruh ke rumah temen lama, bakalan lamaaa banget buat gue untuk ngumpulin keberanian. Bahaya abis.

Seperti yang sering dibilang orang "Sometimes I miss the time when people are smart and phones are dumb"

Monday, August 20, 2012

Jaipong Dancer

Heyya!

I finally finally finished the book, Jaipong Dancer by Patrick Sweeting!



Synopsis:

Set in Sumatra, around 1950s. A beautiful Javanese girl named Yahyu was a popular classical Javanese  dancer who innocently fell in love with a Dutch soldier, who abandoned her after she conceived his baby. Her family arranged her a marriage with a man she doesn't even know. She refused and ended up in a long and not-so-pleasant adventure figuring out life which tested her belief, principle and values.

Favorite Quotes:

"I think it's better to spend life constantly searching for paradise than to find only disappointment." (98)
"...but now I know the world's not like that. Everyone is fighting and everyone is upside down. I don't know any longer what's right and what's wrong." (321, 322) 
My Opinion:

I picked up the book because of the title. As an Indonesian, the title appeals to me the most and I was expecting something similar to Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk trilogy (which is superb! *biased detected*) because I just finished that book when I saw this.

To be perfectly honest, the book might not be enjoyable for teenagers. Good story line? Yes. There are conflicts and resolution. He provided a lot of background information about Sumatra's condition in 1950s. The description about the settings and characters were quite detail. I also like the way he gave us insight to almost each characters. Good stuffs for a historical fiction.

However, I don't really like the resolution of the main character's problems. It seems too easy. *Spoiler alert* I still don't understand how the popular House accept her only for dancing while all the other girls have to do some 'extra jobs'? And at the same time, she's pregnant. It's not logical. And how we never knew about the belando's business with the owner of The House...

All in all, though, if you enjoy historical fiction book, this might be something to start with. (since i haven't read any historical fiction book hahah)

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Oh Sylvia...

I was chilling in this very comfy bookstore, looking around to find what's on store today. I came across this book that I wanted to buy which is a published diary of Sylvia Plath. She was one of the greatest female poet/writer ever and was Ted Hughes' wife. I found out about her in my Self Study Lit class because we were studying Ted Hughes and touched a little bit on hers too.

From the very first entry, you can get the feel of her style of writing and everything and you can tell right away that she is a writer, a great one. She graduated from Smiths College, summa cum laude. In the entry I read today (in the beginning of the book), I read this inspiring sentences that I would like to share to the world...

The present is forever, and forever is always shifting, flowing, melting. This second is life. And when it is gone it is dead.

I wish you all a great present :) 

Friday, August 10, 2012

Disoriented With A Special Thank You Note (more like ramble)

You just have to bear with a young female with mood swings who decided to write everything about it.

I was just wondering, while reading my friends' blogs or some other random blogs that I found online, that they actually have one style of writing, some of them even have one topic such as a fashion blog, art and craft, beauty, whatever.

But mine is just like a canvas where I throw random colors of paint, like an abstract. And I hope you guys don't mind that. I'm hoping to see comments though ahahaha nevermind me.

I mean, it's like a swing, you know. I feel like I've written about a lot of things. From funny things which mostly are not that funny, serious topics that were poorly written, my opinions about stuffs because I think it matters when it's not. And to not know that people might read or not read them. The bottom line is I feel like writing.

And so I am right now.

I feel pretty menye this week I don't know why. Hormones? That would be it. I've been listening non-stop to slow jazz poppy songs from Norah Jones and Amy Winehouse, slow romantic 80s 90s pop RnB, been reading blogs about... blah.

I don't even know how to deal with myself yet, figuring out stuffs, living like an adults; sleeping early and wake up in the morning, do house-keeping stuff right, managing my allowance, being right... But sometimes things just got in the way, if you know what I mean.

Most of my friends now are in university, doing stuffs they love in a place they love, they've been dreaming of. Clear vision of the future (from where I'm standing). It's like happiness everywhere! (don't take it the wrong way, I'm happy for them too! :D)

I'm still here, unsure about everything, blah blah blah you know that kind of stuffs teenagers are dealing with.

Actually, the point is I want to say thanks a million to you (you know who you are, you've got to know). I realized I've been such a pain in the a** sometimes (or may be all the time) but you've been there, every single day. Thank you for making me a better person, making me think about stuffs that slip off of my mind sometimes. Helping me appreciate myself, helping me chill when everything is so chaotic (like not bringing up the rejection letter thing ever, that was really helpful). Get me through a lot of ups and downs, reading and listening all my rants every single day, makes me feel appreciated. You're the best.

I know maybe sometimes you get tired of me, my-childish-selfish-juvenile-self, bugging you all the time since forever. And, I just want to say, I am truly deeply sorry and I did not mean to do any harm, never ever. I could never thank you enough for being here, being you...

And I'm sorry for being such a coward by not telling this straight to your face and only write about it here. I hope you get the chance to read this. I just want to say, it's more than this, waaay more, this is less than sufficient. I'm just not good with expressing myself. And I'm not asking for anything. If this doesn't make any sense at all, then maybe it does.

I feel like writing a lot more than these but the fact that it's almost 2 o'clock in the morning makes me think about my decision twice...and decided to pause it here for a little while.

No Credits

I feel like posting stuffs but I can't. Lots and lots of things are spinning in my head so I had this idea of sharing my favorite poem that I found in my Indonesian A1 class last year (or 2 years ago) and it's in Indonesian so sorry if you don't speak the language (I hope the google translate works fine). And I'm really sorry I forgot who the author is and also the title :( from my short term memory it was by Dani? But I'm not sure and I totally forgot about the title.. But here goes (no credits for me)...

Cintaku merambat ke ranting-ranting jiwamu
Di sana ada ruang kecil yang teduh untuk kudiami
Kuletakkan asmara yang sarat di kalbuku
Dalam rengkuhan dadamu yang wangi 
Cintaku mengalir ke ujung jemarimu
Aku meraih suatu ketika yang tak pernah kujumpa
Kutebar masa-masa yang penuh belenggu
Masuk dalam teluk sejuk di ujung samudra 
Cintaku menari dengan irama nafasmu
Melulu hanya krena aku begitu kenal nadanya
Kubisikkan suatu nyanyian anyar nan syahdu
Agar kupasti melihatmu tidur dalam dekapmu 
Cintaku mengembang oleh karena cintamu
Yang datang tak terduga bak bintang jatuh
Kulewati hari-hari dalam rindu bertubi
Sungguh takkan kuizinkan dirimu lalu dari sini 
Cintaku membumbung naik ke hadirat-Nya
Menyembah agar ia bukan nikmat sekejap
Jika Ia bolehkan yang ketika itu singah
Hanyalah sebuah ketuk-Nya yang sanggup menunda.
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