Monday, October 30, 2006

hi-lites



I thought it’s gonna be very easy to travel to Spore thru Batam. Well, I think I forgot to take into consideration the Eid holiday when (I think) most of Indonesian were spending their holiday in Spore. I had to wait 3.5 hours for the ferry, a 40-minute travel by ferry became 2.5 hours (I don’t know why), and when we got to Harbour Front the ferry could not dock (some problem with the Singaporean official), and last but not least queued for 3 hours at the immigration office, and queued again for the taxi. I was drop dead when I got to our no-window hotel room but managed to open the door for Reanne tho’.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this trip a lot, more than the others. 3 women who enjoy food and shopping, and we actually did all that. There was a time when Reanne and I were barely can walk anymore cos we’re so tired. And we started to be very “creative” with the massage wheel chair and the in-line skate.

One of the hi-lites of the trip was I got to know Rhea’s sister, Reanne. Why did you and Rhea say that you are a shy person? I don’t think so. I think I had a lot of fun with you, talking about nothing and even planning for “my next trip” to Cebu?

Another hi-lite was the food. The best chili crab in the world at JUMBO. The sauce itself is so good especially if we eat it with deep-fried man-tao …yummy …. We went all the way to Novena for the roasted chicken rice and Lau Pa Sat for its Black Pepper Crab, stingray and satay. Oh dont forget milk-tea or "teh tarik".

the famous JUMBO chili crab; roasted chicken rice @ Novena



big dinner @ Lao Pa Sat; teh tarik at nite

Monday, October 16, 2006

reuni lagi bo'

Yesterday I got an sms from RAN asking if I will be free during next week ... Of course girl, I hv the whole week planned out already (doing nothing except watching dvd :P). If I hv smth more interesting to do, I’ll go for it. Apparently RAN is also fed up with Labuan and need to escape. So we ended up planning for another very short trip. I have my ticket already (costs me a lot-don’t know hw im gonna pay for this trip, but I will worry about it when I get back).

I don’t know what is happening. Lately I just have this urge to go somewhere .. anywhere as long as I can get out of this town or country … maybe because I have 2 very lousy weeks, and it drained me. I need a break … another break … 2 days with great friend with lots in common will bring back my energy for sure, and wipe off this negative aura from me hehehehe … sight seeing, dining, shopping, gossiping ...

Friday, October 13, 2006

teknologi bikin ribet

suatu pagi di suatu mal ... setelah sebuah transaksi yg tak berakhir dgn baik (malah belum melakukan apa2, baru masukin kartu doang)

ii (mood nya lg seneng, soalnya pake celana 3/4 ..loh apa hubungannya ya?): met pagi mbak, mau nglapor kalau kartu ATM ku ditelen mesin ATM di citos
mbak: oh iya. no rekeningnya berapa mbak?
ii: mbak saya di citos, manalah saya bawa2 buku tabungan saya
M: oh iya ya .. bisa sih kita cari rekeningnya, tp butuh 2 menit
ii: ya udh gak papa
mbak: nama nya, alamat tagihan, alamat sesuai KTP, tanggal lahir, bla bla bla bla
ii menjawab semua pertanyaan itu dgn tdk sabar krn harus mengeja namaku yang unik sampe 4 kali (4 kali sodara sodara)
mbak: mbak citos itu sama ama cilandak mal ya?
ii: mana saya tau mbak, citos ya citos
mbak: yang di jalan cilandak itu kan?
ii: mbak saya enggak tau
(after awhile, twowhile, threewhile)
mbak: gini mbak, kartunya nanti bisa diambil kembali di kantor cilandak atau fatmawati
(dalam hati dan emosi dan bingung: he? emangnya bisa?)
ii: mbak saya enggak mau kartu saya, saya cuma mau block kartu saya aja
mbak: oh ya udah mbak kartunya saya blok aja deh
ii (dalam hati): he?

tau enggak apa yg salah dengan percakapan diatas, selain bahwa itu enggak penting dan panjang?? ternyata kalau kartu ATM yang udh ditelan itu udh sama sekali gak bisa dipake lagi. Krn kartu nya nanti akan langsung dihancurkan sama petugasnya ... jadi my question to you MBAK: ngapain aku disuruh ke cabang ini dan itu buat ambil kartu???

anyway, aku tau info itu setelah nelpon langsung ke ktr cabang bank ku, dan mbak nya menawarkan bbrp solusi:
1. tunggu sampe ada laporan dr petugas yg ngurus mesin ATM mengenai kartuku, which means it will take more than a week
2. lapor aja ke polisi, bilang kartunya ilang (ihhh.... mbak nya ngajarin bo'ong nih)
3. ambil semua duit di rekening (tinggalin 10 ribu), lalu buka rekening baru. tp ini kalau saldonya kurang dr 10 jt, krn ternyata oh ternyata sekarang kalau mau ambil duit lebih dr 10 jt hrs pake kartu atm juga ... (baru tau nih)

kenapa makin ribet ya?? bukankah seharusnya teknologi itu membuat segalanya makin mudah dan efisien ya? skrg ambil duit punya sendiri aja hrs pake buku dan kartu ATM

temanku juga punya pengalaman yang sama (bermasalah dgn teknologi) di suatu gedung megah di jalan sudirman. dia mau ke lantai 28, tp kok di depan lift nya tidak ada tombol naik dan turun ya? setelah nunggu 15 menit sambil celingak celinguk, dia melihat seorang ibu yang menuju ke pintu lift. ikutlah temenku menunggu di belakang sang ibu. di dalam lift temenku makin bingung, kok enggak ada tombol no lantainya ya? yg terlihat hanya layar yg menunjukkan angka 25. ternyata ibu itu turun di lt 25. temenku panik dan ikut turun donk. lalu bertanya lah sama sang ibu.

temen: bu kalo mo ke lantai 28 gimana caranya ya?
sang ibu: oh .. di lantai 1 diujung deretan lift ada panel, nah dipanel itu mbak tekan angka 2 dan 8. lalu layar akan menunjukkan mbak hrs nunggu di lift A, B, C, ato D.

yah mungkin ini hanya aku aja yang masih gaptek kali ya ...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

The racism … the insult ... the named-calling

For my whole life I used to strangers in the middle of the street starred at me or called ...”hey u Chinese”, or “hey you fatso”. Do I really care? Not really ... Those people are just some ignorance useless people that this country doesn’t need. Besides, I do think it is a waste of time to deal with those people. But when you are not in a so good mood, and it happened to you, I just want to snap and kick their butts. But (again) I remember what my father keeps on telling his children, “ we are minority in this country, so we have to be careful with whatever we say and do”… lets take a look my situation (not my family’s), im Chinese, Christian and fat. So what does it say? It means that im a minority in a minority. But do I want to live in a place that I cant really called home?

Remember the famous saying by JFK : “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country?” Well, I think its fair enough to say this: I gave as much as my country already gave me. And what do I get? Insult, discrimination, racism, insecurity … the list can go on. And its been going on since my great great grandparents … should I put up with this any longer? Should my children? My grandchildren? NO ... DEFINITELY NOT

Today, I really thinking about “Borde jag flytta till ett annat land? Borde jag ändra mitt medborgarskap och flytta?” of course my father will be furious if I do the second, but again …

Im just tired … really really tired …