mood: tired
reading: the bags of bones
Day 1. Jakarta.

My flight was delayed. I gotta wait in the new Juanda airport Surabaya for hours... but hey... since it's new and oh so luxurious, I had quite a good time browsing around.

Arriving in Jakarta, I called Cynthia, my sister. She suggested me to meet her from the airport at Grand Indonesia and asked me to take a bus to Blok M.
Well it was the rush hour and I spent 2 hours on the bus! And it appeared that it didn't stop at Bundaran HI, so I thought I'd just go on to Blok M.
So in the end, I didn't meet Cynthia at all, but I found a garage sale on the sports station. Bought a really cool 2-piece swimwear for Rp 83,600. There were some others of Rp 50,000 (freakin cheap for Speedo!) but I liked the colours on this 2 pieces best!

After that I called Sam and we met up. We had a reasonably nice dinner in a restaurant called YaUdah on Jalan Jaksa, then Tony, one of the other EF teachers joined us. We then went to Absoluut bar and there we met the other teachers! Alah. It was a great fun, though. I just had a big bottle of Heineken and no more. My throat was (is) still fucked up.

Day 2. Jakarta-Singapore

Woke up early this morning and took a Damri bus from Gambir to the airport.

On the plane, I sat next to a preacher and his wife, and we were having a good talk (not about religion, just about traveling in general). They gave me good advices when taking the ferry to Singapore and even how to haggle a taxi. So in the end, I was so much helped with Mr. Pardede's help in getting me the taxi.

4:00 pm, in Singapore. I took the MRT to Little India, and stayed at the CrowdsInn where Brian, a fellow traveler, used to stay.
It's kinda expensive for a hostel standard, but hey, it's Singapore. And with these free 30 min internet facility, hot shower and aircon-ed room... I got nothing to complain. :)

Till later,

7:26 pm

Mood: BT

My hand phone, Nokia 6030, which I bought JUST last month, is broken. It got soaked when I was posing for Pyor back in Yogya last weekend in Taman Sari Palace. Since it was still on warranty, I brought it to the Nokia Care Centre Surabaya today, hoping I could take it to Thailand with me next week.

Fact #1: The warranty doesn't include when they find dampness, extreme heat reason, virus, etc (most of the reasons why a cellphone broke). That means I should pay for the service, which is Rp 200,000 + spare part (if any) of at least Rp 100,000. (What's the use of warranty then?) I remember my ex-boss at CDU, Hanny Westrik once soaked her cellphone (her fault) and she got everything covered by the phone company. But hey yeah... I'm a kinda loyal person, so rather than finding another phone, I'll just stick to this one.

Fact #2: They'll finish examining it in 5 days. Which means I'll be already in Singapore by then. So no cell when I'm on vacation. Not that I mind it that much.

Fact #3: There's a possibility that when examining it, the phone can break down completely (no more usage) and Nokia will not be responsible of it. They'll free me from any charges, but they will not get the phone to the state when it was first brought there, which still works a little bit. The faults are in the charger connector and the inability of the phone to detect the SIM card (sometimes).

Fact #4: Nokia sucks a lot!

5:47 pm

mood: mixture of happy, pissed and impatient

I'm in Yogya!

Arrived here last night and was terribly hungry. I was supposed to meet my friend, Pyor, and she had not arrived yet. After taking a shower, I went out and got myself a very late supper at midnight... and gotta take a longer way back to the hotel cause the road was blocked with a wayang performance.

She was already there when I arrived back at the hotel. We shared some stories etc. before going to sleep. But guess what.. like a deja vu... everytime I travel with Pyor, she always forgets to bring her toothbrush! I mean... how come you forget such an important thing when traveling? :P

Anyway, we had a good sleep. Though we woke up too early for a vacation time. 07:00!!!

But Bladok Hotel (my favourite hotel in Yogya) has a swimming pool, so we started our day today swimming. It was good!

We left the hotel after breakfast at around 10 o'clock and went by pedicab to nearby stores and Taman Sari (a bathing palace for the princesses and mistresses of the Sultanate in the former days). I bought some bakpia for family and a cute batik skirt for myself.

A bit different from my normal routines of being a photographer when traveling, this time I was the model. You have to admit that I got a look, eh! Hehehe... Anyway, the results were pretty good. Though in some pictures I prefered to have different angles but it was ok lah.



Stupid thing happened, though. At the bathing pool, I got half my body in with my new batik skirt (I wore white shorts inside) and I completely forgot that I had my cell in my pocket!
When I realised it, it was already too late. The cell was definitely soaked and dead! Huuuuu.... *sob* I was so stupid stupid stupid.

Now I'm cellphone-less again. It's still on warranty, though. But I'm not very sure if it covers this for it was caused by my own carelessness. Dammit!

Plus... when we got out of the palace, our pedicab driver had left us. Son of a *****. It was a good thing I had not paid him yet!

Ah well... Ciao for now.

6:56 pm

Watching: Finding Neverland

Yes yes, I know. It's a little too late to watch this movie starred by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. But I finally watch Finding Neverland and was trully amazed with it. I liked the messages and actually in real, I am all to believe that anything, ANYTHING, exists when you believe it exists.

Since I've been drown in my own worries about the (possible) change of jobs the end of this month, the movie helps me realise that the right answer may never come when you block your clear minds with worries. It hasn't worked that well so far for me to decide what I should do in the next chapter of my career life.. but it's tickled the back of my mind that I should be calmer (I do appear calm, I believe, but not really when I'm alone) when thinking about this.

Hope I'll find the best decision for me and for all. But any moral support? Should I stay or should I move?

Anyway... I've resized some pictures I made with Ernie. We experimented with some hair rolls we just bought. Though it was quite an effort, I think I looked good with curly hair. Hehe...

Our last session in Tegal.
Here you go.

1:42 pm

mood: sleepy
reading: how to draw manga
watching: the simpsons

---

An ad I read in Jakarta Post today:

FRIENDSHIP
MODEL BULE HANDSOME, 35, live in Bali w/ a job. Looking for pretty and rich woman. Please contact 081******** or email e******@hotmail.com

What the...

Some people do get desperate sometimes, I guess. I mean I already get used to personal ads.. or some MASSAGE companies that claim to serve for health, but in reality they're all just a sex business. But this one sounds a bit different, don't you think?

I understand that people want companions. Some can't really get them cause of their own lackness, say appearance. But reading the ad, don't you think he sounds perfect? A male model, with a job in Bali. What makes him hard to get the woman he wants? In a place like Bali where everything is so much freer than any other parts in Indonesia, with flocks of various women all over the world, and with a (should be) handsome appearance he's got, why placing the ad in a newspaper?

And what's the point of the "rich" woman part? Men looking rich women sound like a gigolo to me. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the profession. It's just so weird. Or I'm just being too Indonesian. Hehehe..

:P

12:17 am

mood: annoyed
listening to: chris brown - run it

----

I've lost my voice since yesterday! I actually already got the signs earlier this week or even last week when I had the severe flu. But I never thought I would eventually lost my voice because of the non-stop cough I've had.

The cough itself has always attacked me like once a year since I was still a little kid. I could cough on and on and hurt my throat and tears would run down my cheeks. The only medication that will sort of help is just drink a lot of water. ASAP.

Well the influenza I had 2 weeks ago seemed to worsen things. This is probably my first time worst cough ever that leads to destroying my voice.

I hate it cause:

1. I can't sing!
2. I have to write the instructions to my students, instead of speaking to them, which I am supposed to do!
3. Everyone mocks me.
4. I can't receive any phone call (my aunt Joyce from Holland called me yesterday and I had to ask her to call me back again when my voice was better. And I had to say that with so much struggle!)
5. I had to do this ridiculous chat with Ernie last night with her speaking (so easily) and me typing over the things I wanted to say on my computer!

I've never really realised that we are blessed to speak... until now. Gosh.

Nevertheless, this condition opens my eyes when knowing that there are indeed some good people here.
I went to the market in the morning before I lost my voice completely.. and even then I didn't really want to bargain anything I was buying.

Me: How much are these tomatoes?
Seller: Rp 4000 a kilo.
Me: (choosing tomatoes) half a kilo then.
Seller: (looking at me with an amazement) Errr... you can have it for Rp 1,500 then. Me: Oh thanks..

The same thing happened with the other 4 sellers. They changed the price to a lower one when I didn't try to bargain it. It is not considered normal that customers just accept the price right away as much as the sellers offered. But to me it is not normal either that the sellers at the market lower their price to a normal one.

It's good to know that there are some honest people here. :)

Duh. But I want my voice BACK!!!

3:47 pm

mood: weak
listening to: thievery corporation
reading: jakarta post
watching: scary movie 4

There have been some things that are quite bothering my mind lately. One of them is Indonesian people's low awareness on the importance of CONDOM!

First of all, let's get one thing straight: we are NOT going to debate over the old it's-not-right-to-do-a-premarital-sex issue, ok! Cause it's not the main point of this post.
I am stating it beforehand then that I do not mind that people choose or not choose to do the act, for we're all grown-ups and every decision we take is wholly ours and only ours to make.

One thing to regret, however, is our habit to underestimate the after effect of the sex.

One case of one of my close girl friends is having right now is an unwanted pregnancy. So she did it, with a guy she doesn't love, and now she has to face this fact that she's having a child, probably not bigger than a pea now, and marriage is not really an option cause that guy has obviously stated that he will not marry her for the child, and she doesn't think she wants to give birth to the child without a marriage (old school, but we do live in an old school country :P), but in the other hand she's afraid of God and of the after effect of the abortion.

When I asked her why she didn't use a protection, she reasoned that it was not comfortable to use one, especially for that guy.

Now peeps (girls, especially), listen. Seriously... using a condom is the BEST alternative for the time being to PROTECT yourself from things like this. What's the point of having a short satisfaction and pleasure with a HUGE problem waiting afterwards? Of course, nothing is guaranteed to be 100% safe, but at least you can worry less? We still live in a hypocrite country where we have to obey a lot of social rules. Even if you have this modern conception of free sex, you studied biology at school! And there are tons of sexology talks and fusses on the paper to read. I'm sure you also know all the consequences of having a non-safe sex!

I may as well trust that you DO indeed realise that condoms can protect you from diseases. Getting pregnant is one thing, but this one is another thing. Some of the STDs cases can be cured easily, some need a while to cure, and some canNOT be cured at all. You know that condoms can help prevent that, don't you?

So please.. please.. when you see a cute guy walking on the street and you're intrigued to "try" him, ALWAYS have a condom ready somewhere in your bag or purse. If none's available, just make time to buy it. It's sold everywhere. If he refuses to use that, just kick him out of the room and tell him you don't need him to please you. There are still thousands of other guys who would want to do it safely, really.

Just remember this: LOVE YOURSELF. Condoms can be a great solution for one-night-stands and other contraceptions are the alternate solutions to a nicer sexual experience if (IF) you have found this permanent partner/boyfriend and you trust him for not carrying any disease with him.

Do I sound reasonable enough?

10:37 pm