Origena

At Lost, Knowing 2012 Deep Impact

2009-11-30T15:33:00.001+07:00

Now I feel embarrassed, but I still think it's funny.

Two weeks ago at Saturday lunch with Kat and Yan, Kat was telling us her thought about the movie 2012. She asked if Yan and I have watched it. I was very sure that I had watched it around 2 months ago!! and in fact I had twittered it too to express my questioning of why MUI -the ulama organisation in Indonesia- wanted to ban the movies 2012. So I said "yes, I watched it two months ago".

Though look confused, Kat continued her opinion regarding 2012 "it's actually a depiction of Noah's ark story you know". That when I went lost, but because I only watched partly that-what-I-believed-2012 when it's just about to end, I told her, I don't remember that part, but I recalled that my brother cited it too. Kat carried on mentioning things like "but the dog is safe", "the ship is made in China", "but it's even in Euro", "tsunami" et cetera, things that I didn't see in 2012 that I watched. I was at lost again, I said "is there a dog? Well, maybe I missed that part", "and I didn't see the ship either" et cetera.
Everything were so awkward, that's when Kat and Yan asked me "are you sure it was 2012??". Confidently I said "yes, it's the one with John Cussack, right? There are two kids, one is a boy and the other is a girl, and John Cussack is separated. They ran away in cars" et cetera. Kat approved that, until she heard me mentioning meteor, that's when she cut my story and drew a conclusion "I think you're talking about Deep Impact", agreed by Yan "yes, I think so, and it's already an ancient one heheh". I disagreed by saying "how come it's also starred by John Cussack?", but Kat said that John Cussack played that kind of movie a lot and "he played in Deep Impact too"!!

Last Saturday I finally went to fulfill my curiosity and watched 2012. Surprising enough, though it's been on since at least two weeks ago, the enthusiasm upon this movie is still big, we could only get the seats on the 2nd row from the screen -my poor neck!
The whole almost 3 hours, my friend and I couldn't stop giggling and mocking the movie. I think it's the first absurd movie that successfully made me sit for almost 3 hours because of its top-notched visual effect.

Finished from the theater, I texted Kat and Yan telling my disappointment. Yan said she read on her Facebook that an elementary student said "how would it be possible to escape from doomsday with a plane, that film director will be scolded by *ustadz" (*uztadz is an Islamic cleric). Funny enough, cause to me this 2012 is not about religious doomsday at all, that probably what MUI missed :-)) In fact there's no need to get offended, because it's just a plain Hollywood fabricated story, nothing religious at all.
Thanks to MUI though, the ban is really a successful promotion for the movie 2012 in Indonesia :-))

So what was the movie that I thought was 2012?
IMDB showed me that Kat and Yan were also wrong, John Cussack doesn't star in Deep Impact. They really had mislead me :-) and the whole thing started when I mistook John Cussack for Nicolas Cage -no clue how that happened -they're amongst my fav stars though-, and I still don't understand how could I assumed it as 2012.

I am so glad that I finally discovered that the movie was Knowing, which in my opinion is much much better than 2012.

Important note to self, next time I should always bother to check out the title of the movie that I'm watching, especially when I don't watch it from the beginning.

Don't Want To Be Prita-lised But I Need To Complain

2009-11-18T18:18:00.005+07:00

I'm questioning the professionalism of Quack-quack International Hospital in Jakarta. Mind you, the actual name is not Quack-quack, but it's indeed an International Hospital. I don't put its real name here because I don't want to be PRITA-LIZED by the so-called justice. The other hospital with whom Prita has a clash is also an International Hospital. I guess being labeled with International doesn't mean that the hospital is as competent as its foreign associate. The label seems just like a gimmick to suck patients' money, but I hope I'm mistaken.

I r-e-a-l-l-y hate that Quack-quack International Hospital. ~~Hate is not a Christian word at all, but the heck with it,~~ I'm at rage.
I'm gonna start with the background story why I feel that way.
I went to Quack-quack International Hospital two years ago with a big hope to find solution to my problem, which is not something that threatens my life (I hope not) nor will infect other human. I chose that hospital, not because it's a good hospital, but because the doctor that I wanted to meet is the famous one for my case and he's part of that hospital.
Day 1, when I went there, everything was ok. The doctor -let's call the creature as Dr. Joker (as in Batman)-was friendly and full of smile. He told me to undergo some screening since he didn't notice my problem. He told me, I could come back tomorrow so he could see the result of the screening. Although on that next day his schedule was actually packed with number of surgeries, he didn't mind to meet me before or after the first surgery. I then went to the registration desk to register for the next day early appointment around 08.00 (I think), and though the person in charge said that Dr. Joker tomorrow doesn't have practice schedule, I explained that Dr. Joker himself had given me time to meet in spite of his peak schedule for surgeries. So it's confirmed.
Day two. I went back there the following day and straight to the administration desk to confirm my presence and do administration stuffs. The person in charge told me to go to Dr. Joker waiting room and to also inform the stuffs at registration desk there that I'm already presence.
I did all everything they told, yet I had to wait......7 hours!!#@$$("!@X!!! plus few complaints from myself to the stuffs until finally met the super busy Dr. Joker, who probably was not informed by his stupid stuffs -those hospital stuffs that I dealt with- at of my arrival.
Oh, the funniest and the stupidest thing is, around the 6th hour of my waiting, my mobile was beeping and the text was very queer, saying "Just a notification that you have appointment with Dr. Joker today, please confirm. From Quack-quack International Hospital". Am I dreaming? Am I hallucinating? I couldn't understand the message. I had been waiting there for hours and then came an sms from that hospital asking me to confirm my appointment. I was really disoriented, lost in time and space.

Anyway, after that long and lone wait at the waiting room, the nurse told me to move to the Recovery Room, where I saw 2 patients who just got operated and their family. I thought Dr. joker was to meet me later in his room, I guess I was totally wrong. A nice nurse (the only nice and sane one!!) asked another nurse to call Dr. Joker because she's afraid that Dr. Joker might have forgotten since he had meeting in waiting before another surgery. The doctor met me after I was at the Recovery Room for 10 minutes. He open my screening result in front of all the people at Recovery Room, and quickly judged it and approved what I told him the day before. That's it. He didn't even care to open the envelope of the letter addressed to him from the lab! It's indeed expensive, but money was not the matter if I got what I deserved.
When I asked him, so what can be done? He just said "well, just blah blah blah" (sorry for the censor, not that he talked dirty but it's just that I don't like my problem being publicised).
I told him "no way, jose" (not exactly like that). Then he easily replied "Or else, I don't mind to operate you" and he smile widely, as if it's not a problem at all. That conversation only lasted less than 8 minutes and with no privacy at all!! I had to wait almost 7 hours for that! I felt so silly. I had decided to wait because I didn't want to waste time on street, since Quack-quack International Hospital is quite remote from the city center, not to mention the lousy traffic jams.
Enuf for the background story.

Now, what makes me in a mad flare....
I received a letter from a 'Pro Blahness Society', an organisation of people having the same problem as mine, it invites me to join its event, a meeting. Pro Blahness Society has invited Dr. Joker as their speaker.

That means Quack-quack International Hospital has shared its patients' and ex-patients' private data without foretelling the related patients!! Horrible practice!
I have emailed the hospital to erase all my data from its databank and that I am very upset to know that my rights as patient have been tyrannised..in Indonesian language..di zolimin!
Probably Quack-quack International Hospital doesn't care at all about patients' right? It is my right as a patient (or in this case ex-patient of that hospital) to keep my record as private and confidential!

But the kind of Quack-quack International Hospital and Dr. Joker, will always be safe because of the so-called 'justice' in Indonesia, because if I reported them, I would probably become the candidate of another Prita Mulyasari who got jailed because she innocently and harmlessly complained.

I wish I were a powerful dictator, I would send those corrupted people to Guantanamo :-)

God, help them to understand, patients are not articles of commerce!

You Gotta See This Now

2009-11-15T22:16:00.003+07:00

You Gotta See This Now is a project run by Abbott Medical Optics Inc. (AMO), a global leader in laser vision correction. The project seems to act as part of AMO commitment to listen to the public, especially those who have experienced laser vision correction, on how better vision could or/ and has improved people's lives.

As a person who once got affected by a sight problem which caused my right eye half-blind for some weeks back then between May and late June, I could understand how sad it is to lose the ability to see. Thank God that my sight finally came back, and now I could see almost without any problem and I don't need glasses at all.
So I could imagine the joyfulness that someone gets when the person get new improved vision.

AMO wants them who are lucky enough to get their improved vision through lasik to share their experience to others so many people who have sight problems can learn from genuine direct sources. AMO also gives chance to those who wish to have a improved vision by ilasik to express their hopes through their videos.

What's the catch for those who submit their videos?
AMO provides $5000 USD as Grand Prize!!!

Here's a brief thing regarding the contest and its PRIZES:

1. Submit your video based on one of the categories mentioned in iLASIK Video Contest site.
2. Tell Friends To Vote, this is one of key factors of winning.
3. Have a chance to win:
• One Grand Prize winner will win $5,000 — selected from all submitted videos
• Three First Prize winners will win an HDTV package(a $2,500 value) — one per video category
• Three Second Prize winners will win the Flip UltraHD camcorder (a $199.99 value) — one per video category

Good luck!

GoogleWave Invite

2009-11-10T22:31:00.000+07:00

I got the invite late October and have started to try it since the first of Novembre, but just for twittering, hehe.
I have sent some invites to friends, but it seems the invites don't work immediately because last time when I checked, my friends said they haven't received it. Wonder if it does work like that? I noticed that when I sent the second invite,GoogleWave gave funny notice that the invites will need time, because they have a lot of stamps to lick :-))

Invite others to Google Wave

Google Wave is more fun when you have others to wave with, so please nominate people you would like to add. Keep in mind that this is a preview so it could be a bit rocky at times.

Invitations will not be sent immediately. We have a lot of stamps to lick.

Happy waving!

Didn't know that it would be this long time, and what is the difference then between to-get-invited-by-member and to-be-in-waiting-list-of-Google wave-invite?
Probably they need more tongues in Google Wave....Who wants to volunteer? :-D

So if the invite from me still has not arrived, just wait patiently.
Who else wants it?

Too Religious to Talk

2009-11-05T17:42:00.001+07:00

Had a bit fun debate with my dear chat friend, let's call him Elvis (lol). It started with the thing that Elvis told me long ago that he doesn't mind to kiss a transvestite, only if hshe -the transvestite- looks really feminine.
It's not a case even if it's right, he's still my friend, but I was kinda curious last time when we chat again and eventually landed in the same topic. This time I for amusement matter told Elvis that he must be a bi then if he doesn't mind kissing another male passionately :-D.
He must have been stung by that, cause his reaction was a bit bizarre :-D
He didn't admit that he doesn't mind, but he just went on and on saying that if he likes (the hshe) than he will kiss, and I just wanted him to answer yes or no to my conclusion that he's a bi.
He then went on to the idea that kissing a transvestite is something similar to eating pork (for Jewish, Muslim, and the vegetarian), specifically he said this:

28/10/2009 22:02:35 Elvis: i don't understand
28/10/2009 22:02:43 Elvis: if i don't like to eat pork
28/10/2009 22:02:57 Elvis: but someday i'd eat pork without knowing it
28/10/2009 22:03:05 Elvis: and i love it
28/10/2009 22:03:19 Elvis: why i should say "i didn't like it" just because it was pork?
28/10/2009 22:03:51 Me: no its very different
28/10/2009 22:04:03 Me: see, first we're talking about a she male
28/10/2009 22:04:29 Me: that makes you understood well that, the person is partly male :P
28/10/2009 22:04:35 Me: it's not like pork

then, he finally dropped the bomb...

28/10/2009 22:05:01 Elvis: well if someday it will happen
28/10/2009 22:05:19 Elvis: i'll not say "i don't like it" just for some religious prejudices
28/10/2009 22:05:41 Me: no, of course not, we're not talking about religious thing at all
28/10/2009 22:05:47 Elvis: no?
28/10/2009 22:06:02 Elvis: if you aren't talking about religion
28/10/2009 22:06:13 Elvis: there's no discussion about being bi straight and so on
28/10/2009 22:18:05 Me: for me, even if I were agnostic or atheist, gay and bi are still abnormal
28/10/2009 22:18:35 Elvis: luckily just for you :)

The chat didn't stop there, but his opinion is like unshakable mountain, that only the religious people have objection toward homosexuality, and to question such thing means the person must be a religious one and there's no point to discuss it at all. Lol. Checkmate.
He must have mix atheism with homosexuality :-D

Happy...happy as a clam cos I won!!

2009-09-30T23:06:00.001+07:00

My card "un biglietto per mia Mamma" has been pronounced as the winner!!
I'm so happy, what else could I say :)) I am very happy because my Mom loves it, because Fika and her husband Widya -who made this competition as part of their wedding Anniversary celebration- like my card design.
I can't hide my feeling that I feel proud, because I'm still very new to this card thing and this will sure make me want to explore the world of card making more, I'm starting to really enjoy it now.

I am very excited to see and touch the prize in real now.

Here again another look of my winning card :))

Un biglietto per mia mamma

2009-09-21T11:03:00.006+07:00

I made this card as a requirement for Fika's "MINI JUICY CONTEST". The contest theme is about making a card or a scrapbook for someone very special and with some bit story why the person is special.
By default parents are normally always special someones to their children, my Dad is also a special someone for me, but my Mom needs some encouragement because she really had some troubling moments since October last year that made her have to be in and out some hospitals, and from January til early May she almost spent the whole months lay in the hospital bed.

Glad that she made it through, but during that period of time I came to realise how much I missed her and how much it stressed me to see her in that painful situation. Painful as literally being cut without anaesthetic, this was because Mom is very sensitive to anaesthetic agent. Previously in January, she almost lost her life after her bad-toe amputation operation, the operation went well, but after she was back in her room for just about 30 minutes, she started to pant and gasp like she could no longer have power to inhale. She even told us that she couldn't make it anymore, there was only me, my auntie -my Mom's elder sister and my uncle-my Mom's younger brother in the room, all the other have gone home. My auntie and uncle then tried to calm her and to keep her conscious while I nervously ran for help since the bell wouldn't get the nurses' attention as fast as we want and because the nurse station was just in front of my Mom's room. So in that one day she came out from the operation and landed at the ICU. It was because of that later when she needed another surgery for her sole of foot in March, the doctor that operated her seemed reluctant to do it, it seemed that Mom would be in big risk for that 'small' operation because of Mom's susceptibility to anaesthetic. The chief doctor of the team who's also my Mom's Internist Endocrinologist then took over the operation procedure by himself but without anaesthetic. I don't want to tell the horror here cause it's not nice at all, but just imagine the pain every time some muscles being cut.

I'm just happy Jesus gave Mom strength and power during that time, and that her healing process goes so well. I thank also to my friends who prayed for her health, especially to Michele who lit a candle at Church for her cure. I'm happy with this contest too.

Two Wonderful Surprises in a week

2009-08-19T22:02:00.001+07:00

First was when I received an email with a subject Paris-Jakarta. It turns out that I once posted at one website about my interest in practising French -I took the language course for almost 2 years, long long time ago. I'd totally forgotten about that website, need sometimes to understand that email, especially because the person asked if I want to meet for a drink and to practise my French before he ends his a month visit in Indonesia in two days. After a short inquiry, I contacted him and regretted that I couldn't meet him at the given time. However I indeed wanted to meet because he contacted me through this blog after found it from that website, that would make him as the first person I met in real from this blog. Glad that the next day, a day before his leaving, he asked me when it is possible to meet. After some clutters caused by some sms delayed problems -this is so annoying!!-, and with the help of his new Indonesian friend, all of us could finally meet in person at a resto. Oh and I also asked my friend to join because she's just back from Europe tour. I'm glad that I could meet him, it was sure a very nice friendly afternoon with him and the other guys. It's a unique experience I think cause I met a foreigner from this blog, who then introduced me to two other Jakarta people. Thanks Kuba for inviting me, thanks for thinking that Indonesia and the people are great :)) and thanks that you were not afraid even after those bombs :) Merci beaucoup.....Dziękuję.....Terima Kasih!!

Second surprise came some days after that, I received anonymous sms asking if the number is still mine. I replied it the next day when I was with a friend, stating that yes it's my number and asking who's the questioner.
"Remember pottery?" said the reply. My goodness...it was I think almost 5 years ago??
"That's definitely your guru" said my friend when I said that I didn't make new friend there cause I was there with my two other friends.
I was laughing a bit but still I replied "Of course I still remember" and stating his name there, but still thought it was a joke.
Surprise...surprise...and I broke up, it's really from him.
I told him that this is really surprising, and his reply cracked me up "I'm at an archaeology site, suddenly found your number ha ha ha". He is still like before, never far from his sense of humour. I asked him when will he have his next exhibition, but he said that it's all now organised by O House gallery, and he's now just indulging himself in playing helicopter and airplane, saltwater fish, and creating things. That is very him, to me and to my friends who also his pupils, he's the kind of person who knows how to enjoy life and to have fun all the time. He has the magic of Peter Pan, and I'm honoured to be remembered by someone like him.
Ain't that a wonderful week? :))

A doll with an Afro hairdo

2009-08-11T23:32:00.001+07:00

After some short times I set one foot in the craft world of card, I kept thinking of making some sketches for my future cards. Probably I'll make something like my own sketch bank. This time character is an Afro-like girl which is denoted by her coily hair. I've somehow been fascinated by the hairstyle.
Of course, like some Asian -including Indonesian- girls who don't like their curly or not so straight hair, some African-descendants prefer straight hair. Still I think Afro hairdo has its own charm, especially for those who have artistically beautiful faces.
That's all for now about this girl, I'll develop the sketch when I'm in the mood again!

My 1st Card Making Experience

2009-08-03T22:02:00.001+07:00

Finally, my first card creation :-) and it's all because of copic markers! I've never tried one, but I've seen the results are amazing. One of my contacts who have some beautiful card creations told me that copics really give great result even though she told me that she's actually not good at colouring. Probably she's just playing humble, but I would be happy if it were true, since I don't have a good colouring technique at all, so I really need copic!! :))

Too bad it's very expensive. I think 72 colours cost almost US$500 here in my country, that's why I'm very happy to find Blog Candy from CharmedCrafts. However, the participant must do other thing than just link the blog candy badge. All participants must present one of their card creations, and I have never made even one card!! :-\

Anyway I'm trying it, and am glad that an inspiration for my first card came in smoothly :))
Thanks also to some card-makers who include step-by-step card-making instructions of of their creations on their blogs, they really help me to start.
I don't know if my card is eligible, because it's not a stamped one nor it's used downloaded image. I create the images by myself, with the persons' images inspired by some illustrations from my Dad's old English lesson book, eheh..I've loved those big nosed cartoon characters there since the first time I lied my eyes :-P.

Back to my card making process, after I created the sketch, I scanned it, made some correction and beautified it with Photoshop programme. Some parts of the images, I coloured them in photoshop.
All the images then were glued to the card, more or less resembling what I've designed on the sketch. Green coloured light cardboard is for the card base. Image backgrounds and frames use two double-sided Korean origami papers. Fancy ribbon is used to highlight and contras the images from the paper. I punched the leftovers of the cardboard and origami papers to make flowers embellishment. Glued some bling bling here and there.

I'm so absorbed with the front side of the card and almost forgot that I hadn't done the inside. Kinda had a bit problem finding the right material that I would use as the cable connection. I was very happy when I found a nice narrow lace ribbon from Scrapking, to me it looks like a cable that would be used in fairyland :-)))

At first I would like to draw a world globe, but the it would make the design too noisy so a simple but powerful one word would do the magic. I then wrote the word love with the lace, and, probably because this is my first time experience, I always felt something-must-be-added. I continued by making a sketch of a bird with the thought that probably the bird could add some cuteness there ;-P. After the bird, suddenly I called up a story about a bird who likes to steal jewelery and thought it would be nice to see a bird brings something with its beak.

Finally, this is the inside..........

Cooking Made Easy

2009-07-22T15:50:00.002+07:00

"I do like cooking, but I can't guarantee you will like what I cook," this is my default intro words whenever got asked if I can cook. Yes, I'm not confident with my cooking, because even though I follow a recipe, the result is unpredictable ! It's somehow a tough job for me :-D
So to prevent disappointment in the future -when the tongue touches my cooking, I always say that kind of sentence.

I like to try recipes that look scrummy, and -the important thing- easy to follow by me. I always check the appearance or the photo of the prepared food when I search a recipe on internet, because it's motivating, you know.

Got motivated is also what I feel when watching the video of Chef Ariane Duarte preparing some economical and simple Summer recipes, because she prepares scrummy looking Sirloin with homemade steak sauce and cauliflower puree from things that can be bought easily from most supermarket -on that video all stuffs are easily found at Walmart. The sauce used to be her secret recipe, and wow -this is something healthy but tasty that I won't mind to eat- her cauliflower puree is said taste mouthwatering that a kid won't even know that it's from cauliflower!! Trust me, just by watching it, makes you feel like want to lap your monitor :-D

This site also show me how it is very easy and also affordable to make Vanilla Ice Cream Cake, and it looks like a fun activity too for kids. I won't ask my little niece and nephew though, because I'm sure they will have too much fun and mess everything before the cake is ready :))

You Can See More Life Made Easy Videos Here on iVillage.com. This seems already boost my confidence in cooking, hope this is not temporary :)

The Bomb and Mr President Speech

2009-07-17T22:51:00.006+07:00

Angry, sick and sad, are what I feel about the bombing that hit two hotels in my city. After enjoying peaceful atmosphere for 5 years since the bomb attack targeting Australia Embassy in Jakarta, now we the people of Jakarta must see the similar cruelty again.
The two bombings killed 9 people and injured more than 60 people.

I also can't believe that JW Marriot Hotel got hit again, the security was tight enough there since the bomb attack in 2003. Ritz Carlton which is in the same neighbourhood seemed to have a matched security system too. In fact, many public and private buildings in Jakarta have included walkthrough metal detector or at least hand metal detector and CCTV as part of their security systems. We have been accustomed to those two and maybe got a little annoyed too cause every time we enter a building we must hand out our bags to be scrutinised and go through the detector or have our bags detected by the hand metal detector. Every cars must pass some security procedure before entering the gate of public buildings. It's more than enough, I think. Have the securities in charge also got tired already with all the routine and become unwary? Or have the culprits deceit skills have more developed?

I doubt that the security was loosening up, especially since FC Manchester United was scheduled to stay in Ritz Carlton Hotel and our national Football team would stay in JW Marriot. The two teams were preparing a friendly match to greet MU fans in Indonesia. Seems it's cancelled now if not postponed.

No news yet about who's behind the bombs, but in his public speech responding to the bombings, Mr. President kinda related the incidents with his winning the election? He showed photos of his picture as the target of shooting practice by some extremists (?). He got the photos from the Indonesia State Intelligence Agency. You can see part of his speech at the end of this post.
It's in Indonesian language, but you can see the picture of him as a shooting target.

Anyway I hope the violence and revolution that Mr. President said will emerges against his winning, will never happen.
I hope those who are responsible for the bombings can be discovered and arrested as soon as possible. My deepest sympathy goes to all the victims and their family, may God give you all strength. Peace be with those who died.
And my beautiful country, we will stand strong and fight back.

UPDATE!!
The full speech English text of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on the Jakarta Bombings is HERE.
The reaction from his rivals -Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Megawati- that counsel Mr President not to politicize the terror attacks is HERE.

Puppy Mills Kill Kindness on Earth

2009-07-14T23:19:00.001+07:00

When I was a little girl, my ankle once was bitten by our family dog. I don't remember why she bite me, but I will never forget that her name was Lassie, her fur was black and white, and she was a pekingese. I've never hated nor been afraid of her or any other dogs because of the incident, I love the creature still.

They're cute, witty, but if I must pick one from many good qualities that usually dogs possess, then I choose dog's willingness to help. Some anomalies do exist, such as dogs who bite without reason or savage dog who killed or injured others, I really hope I will never meet one like that!

Back to my pick -dog's willingness to help, this heartwrenching video really depicts that quality. I've already read about the story in a newspaper months ago, but found the video just today. It's about a stray dog who helped another stray dog who was hit by a car on a highway in Chile.

Normal dogs -like dolphins- seem inherited instinct to help others in need. Pity that some people still see dogs (and dolphins) as food, and pity that some dogs are treated badly like those puppies in Puppy Mill. After seeing an article about Puppy Mills, I began to think maybe that's why ferocious dogs exist. The puppies are born and breed in a terrible condition where they're not considered as living creature, but simply as commercial items. The mills are always dirty, jam-packed by too many puppies in one cage, and lack of care. Some puppies survive, some don't. Some will grow to be normal dogs, and some will become who I define as troubled dogs :-\

I decide to join The Puppy Mill Link Exchange Project (thanks to Kelvin) to prevent the existence of savage dogs and to save those little 'angels on Earth'.

I hope many bloggers also join this movement and place the badge and article on their blogs to spread the words. Remember......

Going to Vietnam?

2009-07-09T10:08:00.000+07:00

Recently when I and a friend were at a bookstore, she spent most of the time in the travel books section. She's a travel freak and she seems to know the tips on how to travel within budget. Like for instance, hunting for special flight rates, so she sometimes has already booked some flights in advanced. If I'm not wrong, Vietnam is amongst her fix travel plans, and it will not be the first visit for her, but I think the third (?) visit. So, I knew when I found out about Vietnam Super sale, this sure is gonna be on her menu :)

By the way, I'm not talking about clothes and bags shopping spree sale time here, but this sale is set by Accor hospitality!! Yes, so for the travel freak like her, this will be a great deal, cause Novotel, Grand Mercure and Mercure are well-known hotel brands. However, I'm curious why she always wants to visit Vietnam? I knew that she met her recent boy friend while they both were travelling in Vietnam years ago, so is it for the sake of her private beautiful memory or is Vietnam indeed worth visited repeatedly? Good idea, I will ask her when I meet her this Saturday :) Oh no, I should contact her quickly because that Vietnam Hotel Super sale offer is only running for 7 days, ie. 7- July 13, 2009 and that's for the stays from July 17 till September 30, 2009.

In the meantime, I can only find out from the internet about the beauties that one can find in Vietnam. I am now curious about Ha Long Bay, which is apparently a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where 3,000 limestone islands scattering on the South China Sea, creating a strange, eerie but very beautiful scene. I wonder the feeling that will overwhelm when sailing through those islands. I also read, those islands comprises bizarre cave formation and grottoes. Cool!!

Missing, Voting, Shopping

2009-07-08T23:59:00.008+07:00

Today's holiday, I was very disappointed! Not because of the result of our presidential election, but because this morning when I was browsing the net, I realised that I missed Michael Jackson's memorial service live coverage on tv last night, Indonesia time. Later, I felt gutted at lunch when my bro told me that he and his family watched the reply in the morning. I knew then there would be no hope, because today is presidential election day in my country, means all the media would be fix on that.

So I decided to give my vote, especially because yesterday I received a promo sms from one Shopping Centre telling that all the voters will receive 50% discount at certain resto and cafe, including at ColdStone. A good way to encourage people to use their vote right, besides of course it's indeed a good marketing plan. But it turned out this became the second disappointment of the day!! All of the ColdStone shops were packed of people queuing, that made all that I, my sis-in-law and my cutie pie nephew could do was doing a little shopping of nothing essentials :-P but we're glad that we got the thingies on discounted prices. I bought the Batdog doggy-bank -~~will post the pic later~~, that caught my attention when I first saw it some months ago, and my sis-in-law got some good bargain prices on two pieces of shirts for her cutie pie. I also decided to buy again some decorated ribbons for my new hobby, ie. card making, because they're also on 30% discount prices. That's all. Oh, and the winner of the election is already predicted.

Photo ColdStone by wikimedia

We Are The World Meme

2009-07-01T20:19:00.005+07:00

Ok I have something to post today thanks to Monica. Seems that the world is still mourning because of the shocking dead of Michael Jackson, and to me the feeling came in slowly. I didn't really feel anything on day one or two, but since yesterday I've felt the lost, and guess what song that has been lingering on my head? Not We Are the World, but..

..this...

..One day in your life...
--//---
you remember me somehow..though you don't need me now
..I will stay in your heart...
and when things fall apart...you remember one day...

He certainly stays in many people's hearts already.
Well, better stop now before I'm getting emotional, better get back to the We Are the World Meme from Monica.

*Start Copy Here*
You do not have to be tagged to play along. The game is simple and so are the rules.
1. Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*
2. Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post at each site you add.
3. Tag as many bloggers as you like so the list keeps on growing.
4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list.
5. Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in.

We Are The World Bloggers Master List:

1. Emila Yusof 2. The Other Side of Emila 3. Mariuca 4. Mariuca’s Perfume Gallery 5. Meow Diaries 11. Unlisted One 7. Spiff, the Spaceman 8. My Sweet Escape 9. Nota Nurul 10. Life’s Tapestry 11. Spontaneous Insignificancy 12. LadyJava 13. Miss Igorota 14. AnnyBoo 15. Yoon See 16. Jia’s Life 17. Nessa’s Mumblings 18. Also Mommy 19. The Walk of Life 20.Pretty Firefly 21. Untouchable EARTH 22. Baterya 23. Comedy Plus 24. Bain Cardin 25. Strawberry Milkshake 26. Turn-U-Off 27. Jom Heboh Di Sini 28. Notes by Marvic 29. Memoir Mez 30.Origena 31. You’re next

*End Copy Here*

My Wow Sleek Template

2009-06-28T23:55:00.008+07:00

Be warned *Narcissistic-mode: on* ;-P.
I made up my mind and changed my template again, after I found a template named Joomla Template for Blogger. It's so irresistible. It might look more conventional than the previous template I used, but it's more compact. It's built with many compartments in it, and its clean look design makes this template versatile enough that allows me to experiment even with my limitations :-P.

Since I'm still possessed by one of Gmail layouts -can you guess which one? ;)- I've tweaked the template into this woody board. I also did a bit coding changes so to make the right column appears properly on the old IE6, and so the above two ad compartments to appear on every pages, not only on the homepage.

Luckily I have a techie online buddy, and lucky that my memory was cooperative, I was getting the clue on how to code the template from one of our many chat sessions.

I'm proud with the result, cause it does look like what I imagined, and with this template I can accommodate as many blog candy as ~~before~~ I want.

Here are the recipe of the makeover, in case someone is interested :-P

Main Ingredient:
1. Joomla Template for Blogger that can be downloaded here.
Spices:
1. Wood background: Makore
2. Images: Old World Wax Seal, bubbles
3. Font: Conglomerfont
4. Contact System: VisitorContact
5. Interactive toolbar: Wibiya
6. Navigation: Bloggerbuster
7. Comment System: Commentluv -now with its one-click installation for Blogger, a must have gadget.

That's all, but this look is not final yet.

Accor Hotels City Super Sale

2009-06-23T20:45:00.001+07:00

One of my buddies is very excited about her holiday plan next month, because she is going to enjoy her days for half a month in Europe. She has meticulously picked the tour package by checking its destination, itinerary, price and also accommodation. She's very happy to find out that her tour travel says that most of the time the company chooses branded hotels like Novotel or at least Ibis, those of Accor Hotels. I remember sometimes ago when I stayed at the Novotel in Bogor city, I loved to come to its Bale Bengong -or in English it can be described as a place for doing nothing- which is located on a huge tree. So I agree with her choice, with that kind of hotel choices that tour packaged sounds promising.

How about you? Do you go this holiday season by joining a tour package, or loosely? Whatever choice you make, don't forget to search for your hotels. Like my friend, I also play carefully when choosing hotel. We need to have a good sleep too to restore the energy, right?

Now this is a great news for you who are coming to Asia Pacific -that of course includes my beloved Indonesia, there's a great bargain rates from Accor Hotels City Super Sale. The bargain rates would even become more exciting if you book online between 23 - 29 June for stays between July 10 and September 30, 2009, because then you will be able to save up to 60%!!

Go check it out now, and book this limited time offers for your vacation in Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Hanoi, Manila, Mumbai, Sydney and Auckland. Don't forget Bogor too, if you want to see my favourite Balai Bengong ;). Yes, Bogor is included amongst 27 cities in that offer.

Smell it, Squeez it, but don't...

2009-06-13T08:03:00.001+07:00

Yes...don't eat any of the above donuts, no matter scrumptiously they look. They are only of benefit when you want to stress-free yourself, like when you want to punch someone but you know fighting is no good, just grab the donut and squeeze it then smell it...hmm...it'll be completely overpowering your agitation. Really? Heheh, maybe.

Anyway, you don't have to be first stressed to get any of those donuts. I think if I can have it I will tease my friends with it cause it looks so real, at least from the photo, and moreover as the maker said they smell like ones too.

How to get these special donuts?
According to webdesignerwall, just pick one of the donuts and tell the reason why it's picked and write it on the comment box of Breadou Donut Giveaways posting. No need to make post about it, I do it cause currently I don't have things to put here and cause the donuts are cute :-D
In boca al lupo, it's an Italian's way to say good luck! to me and to everyone.
Enjoy the stress-free Saturday.

Err...sorry but your zipper is open

2009-06-10T23:59:00.005+07:00

Photo by azrainman

I recently had appointment with an oculist for my currently trouble eye. Yes, luckily not both of them :).
Went to a doctor recommended by a friend. She said he's a sympathetic doctor. My need of seeing this type of doctor is due to the previous doctor that I met, who gave me a distressing diagnosis with distressing explanation and urged me to undertake some thorough medical checkups. I told a friend and my Dad about that doctor's diagnosis, both of them assured me to see different doctor for the second opinion.

So that's how I met this doctor.
After some preliminary checkups, I went to the nice and modern waiting lounge where the patients wait for the doctors. I and the other patients of this doctor had to wait an hour because he had an urgent operation, so most of them then changed to another available doctor.
That made me number one in queue, and when the doctor finally arrived in his examination room I got called by his nurse. After a bit chit-chat of my case, he asked me go to the examination seat.

Then the drama happened, as I and he stand up, suddenly in reflex he covered his zipper area and murmured in shame "oh...sorry" then continued nervously "I was in a rush from the operation room".
The nurse giggled and said "luckily (she) doesn't see", and she repeated that again.
'Lucky' that I am currently quarterly blind :-P cause some weeks ago before I have this problem both of my eyes were very sharp.

I wonder if the nurse actually had known it, because they were in the room for some minutes before I got called in. Probably she was too embarrassed to tell him?
That makes me think, what if I were in her situation? How would I tell it? :-D

By the way, because of my Mom- thank God she's getting better and better-, I've been to many hospitals, but that was the first time for me to see a nurse with a 'polished' look. I mean she's lean, at least 1.70m height and has long legs that makes her more looks like a stewardess than a nurse.

UPDATE..
eheheh..just found this link about Mens Open Zipper Alarm. Lol.

Blog Candy

2009-05-31T18:18:00.000+07:00

What kind of candy that I want these days?
Blog candy!! I chanced upon it when I searched the internet about clear stamps.

Yes, recently I've been dabbling in craft things. Started from kurumie -a Japanese washi paper craft-, puncher and now clear stamps.

At first I was reluctant to buy clear stamps, I felt those images are just simple ones, and that I am able to draw those kind of things. However, having seen some creative clear stamps creations on the internet, I begin to understand that stamps thing is not about drawing, but about making nice and fun creations. Am I right?? :-P

Right now, since I'm just currently 'aware' of these things, I only have a set of clear stamps that I bought online almost a month ago. Maybe I'm lack of information or maybe because clear stamps are still fresh in my country, I only find one shop in my city that sells clear stamps, and the choices are limited too.

That's why I'm very happy when I find blog candy!! Well yes, I need the good luck factor to get any of the blog candies, nevertheless it's still a joy matter to me and from now on this blog will have some candies around.
I shall wish myself good luck from now on! :-D

Two Cool Templates and A Contest

2009-05-24T18:18:00.000+07:00

It appears that my current layout is not paid post friendly. Probably my blog subscribers notice that my previous post is suddenly gone. I have to take it off, after the ad marketing agent told me that the post is obstructed from full view on the homepage that I must allow at least two of my recent posts to be fully visible.

I'm in like with my current template very much, so I can't be bother to change it right now. Though this means that I won't be able to do paid post while this template is alive, and though I'm not sure if this template is SEO friendly, it's always satisfying to wear the outfit that you really want, right.

What else?
Still about template, I finally made my purchase from themeforest. Remember that last time I became one of the lucky 2500 PSDTUTS readers who receives $US10.
There are so many templates there, and because I also have wordpress blog, it took me months before I can decide which template to buy. I chose to buy the blogger one, because there are more free wordpress templates out there than blogger ones.
Gamediary-templates is the name of a template that I purchased. It has a nice colour schemes and good insertion of ad placements. Also, unlike the usual left side blog post, this template has the post section on its right.
Take a peek on how it looks.

What else?
While I was on themforest, I read about this awesome "Win $3500 to Spend on the ULTIMATE Creative Setup!". Enter just by creating a free account on any of Envato market places, including themeforest, and start compiling a public collection.
This is a snip that I quote from the site on how to create a public collection after you join:

1. Decide on the theme of your collection (e.g. Best Vector Illustrations, Killer WordPress Themes)
2. At the top of the page where your username is, click the Bookmarks link
3. Name your new collection in the Create a New Collection box
4. Add an awesome image to represent your collection
5. Add a description for your collection
6. Make it publicly viewable (this is important!), then click Create.

Good luck!!

My Current Template Talk

2009-05-11T11:11:00.001+07:00

It's been awhile that I took off my dear "choco block template" and using this very unique free template which is created by Jaloee, an Indonesian blogger.
Quite lucky that I've saved this template before it's become unavailable anymore for download. Sometimes ago I went back to the site and didn't find this template, that then makes this template a limited edition ;-))
Other unique templates made by Jalooe are still available to download for free there, but I like the clear structure of this template.
The structure gives equal exposure to the postings, and eases the reader to choose what to read.

I only face a problem to fill the abundant link and ad compartments that come with this template. I haven't tried to fit project wonderful or similar ads there because collaborating those kind of ads into this template is not as simple as a plug-n-play thing. For now, I just leave them as they are.

Another things that I want to do to this template are adding icons, and probably background for the widgets . Icons might be small in size, but they can bring prominent effect to a site. This template doesn't come with many icons.

I haven't decided what icons to use, but the huge collections of icon from my recent finding gives enough choices.
Have a look:
icojoy, here you can find the Maneki Neko Japanese good-luck cat. I'm not a cat person, but these cats are indeed cute.
fordesigner, this will pamper your need of icons with its super cute collection.
dryicons, it has icons and many more.
dezignous, essential source for free icons and other free graphic stuffs.
visual blast, not many collections, but very good ones.

Hope this finding can benefit other icon lovers too ;-)

Because short is better

2009-05-10T15:35:00.007+07:00

Size does matter, the shorter the better.
Sure the spammers that hit your inbox disagree that :-D.

So where in the world this the-shorter-the better-idea exists?
The answer is in the world of Twitter, HelloTxt, Hictu, Jaiku, Plurk and those kind of service.
With the restriction of 140 characters per message, we need to be smart enough to fit the whole words we want to tell the words. That won't be a problem when there's no url address in it, but when there is, then we need a short url service.

Here is compilation of url shortening machines:
u.nu
xr.com (custom alias, edit-able, adsense integration, real-time tracking)
is.gd
tr.im (custom alias, password, real-time tracking)
nn.nf
to.ly
adf.ly (real-time tracking, pay-per-click, API, referral included in the link)
cli.gs (custom alias, password, real-time analytics, social media monitoring, geo-targeting, search engine friendly, tools, API)
2pl.us
bit.ly (custom alias , real-time tracking)
tini.us (custom alias)

There you are, a prove that short is better! :-D

UPDATED!!
fa.by (custom alias, password, bulk submission, cloaking, tracking, editable)

My so called doll

2009-03-29T21:49:00.006+07:00

I just tried to make my cartoon-like character with urFooz and I am not satisfied with the result. It's not urFooz fault though, it's because I don't have the patient to find and to try one by one the eyes, lips and etc in a meticulous way, I want to see the final result straight off.
Hairs and lips are the hardest parts, these that I adopted are what I think have some similarities to mine -the hair of course when my hair is long.

Look at her, I think in some ways, I can look like her when my hair is longer :-D.
Anyone who wants their own dolls shall get one or more for free at urFooz :-)