Birthday Week

post #329


Ahhhh...still feel a lil bit sleepy and lazy to write. Had to drag my hand to start typing for this particular entry. My birthday this year was great..ermm....perhaps better than last year. Started right after midnite, some text messages came. Read them in the morning, and found out that mom already bought a cake...then went to client site..didn't have much to do except that we'd be having project dinner that evening. After lunch I found some receipts scattered near my laptop, got curious and read them. They were receipts for a cake and some gadgets, I knew instantly that those were for me....but I still kept cool.

Then at around 4 PM, well since I already knew the drill, Mbak Tutut came and gathered us in the room. The cake was for me and Aristo who had his birthday in January but was totally forgotten. We blew out the candles then cut it, then ate it. Then we got our present. Mine was a Sennheiser earphone. Yipppiieeee...something that I wanted all along.... *Thanks guys ;) I tried it on and it was satisfying. Sennheiser rocked!

At around 5.30 PM we went to J.W. Marriot, the dinner was held at Syailendra. I heard that the food there was deliciousssss. Went there with the girls, got caught in the traffic jam near Semanggi. We had to use Sultan Hotel parking to get through to Sudirman. Short story, we arrived there at around 6.30 PM. Our managers with some other colleagues were already there. We ordered drink and started the feast. My appetizer was beef and pork in a combination of black pepper and BBQ sauce ;p Hmmm...yummyyy.....then I tried some fried rice, sambals, fish, and pak choy on a plate. After that, noodles with lots of vegetables, shrimp, fish meatball in oxtail soup.....hmmmm...yummy. The food was really good. My fourth plate was fettuccine with some broccoli covered in tomato sauce. But the pasta wasn't as good as the other food. I already felt a bit full so I canceled my second plate of fried rice. Next was chicken and beef satay...which was also delicious...and for dessert I had chocolate cake and two scoops of chocolate ice cream.... *I still drooled a bit if I remembered those foods... lolzzz

Appetizer :D

Fried rice n delicous sambal

Oxtail soup noodles

Not so delicious pasta

Beef and chicken satay

Choco dessert

To my surprise, I had my second birthday cake that evening. After we finished our war with the foods, two waiters came. One playing a guitar, the other brought a cake in heart shape. They sing Happy Birthday and suddenly I was becoming the center of attention. Not for long luckily....I blew out the candle (again), cut the cake in pieces and gave them to my managers and colleague. It was such a blast.

Went home with a full stomach and slept tight that nite. Went to work the next day using Karen. It was a lot more comfortable, I didn't have to worry about rain and the parking fee was not too expensive. Had a lunch with univ friends that I hadn't met in a longgggg time. Not exactly a lunch, since we only ate ice cream. It was the very first time I went to Grand Indonesia *norak mode on... lolzzz. I met another friend there who worked at the same company with the girls I had lunch with. Grand Indonesia was big and offered a different (though relatively the same) ambience...the food court had lot of windows with good view. The Gramedia there used touch screen and had two floors space. Too bad the book I was looking for was already out of stock. Went back to the office after took a quick wandering time. Had a monthly project dinner that evening. A senior executive was joining us so it's quite special. We ate at Grand Duck King, Grand Indonesia....Wow...I went there two times in one day,quite a record for first visit(s)...;p. The food was great as well. I like the shrimp very much. Hmmmmm yummmyy...We were so full that we couldn't finish the last main course...a big crab covered in I-don't-know-what-but-delicious sauce. Some leftover were taken back home.

Yesterday...again nothing much to do. I was just waiting for the evening since we'd be going to Strawberry cafe. Went there at 7 sth PM, the road was clear and when I was at Tomang, Ronald called and told me that they're waiting for Vonny. So I drove to their place and waited for Vonny there. Vonny came at around 8 PM, we went to Strawberry cafe and had dinner. The main attraction at Strawberry cafe was the games it provided. Lots of games can be played there. We tried the balancing game and the person who lost would get a punishment from all of the other players. The others would user baby powder to leave a mark on that person. It was very fun and I managed to get my face clean....;p Yeahhhhh... lolzz

Today was also good, though I felt sleepy. Can't wait for the weekend to arrive, luckily it'd be only in a couple of hours....ermm..minutes to be exact (from normal working hours) for the weekend to enter the stage. Hope this weekend will close a great (birthday) week with amazing things... :D As for this moment, I've been listening to Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Your Guardian Angel over and over again. Thanks to particular someone whom I often chat with lately. She introduced me to this song and I liked it instantly. The guitar, mellow melody and soft voice really caught my attention. *not to mention that it's also my kind of genre... ;p

Well to close this post, here's it...


Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Your Guardian Angel

When I see your smile
Tears roll down my face I can't replace
And now that I'm strong I have figured out
How this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul
And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

It's ok, it's ok, it's okaayyy.

And Seasons are changing
And waves are crashing
And stars are falling all for us
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter
I can show you I'll be the one

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

Cuz you're my, you're my, my-ay-ay,
My true love, my whole heart
Please don't throw that away
Cuz I'm here for you
Please don't walk away and,
Please tell me you'll stay, woah stay woah

Use me as you will
Pull my strings just for a thrill
And I know I'll be ok
Though my skies are turning gray

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

N97!!!!

post #319

WHOAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just read a very very interesting article about cellphone. Today, Nokia officially launched introduced the 2nd touch screen phone. After the history making (for Nokia) release of its first 5th edition of Symbian S60, Nokia surprised the world with this new cellphone.

It seemed that the article containing Nokia roadmap which had been leaked few weeks was accurate. This N97 seemed like the device which code named IP08...Hhmmm.....
Here's the leaked document of Nokia roadmap --> Nokia Smartphone Roadmap

N97 had sliding QWERTY keyboard for those who prefer input mode other than touch screen. The memory was also upgraded to 32GB internal memory, plus 5MP camera...Woww.....Talking about improvement, huh? It's planned to be launched in the 2nd quarter of 2009. The color and Nokia logo orientation kinda reminded me of N79 (Ermm....97 is 79 if you read it from right to left, right?)....Well...without further ado, please welcome N97 *drooling....

Front Side and QWERTY Keyboard






N97 compared to E90 (E90 looked so bulky ;D)


Here's the data sheet --> N97 Data Sheet

To top it, here are some videos:
N97 Live Demo


N97 Demo

2 Weddings + 1 Week = 3 Days

post #316


I bet you’re wondering what’s with the title?
Well…since I was in a very hectic and tight schedule, I’d just write briefly.

Two weddings that I meant were my high school friend’s wedding on Saturday and my colleague’s wedding on Sunday. On Saturday after went to the doctor for first checkup after the eye surgery. Went to St. Therese to attend the afternoon mass since I wouldn’t be able to go on Sunday. Went there with Eddy and his gf. Reminded me of two years ago when I received my confirmation sacrament. The place still looked classic, a bit old though ;D.

Went to Yenni’s wedding after that. There were few faces I recognized, but didn’t really know them well back in high school, so we just had a little chit chat. Then Livia came with Hendra and… *drum rolls…* Clarissa… Boy she’s 9 months already. Her father told me that she’s quite a gadget freak…well, I could see where she got that…lolzzz. There were several times when she hold my fingers…and I looked, amazed when realizing how a hand that small (well she could still be considered an infant, right?) would grow bigger and bigger in time…Clarissa was still cute, with full cheeks and beautiful sparkles in her eyes jst like her mom.

Slept early that nite and went to Bandung with other colleagues on Sunday morning. Arrived there at around lunch time. We ate at Sierra. Nice place, nice view…and it was raining while we’re eating. The food was quite good with reasonable price.

Sierra Beef Steak
[pic]


Went to Rumah Mode afterward, nothing interesting here. Andoko’s lil sis came and after the girls finished getting their hair done *which took…ages ;p, they went to her place. Some went to Ronald’s hotel room to change. Again…it took aaaaagggggeeeessssss for the girls to get ready. We arrived at Rossy’s wedding reception one hour late. Missed the procession…too bad . And there…for the very first time I saw the little girl I was writing about in my previous blog entry, Nina. She’s realllyyyy cute and adorable. When I saw her mother I said to myself, no wonder…her mother was also elegantly beautiful. We stayed there for a while, took some pictures, then went back to Jakarta. Arrived in Jakarta at past midnite.

[pic of FF]

It was fun to go to Bandung again. Too bad we didn’t have much time to wander around. Hmmm…two weddings and both involved a baby girl and a little girl…time to tie the knot and settle down? How could I if I still haven’t found the harbor my heart was longing to…

After that, the week seemed to go by soooo fast, I meant like in lightspeed. The project I was assigned to be lead is about to go live on Monday, and now..I’m waiting to execute the cutover plan. And after this hectic week, I’d be treated *big grin* with 3 days in an island. Well, I’d go there to give a training, but still I heard it’s nice and the facilities were good. Beside, it’s nice to change scenery once in a while. Just hope the weather would be on my side when I go there.

Well…that’s about it. Two Weddings + One (hectic) Week = Three Days (in an island)



originally written on Thursday, Nov 20, 2008...

Bluntly Babbling

post #313

Dunno why...I just had the urge to write...about anything...nothing really in particular...just things that caught my attention lately...Hmmm...let's start, shall we?

First...just got back from watching newest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. Lately I'd been fond of watching movie on its premiere. Since Eagle Eye if I recall correctly. Well it's nice if you have someone who bought the ticket first, then you just needed to come to the theater before the show started... *satisfied smile

Nice movie....Olga Kurylenko was the Bond girl this time. Since Daniel Craig became the new James Bond, his (Bond's) image had changed as well. He became tougher and colder, like James Bourne (Ermmm....both superspy shared same first name and initial, coincidence? ;p). Anyway, more action scenes than the previous ones, when Pierce Brosnan was the Bond.

Hmmm...Nokia would sell Nokia 5800 Express Music in Indonesia this November. I guess its aiming for Christmas market remembering it just launched N79, N85, and N96 not so long ago. And Samsung also also released its new cellphone, Innov8, which had S60 and 8MP camera. Seriously, 8MP camera on cellphone...was it that necessary? Was it useful? It's nice to have...but I'm pretty sure the quality will be so so...Anyway, let's see when it'd be available here and what's the starting price....

Yesterday a colleague of mine called an elementary school (a good one) to register her son and to my surprise, the registration fee itself was 13M. I was like...WTH??!!!! Education became very expensive. I imagine if I had triplets and all of them were about to enter elementary school....wowwwww....Should really prepare myself...

Been raining these days (with exception today), luckily since I had to hurry to catch the movie. Took some pictures from the office window on different times and weathers. Weather...just like human's emotions....there's bright, cloudy, raining, thunder storm, hot, cold, warm, cool....

Raining Hard

Clear

Cloudy

One thing that quite bothering me was I think my ADSL modem was not functioning properly. It often to reset itself, made me disconnected from the inet. I had to set the username and password all over again. Darn...it's so annoying. I had to find the exact cause of this, and change the modem if it's necessary. Another thing I learned lately that I could live without YM...well at least at work. Since the connection at work was so friggin slow...I kinda lost contact with my friends. Sometimes I couldn't receive their messages, vice versa. No wonder my friends were reluctant to chat with me. The frequency of the YM disconnected itself was countless. I even had to installed YM version 7 since it's the latest version that could be use to connect (well...connect, disconnect, connect, disconnect...).

*sigh.....enough babbling....as for now, I lost connection again....so I guess I just post this tomorrow. Stupid modem!

Nov 6
Babbling some more....today I read the ad in Kompas about Dell Latitude E6400. There's a phone number there which supposed to be the customer service. I dialled the number three times and I always got an answering machine. Disappointing for Dell's image n level. Hmm...probably because they're not very popular in asian countries.

Called a friend who's about to get married next week. Wow...it'd been almost two years since the last time I met her, and it was on another friend's wedding reception as well. Time flew by. We talked for few minutes, there was some catching up to do and I was sure I couldn't do that on her wedding reception. I wonder how she looked now. She was my seat mate back on my 2nd year in high school. She was the one who could stand me singing all day long...I admired her durability...lolzzz. That time, Ronan's When You Say Nothing At All was a hit. *chuckled.... Ahhh...high school times...lots of fond memories also back then. Was she still cute, petite, had white, fair skin? I guess I'd find out next week.

Me and Stars

post #312

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain,
Telling me just what a fool I’ve been...

That line from Jason Donovan’s song crossed my mind while I was staring outside the office window, trying to see through the heavy rain that fell down this morning around 10 AM. If the rain had a rhythm, then it (looking from the high intensity) must have been screaming at me, not just telling me.

Well…another month had passed. Last week, the last week of October as well had ended with another great ending. Work was a little bit slowing down after that one project was over. *yawning…but still till today I felt like I was lacking of good quality sleep.

[pic of rain]

Maybe because I watched too many TV Serials…Gossip Girl and Heroes were up and running…Chuck, Eli Stone and Prison Break also needed my attention. Not to mention House MD. Hmmm…Heroes was getting more complicated, just like US Comic which had tangled sub-plot, building a mega thread of storyline which entwined all the characters in one universal flow. Still interesting, not to mention there was this new interesting character, Daphne. I liked her blonde hair, a nice addition to the already lovely Kristen “Elle” Bell.

We had our annual promotion dinner on the last day of October. I was trusted to be the host of this event. Not only that, I also joined the band (if it could be called a band :D). We performed acoustic version of songs such as Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, Sempurna, Especially For You, More Than Words and Laskar Pelangi. The event was held at Dallas Roadhouse Bar n Grill at Arcadia Plaza. The food was great there. The committee came at around 4 PM to make necessary preparation. The guests started to come at around 6 PM. It went right on schedule with some impromptu changes. It was exciting and there were things that I had to learn to prepare myself. After finished singing (I only sang Laskar Pelangi btw), I mingled around and talked to some colleagues I hadn’t met since we’re assigned to different projects. Then I went back to the office to get Elisha, Henny gave us a ride to the office. It was raining all over the way, the traffic was slow so we had some time to chat. And when I was already prepared with my war rain coat, the rain stopped. It really stopped. So I went home with my rain coat flew sometimes, like Batman…lolzzzz…Sky really knew how to make people dongkol…lolzzzz (dongkol = annoyed in English). But it’s still a fantastic Friday.

Woke up on Saturday morning, accompanied mom to Kota. She wanted to buy a new sewing machine. While she was looking for the machine, I searched for the 8GB Flash Disk. Didn’t find any, instead I bought some DVDs for stockpiling…lolzzz. We ate at Bakmi Toko Tiga afterward then went back home. It’s nice to spend some quality time every once in a while. Took an afternoon nap then went to Gadink. My friends were already there. We ate at Red Bean then when we called Agus, he said he couldn’t join since he was at a friend’s apt. He invited us to join them and go to Lime Light, a new karaoke place near Tanjung Duren. We went there, arrived earlier then them, and tried the VIP room. The interior was nice and cozy. The couch was comfy. There were 3 mics, 2 were wireless. The songs collection was quite good. They already had Peterpan - Walau Habis Terang, Jason Mraz – I’m Yours, Jay Chou – Qing Hua Ci (all were original clips), etc. The only minus thing was the sound system. It was mediocre and we couldn’t adjust the volume, bass, treble and echo by ourselves. Agus and his friends came about half an hour after we checked in. He brought two girls and two guys with him. One of the girl caught my attention since she looked like Cecilia Cheung. I was wow-ed with her poise, her face and her hair (and her smile when we said goodbye at Pisa Café). She was very quiet and only sang one song, Cai Hong. After that we went to Pisa Café…just to eat ice cream…lolzzz…we went back home at around 1.30 AM. Went straight to bed when I reached home.

Attended morning mass at St. James church on Sunday morning. We got a visit from St. Vincent society. Anyway, the pastor was a bule (Indonesian word for Caucasian race) and his sermon was interesting. He brought along some children from the St. Vincent orphanage. One of them, Reza sang very beautifully..but I couldn’t really get the whole lyric. It was something like (not sure…I had this short term memory loss)

Takkan kusesali keberadaan diriku di dunia (I won’t regret my existence in this world)
Karena ku yakin kasih-Mu Tuhan (Because I have faith in Your love, God)

In his sermon, the pastor invited a boy to come on to the altar. He asked the boy’s name. He answered, “Santo” (Santo is Indonesia word for Saint). The pastor said wittily, Wow…you already a saint though you’re not dead. That’s amazing. It succeeded in making us laugh.

Bringing those children again reminded us to be grateful of what we have and be more sensible toward others. Some who didn’t have parents, longing to have one. Some who have parents, take their parents for granted, didn’t appreciate at all. Some even feel that their life might be better without parents. Life’s not fair, huh? Those orphans would probably give anything to have parents. As usual, there’s a 2nd collection to be given to St. Vincent society. The Pastor really made sure we didn't put the money into the wrong bag :D

After the mass, I went to Centro to buy some clothes. Became quite consumptive lately, darn. Went back home, then Agus picked me up. He had a new car and needed to buy seat cover, so I accompanied him. We went to Kebon Sirih and got it done that very afternoon. We were worried a bit when the guy didn’t show up, since Agus already gave him some money for dp. We decided to wait for a while, thank God he showed up with the covers *relief sigh. In less than two hours time, the seats were already covered with nice mocha colored seat covers. Went to Medit to swim. It was great to swim again (plus exhausting). We talked quite much on the pool, maybe that's why I was so hungry afterward. After eating dinner we went to Markas to play some pool. It’s been a long time since I played pool for the last time. I still had the touch (the luck I mean)…lolzzzz. A nice reminiscence of my univ times. No responsibilities, no burdens, just thinking about subjects, exams, where to go what to do in spare times…

Agus drove me home and I went to sleep after a quick browsing. Nice weekend…hmmmmm. Agus also gave me Acay’s wedding invitation. It’s really wedding season. 6 invitations in 2 months. Wow…everybody’s getting married…me, still walking down this road. But it didn’t bother me. This year everything seemed to turn out ok. Thank You, God.

Few weeks ago, I looked up at the sky and saw stars. It’s a rare thing remembering pollution level in this city. They were shining brightly. Reminded also of a message a friend received. It’s also about star. How we could be a star, shining for the people around us. This year…and next
I’m gonna shine brighter,
I’m gonna go farther,
I'm gonna push harder,
I’m gonna reach higher…for the highest star, and make her mine…

So help me, God.



Peterpan - Me and A Star

Look at the spacious sky and all seasons keep changing
Playing with clouds, building dreams with my imaginations
Always dreaming with my days

#
You’ve seen a star, shining brightly full with hope
Its gentle hands are open, trying to accompany, get close to me
Always light my dark nights

Chorus:
And feel all the stars
Calling our laughter fly up high
Leave all behind, just us and stars

Across the vast sky with season that keep changing
Playing with clouds, building dreams with my imaginations
Always dreaming with my days

#, chorus (2x)

The most beautiful, though forgotten and will always light the world
Wondering, just me and stars




Peterpan - Aku dan Bintang

Lihat ke langit luas, dan semua musim terus berganti
Tetap bermain awan, merangkai mimpi dengan khayalku
Selalu bermimpi dengan hariku

Pernah kau lihat bintang, bersinar putih penuh harapan
Tangan halusnya terbuka, coba temani dekati aku
Selalu terangi gelap malamku

Chorus:
Dan rasakan semua bintang,
memanggil tawamu terbang ke atas
Tinggalkan semua, hanya kita dan bintang

Lintasi langit luas, bersama musim terus berganti
Tetap bermain awan, merangkai mimpi dengan khayalku
Selalu bermimpi dengan hariku

Pernah kau lihat bintang, bersinar putih penuh harapan
Tangan halusnya terbuka, coba temani dekati aku
Selalu terangi gelap malamku

Chorus 2x

Yang terindah meski terlupa…dan kan selalu terangi dunia
Mereka-reka, hanya aku dan bintang


Parampampam, pararampam, parampam parararampam
Parampampam, pararampam, hanya aku dan bintang
Parampampam, pararampam, parampam parararampam
Parampampam, pararampam, hanya aku dan bintang

Cellphone Craving

post #310

*Droolingggg......

Just wanna update my wish list at the moment.....Nokia N79 had been released in my country. The retail price was around US$ 500... Yeahh still expensive...I should wait for a while...wait for the price to fall (a bit)....I'd been consumptive lately..bought a g, a pair of new shoes, 4th gen Ipod Nano which now I wanted to trade with Ipod Touch....Plus I wanted to buy a new laptop...lolzzz...so many things.....Though there were other things that I need to buy, like new set of tires for both Karen and Elisha....Man...I should prioritize....

Been waiting for this variant for almost two months since Nokia officially announced two new models (N79 n N85). I'd been a fan of Nokia since...well...forever...All of my cellphones were Nokia and they're all in candy bar form factor. I liked the simplicity and sturdiness of this mono block...instead of sliding, flipping, twisting, rotating...etc you named it....

Nokia really knew how to make people craving for more (at least for me). On October 2nd, 2008, they announced the first cellphone with Symbian 60 5th edition called Nokia 5800 Express Music. It's the first touch screen cellphone based on Symbian. Nokia decided to go into the 'iphone' doppelganger war along with Samsung (Omnia), HTC (Diamond, Touch Pro), SE (XPeria), and now even RIM launched Blackberry Storm. I had to give it to Apple. It really set a standard which set it apart from the other manufacturers. Apple had become the third largest mobile phone manufacturer by revenue --> Source. Wow....a job well done, Steve Job ;)

Ermmm....Now I began to consider 5800 as an option...
Let see the pro cons...
5800:
+ Touch (n large) screen, 3.2" (640 x 360)
- 'Only' 3.2 MP camera

N79:
+ 5 MP Camera
- 'Only' 2.4", non touch screen (320 x 240)

Hmmm....Which one should I choose? Bigger screen but mediocre camera...or smaller screen but better camera (supposed to be better...but I doubt it) ? But when 5800 would arrive here...??

Well...without further ado....here are some pics of Nokia N79 and 5800 Express Music. Rumor had it that Nokia would launch 5800 in Q2 2009 and at the time preparing variants for touch screen version of E-series. Hmmmm......let's wait and see....

N79 Tech Spec
5800 Tech Spec
Both Phones Comparison


Nokia N79 and 5800 side by side
To be honest, I like 5800 color better


Nokia N79 Hands on, lights on


Nokia 5800 in different angles



And here are some videos of them
N79


5800



Btw...here's the Ipod I was talking about...It's tiny, offered a nice new feature such as shuffle when shaken, genius playlist, and auto rotate...quite a leap I had to say...


Yes...it's this slim...

Afternoon Walk

post #254

The training finished earlier than I had thought. So I took the chance to wander around. The first place I went was Bugis Street area. There’s a traditional market there that reminded me of Permai and Glodok. The small kiosks, crowded with people and mainly they sold clothes. One difference though, there’s a sex shop…something you wouldn’t find explicitly at Glodok.

Bugis Market...or was it Village?

After quick tour there, I went to Bugis Junction, just across the Victoria Street. It’s a small shopping place…kinda reminded me of Sunter Mall…Looking around for a unique souvenir for few persons back home and also a Superman related things store. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the latter, maybe my friend was wrong. I had to stop the hunting for a while because I realized that I was so hungry and hadn’t eaten rice since yesterday. So I decided to eat at the Food Junction. And the only thing with rice that they had (which interested me) was Nasi Padang. I went all the way to Singapore and I ate nasi padang…what an embarrassment…lolzzz…But hey, do Singapore have traditional, unique cuisine? I ate Singapore laksa quite many times back in Jakarta, why couldn’t I eat nasi padang in Singapore? *defensive mode on…lolzz.. But really, look at it. J.Co, Breadtalk, Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, (even) Yong Tau Fu could be find easily in Jakarta. Maybe next time I should try the ‘usual’ restaurant instead… :D

Nasi Padang ala Singapore

After that, I went back to hotel to put the laptop in my room, coz it found it quite tiring carrying all the way. The road was a little bit wet; rain must have fallen when I was strolling around Bugis Junction. I doubted a bit coz I saw the cloud was still hanging there. It wouldn’t be funny if rain fell when I was wandering around and I caught gold coz of it. But I decided to ‘hajar bleh’ (Indonesian word for go on) with the master plan, which was finding that signature lion statue of Singapore (hence the name Singapore…Singa is the Indonesian and probably Malay word for Lion).

Relying on the official Singapore map that I took from Changi airport *it proved to be very helpful, I went to the Esplanade, where the Lion statue resided (as Mel told me). Took some picture along the way, at War Memorial Park, Victoria Theatre and Fullerton Hotel.

War Memorial Park

Victoria Theatre

Fullerton Hotel

I walked quite far and I thought I was losing direction (though I asked a guy once at Connaught Drive and he said to go on straight…which led me to Fullerton Hotel). I was about to go to Marina Square instead, but I decided to go to Merlion Park and……. There it was…the Lion statue…I found it unexpectedly…hahhahahahaha…Took lot of some pictures there. It’s around 6.30 PM if I remembered correctly and the sun was setting. It’s such a nice view. The part of the sky where the sun set was clear while some of the other part was cloudy.

Left side

City at the background

Then I went to another famous spot of Singapore, none other than Orchard Road. Took the MRT and it was very crowded. But still comfortable. Then I walked down along Orchard Road to my hotel at Bras Basah Road. Wander around Wisma Atria and Paragon for a while. Near Takashimaya, a pretty girl (SPG) approached me, said hi and asked me a several questions which she claimed as survey. I knew her real motive the minute she asked what I do with my income. I saved her (and myself) from useless conversation, saying that I was on a business trip, for short period of time (coz she quickly asked whether I stay for long or not). And she finally gave up and asked non-relevant questions such as where did I come from, what kind of airlines did I take (a polite talk)….when I said SQ, she said that she worked there once. No wonder she’s pretty…lolzzz. But I ended the conversation and continued walking.

Near Le Meridien hotel, I found this souvenir store and bought few. Hopefully they’d like it. There’s 7 11 not far from there, I was wanting for something cold…so I bought slurpee, cokes and instant noodle (for late nite emergency...). My feet were starting to ache…gosh I’d been walking for almost 5 hours….no wonder my feet were giving up. I walked faster with the determination to arrive at the hotel asap. Arrived there, I quickly filled in the bath tub with warm water. I was gonna listen to music while relaxing at the bath tub when my cellphone had some difficulties in reading the micro SD card….Wtf…it’s the second time it did that. The first one, I lost all the data in the micro SD…this time I didn’t wanna lose any…too many precious memories there, pics…sound and video recording…I tried to plugged the card out and used an adaptor to read the card directly from my laptop….Yeah…it worked….I quickly back up the data in my laptop, just in case….

And now(to be exact, an hour ago)…after relaxing in the bath tub for almost half an hour, I feel freshhh…and hungry….lolzzz…now it’s time for a late nite noodles…so I’m signing out now.



Originally written at 30 May 2008, 12.33 AM

For Your Babies

post #243

Can't resist not to post a blog when I saw Suri Cruise's pics on the web. Well, actually since yesterday when a happy father who's celebrating his birthday today shared the latest pic of his (very) cute baby girl (whose has very beautiful eyes, inherited from her mother, which is one of my close friend). I was like....wowwwwwwww.....so cutee larrrrr.....

This is a pic of Clarissa Aurelia S., the baby girl I'm talking about, which was taken about two months ago. Just look at that expression.


And here are the pics he sent me yesterday...Clarissa's face really resembles her mom. *Ehemmm...the father nudged me and said that her hair is like him.

Again reminded me how time flew so fast. It seemed not so long ago that I went to Perth and very well treated by their hospitality, the days we spent back in high school....

So cuteeeeeee....... *kyaaaaaa.......



Anyway....today happens to be the Dad's birthday and Clarissa's three months celebration. Happy birthday to the dad and happy quarter of a year to 'lil Clarissa. Wish you two heaps of happiness (plus the mom of course :D)

And here are the pics of Suri:

Suri in action


Suri with mommy Katie

Suri with happy parents

I really like Suri in the 3rd pic...She's soooooo adorable


Looking at the pictures above, these two babies are simply adorable. But...have you ever thought about 'behind the scene' with these babies? When they couldn't sleep at nite, crying out loud (which make their parents stay awake)...When their diapers needed to be changed (Clarissa once peed on her mom when I was visiting them)....When they're crying but the parents didn't know what's wrong and what to do to calm them....

Parenthood...a lifetime, 24/7 work. In software development jargon, the development of a baby only takes let say less than an hour, but the continuous maintenance takes lifetime period. Parenthood, putting aside our own ego for the welfare of our kids, sacrificing everything we have, doing everything in our power, just to make sure their wellbeing.

That's why I really like this Simply Red's song, For Your Babies. Soothing song...how a baby's smile can brighten up his/her parents day....it's like all the weariness were washed away by that simple, genuine, and loving smile...

Beside, what wouldn't you do for your babies, right?


Simply Red - For Your Babies

You've got that look again
The one I hoped I had when I was a lad
Your face is just beaming
Your smile got me boasting, my pulse roller-coastering
Any way the four winds that blow
They're gonna send me sailing home to you
Or I'll fly with the force of a rainbow
The dream of gold will be waiting in your eyes

You know I'd do most anything you want
Hey I, I try to give you everything you need
I can see that it gets to you
I don't believe in many things
But in you I do

Her faith is amazing
The pain that she goes through contained in
The hope for you
Your whole world has changed
The years spent before seem more cloudy
Than blue
In many ways your baby's controlling
When you haven't laid down for days
For the poor no time to be thinking
They're too busy finding ways

You know I'd do most anything you want
Hey I, I try to give you everything you need
I’ll see that it gets to you
I don't believe in many things
But in you I do

You know I'd do most anything you want
Every day I, try to give you everything you
Need
We'll always be there for you
I don't believe in many things
But in you I do