diamond in the rough

PADANG: Epic Moments!

2011-12-23T06:42:00.000-08:00

This year, our family spent Christmas on a mission trip in Mentawai. But before that, we'll spend 3 nights holiday in Padang. The first 2 nights kita di Bukit Tinggi, kaya Puncak nya Jakarta.

Nasi Padang di Padang!

Banyak banget kelucuan yang terjadi hari ini. Levin calls it "epic fail!"

So here goes our 5 Epic Moments!

Dijalan ujan deres. Mama nunjuk keluar bilang, "aduh kasian banget polisi ujan2an"

Gw sangat tersentuh. Polisi itu cuma bediri tegap tanpa bergeming ditengah hujan yg super lebat. Dia bener2 gigih menjalankan tugasnya. Gue ngebatin "ooh apa polisi di Padang segini setia bekerjanya yah" dan gw melirih "iiih kasiaan"

Terus levin dengan polosnya, "kak itu kan patung!"

...

Satu mobil ngakak.

Sial, gw ditipu mama -___-

Kita turun di pinggir air terjun buat foto2. Pas balik mau masuk mobil, levin salah buka pintu! Dia masuk ke mobil orang! Terus lgsg teriak kaget "eh salah!" terus senyum2 malu dan bilang "hehehe maaaap". Di depan mobil ada yg punya senyum2 geli ke Levin. Yes! Pembalasan abis tadi diketawain Levin soal patung.

Dipadang kita sewa mobil. Tapi pintu blakang susah dibuka. Jadinya pas sampe hotel, susah banget nurunin 5koper ples kardus2, lewat pintu tengah terus ngambilnya nungging2 gitu.

Meanwhile papa berusaha buka terus, kuncinya dimasukin, diputer, baru sambil kunci kecantol, pintunya berusaha ditarik2, dan .. ahirnya berhasil!

Pas pintu kebuka

...

Udah kosong.

Semua koper dan kardus udah keluar -__- siasia banget. Hahaha

Gw sm Levin ngakak2 kok hari ini Epic banget sih.

"dek hari ini sih ud ada 3 epic moments loh! Coba apa aja sebutin!"

levin, "kok ka nia kaya guru sih, emangnya pelajaran suru sebutin satu2!" protes dia, hahaha.

Sambil ngomong gw liat peta hotelnya..

Nia: "ma!hotelnya keren yah!ini kayanya nyambung sama pantai deh!keren banget!"

Mama (dengan nada ga nyantai nanya ke orang hotel): "mas!emang ini nyambung sama laut???"

Mas-mas (berusaha sopan): "hehehe enggak kok buuu"

Mama (dengan penuh kemenangan): "ya iyalah!masa ada pantai orang kita ini diatas gunung!"

Nia (dalam hati) "eh?iya juga..."

Levin... Ngetawain gw dengan puasnya.

Mau tidur dan Levin ganti baju bagus.

Nia "dek baju bagus kok buat tidur sih?"

dan gw sadar itu baju bawahnya udah bercak2 darah banyak gitu

Nia "ooh makanya buat tidur yah, kok bisa berdarah2 gitu?"

Levin "hehehe (nyengir2 malu) bekas ngelap jerawat kak.."

Gw mau foto buat pamer ke orang2 betapa aib nya dedek gue tp ga boleh sm dia hahaha :p

Well, sebenernya liburan ke Padang ga ada apa2 sih disini.. tapi simple moments like these, spent with loved ones, that makes the holiday special :D

The Death of Dreams

2011-12-06T19:55:00.001-08:00

Twitter, Facebook, any mass media – you name it, arebustling with the hot topic of Christopher Melky Tanujaya, who was stabbed onthe neck just 3 days ago.

He’s a scholar. I’m a scholar too. He led a similar life asmine – makes it easier for me to imagine how to walk in his shoes.

Here, in Singapore, we don’t just dilly-dally and waste ourparents’ money. No. We study. And we study hard – sometimes with tears, sweat,and frustration. We build our dreams, and work hard for it. We carry the hopesand expectations of our parents on our shoulder too.

As scholars, the hostel safe keeps our passports, and thereare periods where we can’t go back to our home country. Even during school holidays, most of the timeit is filled with compulsory extra classes for scholars, or CommunityInvolvement Project (CIP), and other Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) matters. Yeap,forstudents in Singapore Government schools, holiday = school without teachers. Wheneverwe want to go back, the parents have to send emails or fax to the hostel. We needto fill in a leave application form to be signed by the principal, teachermentor, boarding master. We need to notify them at least 2 weeks in advance.There’s no “I wanna go back coz I feel like it”.

So the chance to go back to Indonesia is really a breath offresh air! Freedom! I imagine him, after the year has come to an end, walkingwith joyful anticipation, and such excitement to go back to his home country.

Heaven – that’s how it feels like, to be back to Indonesia.Surrounded by family, friends, and… good good food! It will be a time to relax,rejuvenate, and recharge ourselves before another tough year ahead inSingapore.

But then… it happened.

I think about how his parents feel. His friends: fellowIndonesian scholars, Singaporean classmates, his friends in Indonesia, and allthe loved ones he left behind. I think about his twitter and facebook, a partof him that will stay on forever. I think about how it happened. Did he fightback? How unbearable was the hurt? When he was left on the street, did anyonebother? What’s on his mind? What was his last thought? Did his parents’ face flashhis mind? Or was it like a tornado of thousands vivid memories recalled? Or didhe whisper a prayer? What and how exactly is his last moment like?

But what I think about the most is… his dreams. When aperson dies, all the dreams, hopes and future, and all the possibilities ofwhat could happen, die with him too. All that his parents have in their heartsof what this child will be… dies.

He could have had such a bright future, such a promisingkid. He could have built something, do something that could better our country.He could impact other’s lives in so many ways. All the ‘could haves’ revolve inmy minds.

It’s not the first one. Will it be the last one? When willmy country improve? I’m safe and sound in Singapore, just watching from afar.But it saddens me to see news after news about all sorts of negative thingsgoing on in Indonesia.

Someone has got to do something.

I pray that someday, somehow, I will play a part too.

I've met a Proverbs Woman other than my mom

2011-12-03T06:16:00.001-08:00

“Shegets up while it is still dark, she provides food for her family..”

“Cici kerja yaaah!”she bids goodbye to the 2 young ladies in her room, still half asleep. Laterwhen everyone in the house wake up, breakfast would have been ready in theliving room. “Cipuuuut! wow bgt brekpesnyaaaa!ayo micel bangun kita makan!” “Niako napsu banget sih.. eh iya ciput ini kaya di hotel!” lari ambil hape danlangsung ngetweet. Jason masih setengahtidur makan sambil merem2, “enak yaaah” dan kita bertiga duduk anteng di sofa..

Once it was a ham and cheese wrap. Then there was a platterwith a healthy mix of salad, scramble egg and nuggets. Some other time we evenhad waffles with a smiley face! Each morning is bursting with excitement. Otherwomen would spend her morning beautifying themselves, but she.. beautifies ourmorning.

“Sheworks with eager hands, her arms are strong for her tasks”

Sometimes her job is demanding. Sometimes it’s brainsqueezing. Sometimes it’s full of uncertainties. Yet never have I seen even theslightest hint of despair, nor discouragement. Not a single one. And what amultitasker she is! Master of Civil Engineering, Leader of Kids morningservice, and Mother of GuaFA. What an achiever!

“Sheopens her arms and extends her hands to the needy..”

“Ayok bobo rumahcici” An open invitation.

“Nia kamu jangangalau lagi, semangka!” Words of encouragement.

“Kamu tiap harimesti 1 tugas selesai, jadi pas pulang bebas bisa liburan” “Kalo abis pipis ‘mbok ya cuci tangan, itukan flush nya bekas smua orang, jorok” Takes on a motherly role.

“Nia, kalo masuk angin minum tolak angin” “sinicici pijetin” “nia kamu bawa payung cici aja yah, kan ujan” “nia itu bacang nya kamubawa pulang ntar diangetin di microwave yah” “nia makan rumah cici aja, adabumbu pecel loh” And the many little gestures to show that she cares.

Her house is always open for everyone to come, eat,laugh, and find a little piece of home. Her time is always there for everyoneto talk, tell their many, many, random stories.. She knows if one isheartbroken, going trough hurtful breakdowns, and if the other is secretly homesick.She knows who is going to Australia, UK, Paris, USA, and the dates they aregoing. She knows who is having a presentation tomorrow, and who is havingexams. She makes us feel remembered.

“Shespeaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tounge..”

“Eh lupa matiin lampu kamar mandi!cepet sebelom diomelinciput!” “Hayo sendok bekas makan buat ambil lauk, ntar ciput marah loh” “Lupacuci piring!gmana nih ga enak sama ciput” Si Micel pecahin piring, tapi ini sihga takut, ga gaenak, malah dia yang omelin ciput, ngebully ciput :p

Ciput nyuci, nyapu, ngepel, masak, and has all theinstructions on how to keep things in the right state. This is how you lock thedoor, this is how you sweep the floor.. Ayo makan, ayo mandi, ayo berberes, ayobangun. She has it all under control.

“Charmis deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to bepraised”

“Ciput itu kalo mandi mesti 2 lagu pujian dulu baru kelar” “Ciputudah telat nih, mandi nya ga boleh pake nyanyi yah” Yes. She praises Godwhenever, wherever.

And she is always the one to initiate a prayer together. Saturdaymornings: a quiet time with God. Pray before a meal, pray after a meal. Praybefore she goes to church, and before work. Pray. Pray. Pray. And fast. Settingan example for us all.

“Shewatches over the affairs of her household, and does not eat the bread ofidleness”

Every night, we would all be there, in her room. Justchitchatting, idling, spending time together.. “Jason ambil gitar!” “hmm hmmnyanyi lagu apa yahh” “ci tapi aku ga apal liriknya leh” “nia kamu yang pimpin”“gamau cici aja” “kamu aja” “cici” “yaudaaah” Then we would worship, and justsing our hearts out, pray for each other like family.

Despite the weariness of a day of work, she would stillentertain us, and that’s when all scenarios unfold, all stories are told..

“kok malem2 laper yah” “makan indomi kayanya enak” “ntargendut ciii” “eh ada eskrim kitkat!” “aduh kok enak aku nambah ah” “hayooo niagendut, kalah deh”

“ niaaa, cici isiin botol minum kamu!..tapi penyok..” “dasarcici pasti bales dendam karna aku putusin sendal jepit cici!” “weee cipuuut,aku tweet ah!”

Every moment, even the simplest one, is a treasure.

Shebrings good,not harm, all the days of her life..”

“Ciput kaya mama kita” I recall that phrase repeated forseveral times during our christmas dinner. Well, a motherly figure she is.

What an atmosphere! what a sweet, wonderful family. And we’re not evenfamily! Yet things are this wonderful. No wonder, God is the author of thesestories.. He weaves it so intricately – the right people, the right place, atthe right moment.

“Give her the reward she has earned, and lether works bring her praise..”

Yes. The reward is on its way.

I'm a Rafflesian

2011-11-28T19:44:00.001-08:00

It takes hard work to be able to make that statement.

It is even more harder after

But a year has passed and the fog has lifted

I am grateful. I am proud.

I'm a Rafflesian

Deciphering Me

2011-11-28T19:35:00.001-08:00

Took an online test about getting to know myself better. The result is surprisingly accurate!

Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:

You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.

Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:

You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

mother/daughter

2011-01-23T23:31:00.001-08:00

Sore hari. Gw ke kamar mama abis mandi udah keramas seger.

“hey non”

Mama di kasur ternyata.

“ga mandi ma?”

“maleeeeeeesshh”

Tumben, pikir gue. “pantes, skarang aku tau levin itu nurun siapa hahahahaa”

“aku capeeeee abis nyetiiiir” suaranya manja ples males2an.

“ntar kalo mandi jadi seger” lanjutnya.

Gw bingung. “loh ma? Justru itu! Emang mandi biar seger!?” nada gw gatau menegaskan atau jadi mempertanyakan, emang mandi biar apa kalo ga seger?

Kok si mama aneh ya. Udah meringkuk di kasur cape justru harusnya mandi biar seger malah ga mau mandi supaya ga seger. Terus gw becandain gw lemparin guling.

“aku aja udah keramas ma!hehehehe” dengan nada pamer bangga

“sana gih bawa cookie (anjing gw) lari. Biar kering rambutmu”

Buset. Gw bingung lagi. Si mama eror nih? “kering? Keringet iya kali ma”

Fine. Nyerah deh. Gw kluar aja, lagi bersemangat pengen nulis di taman juga.

“ya udah deh ma, dadaa”

Udah ga ada gw, mama bolak-balik badan di kasur, sambil meluk gulingnya “aaahh bobo aaahhh enak-enyaaaaaakkk”

Dan gw cuma bisa ngakak, “buset ini mana yang mama mana yang anak sih?”

pasukan kecil

2011-01-21T01:43:00.000-08:00

michelle and bella

Udah 3 hari ada anak-anak kecil di kompleks pada main ke rumah gue. Awal mulanya, gue yang sangat health-conscious mulai berasa guilty feeling gara2 kebanyakan makan di indo. Ahirnya satu sore gue ajak cookie, anjing gue lari2. Eh, di jalan, ketemu anak kecil lagi main sepeda! Pada tertarik sama cookie. Gue ajak kenalan dan gw ajak main ke rumah!

Masuk ke taman di rumah gw, mereka berdecak kagum “waaaahh kakak rumahnya ada taman nya guede bangeeeet!” “aku ga pernah tau ada rumah segede ini disini!” gw yang mendengarnya cuma tersenyum simpul aja.

Terus gw ajak mereka liat binatang2 peliharaan yang ada di rumah. “yang bener kak? Ada bebek sama ayam di rumah kakak? KEREN BANGET!” yang lain nyeletuk “ih kakak rumahnya kayak tempat wisata deh!” “iyaiyaaaa kayak tempat wisata digabung taman bunga digabung restoran!” sementara itu gue cuma nyengir2 aja.

“kok aku ga pernah liat kakak sih? Eh emang kakak lagi libur yaa kok bisa sore2 main?”

“ Aku emang lagi libur kan aku sekolahnya di Singapur”

“ooh beasiswa gitu ya kak?”

“iya”

“ya ampuuuun kakak hebat banget! Aku aja belom pernah ke singapur!”

Seneng rasanya dibuntutin anak2 kecil seolah gue lah sumber pengetahuan dan segalanya. Ibarat induk bebek dan anak2nya yang mengekori membentuk satu barisa. Kepala mereka manggut2 lucu atas setiap apa yang gw bilang ke mereka. Mereka berebutan mau crita ke gue sampe teriak2 dan kalo mo ngomong pada angkat tangan dulu “giliran ku kak! Giliran ku!”

Gw jadi mikir. Pertama, kadang kita ga pernah berasa seberapa beruntungnya kita sampe ada orang lain yang melihat apa yang kita punya lalu berdecak kagum. Gw ngerasa banget. Semua respon mereka atas apa yang gw milikin bikin gw bener2 bersyukur sama apa yang Tuhan udah kasih gw. Kalo gw jadi mereka, mungkin gw juga akan ber’wow-wow’ atas yang si ‘Kakak Nia’ punyain. Tapi, menjadi diri gw sendiri, rasanya yaaa biasa aja. Malah kadang kita sebagai manusia ingin jadi orang lain. Intinya, gw mulai put myself in people’s shoes dan mulailah menyadari dengan sepenuhnya betapa beruntungnya gw. And i guess we all should do that, too

Kedua, gw jadi mikir, betapa ‘sibuknya’ gw sekarang sampe gw ‘lupa’ ada kebahagiaan yang begitu mendalam yang timbul di hati, seakan meluap dari memori lama akan masa kecil gw yang begitu riang, seperti anak2 kecil ini. Dan gw seakan menemukan kebahagiaan masa kecil gw itu kembali, saat gw spend time sama anak2 ini. Seriusan, hepi banget. Gw bisa nyengir2 sendiri, heboh sendiri, and i find myself jumping running shouting happily, ga inget umur.

Jam6. Mereka udah harus pulang. “kakak! Besok main lagi yaaa! Jam4 yaaa! Soalnya besok aku ga ada les. Laoshi ku mau nikah jadi les nya libur. Main ya kaaaak!” “iya kak! Iyaa! Aku juga ga ada peer! Main ya kak, ntar kakak umpetin telor2 di taman trus kita cari ya kak!”

Besoknya, gw mau jalan sama Jo, sahabat gw. Dan jam4 gw akan pulang. gw bakal bawa dia ke rumah untuk gw kenalin sama Pasukan Kecil gue ini :)

what do you want to be?

2011-01-19T06:18:00.000-08:00

I had a psychotest today. So much talking about my future and what i wanna be these days. It has something to do with me choosing the right college. Well, it gets me wondering, why people always talk about what they want to be, instead to just be? Right here right now. Just be.

Instead of merely pursuing your future, why dont you just be? live your moment. After all, its “the journey, not the destination” that matters right? I want to just make full use of what i am responsible right now, everyday making small goals and achieving them.

What do i want to be in the future? Cant really label myself – doctor, teacher, scientist, businesswoman? i want to be me. I dont want to be just another doctor, another teacher, you name it. I want to be me. The more mature version of me.

Another thing, when people ask about the future, what do you want to be? Why do people always refer it to career? If you ask me, what do i think of my future? Well, career is just a part of it. Quite integral, but not necessarily central.

I want to find a loving husband. Have little children that’ll brighten my day. Raise them up and be responsible of them. I want to be a mother. I want to have enough money so i can help people. I want to impact – with what i say and do.

Well, i guess for me, its more of the “how” instead of the “what”. But there are different kinds of people, i realized. And lucky for them who know – crystal clear - what they want to be in the future.

I guess i’ll have to start finding one. Meanwhile, i’ll just live my life to the fullest and see what doors of opportunity will be opened for me :)

singapur

2009-12-20T02:14:00.001-08:00

kayaknya mood indo udah merasuki gue sepenuhnya. kalo sebelom nya kaya masih rada2 singaporemode gitu. skrg gw udah betah lagi diem2 depan laptop seharian, "menikmati kamar" kayak hobinya jhoan *apakabar ya dia?*

terus gw jadi mikir singapur deh.

singapur, negara yang sekarang gw tinggalin bener2 damai aman dan tentram *baca:boring* bayangkan, kriminal dan kecelakaan dan aneh2nya tuh dikit banget! kontras banget sama jakarta yang sekarang lagi musim bunuh diri depan publik.

sampe2 ya, gw pernah nonton tv di sngapur *iya kawan, cuma 'pernah'. betapa hecticnya idup di sngapur!* terus lo tau, berita yg gw tonton basi abis: HDB di satu daerah di singapur udah di pasangin lift.

WOW. penting abis.

terus gw inget, waktu gw di MRT station di cityhall, ada pengumuman "attention everyone, this station is very crowded. please be careful"

yaelaaahh. semua orang juga tau kaleeee. saking kecanggihan teknologi sayang kali ya kalo ga dipake. kalo di indo kan bikin pengumuman mesti teriak2 susah.

#2

2009-12-20T02:04:00.000-08:00

"Selama dengan buku, kalian boleh memenjarakan aku dimana saja. Karena dengan buku, aku bebas." - Mohammad Hatta

#1

2009-12-20T01:57:00.000-08:00

Yang paling penting bukanlah seberapa besar mimpi kita, tapi seberapa besar kita untuk mimpi itu.
- Sang Pemimpi

theBLENDfamily

2009-12-20T01:35:00.000-08:00

Blend.

bena levin esther nia djarot.

Keluarga adalah sarang, tempat dimana setiap orang mendapat penerimaan.

-djarot wijanarko

a recent photo. tapi ga recent2 banget krn gue nya gendut! dan cina abis.

foto ini kan ada di ruang tamu gede di frame gitu, trs nathan dengan polosnya "loh kok aneh sih jadi best daughter nya siapa dong??"

iya juga sih ya. gw baru mikir. sial.

renaissance

2009-12-20T00:15:00.000-08:00

yeapp. again, for the *waiiitt* second? third? fourth? time, i decided to start blogging. again. hope this will not be what indonesians called 'warm warm chicken shit' *iya deh jayus* ahaha.

semoga blog nya ga jadi boring, dan bener2 niat kali ini, syukur2 bisa menginspirasi ato seenggaknya menghibur hati deh.

singkat aja, siapa gue: aduh gw siapa yaaa, kok jadi bingung.

daddy says "kamu itu anak anugerah" mom says "you are my precious diamond" bena says "semua orang kok ga ada yang bilang aku mirip kak nia yaa" levin says "kak nia curang banyak temen nyaaaa!" kak eli says "aduh kamu makin gede makin cantik" demas says "terus aja ni lupa apa yang gw bilang!" "ampun nia, otak lo ribet banget deh" lala says "sedeng gelo si nia emang miss pepaya da!" "nia lama2 kentut lo ngalahin elmo da!" jo says "inget kata mama ga boleh ejek2 gueeee" "si mungil!" "terus aja lo bilang gw yang kopiket elo" andri says "noni genduuuuuutt!" chibi says "nia kapan belanja ke senen??" sartob says "nia narsissss!!" bisma says "nia si tante girang" dani says "nia bagus deh kalo pake kacamata" karin says "enak banget deh bisa ngomong yang dalem2 sama nia" jedek says "ekstrim jg ya lo kalo sepedaan" joger says "bagus bagus nia ayo diet terus" tius says "nia si hidung jambu" luhao says "nia my funny and sunny friend!" hesti says "nia freaaaaaakk!! udah deh ni diantara kita yg paling frik kan elo" alre says "yaaah nia mah nyadar kamera"

well that's all i could think of

i guess i'm a little bit of everything

singkatnya aja, i started blogging waayyy long long ago. then i stopped. then something MAJOR happened to me. i moved to singapore! i received a full 4years scholarship program. that is when my life changed. the good ones, the bad ones. that is when my eyes were opened. new things were revealed to me. that is when i had to seek deeper meanings in life on my own.

but well, one year has passed. i am now on my 2months holiday! its 5days to christmas, 12days to new year, 15days to my second year in Singapore.

YES! its a new beginning :)

so, walk down the journey with me, folks!

love,
nia

loving saturday night

2009-08-01T23:45:00.001-07:00

time flies like a jetplane.

you were waiting so longingly for weekend to come, and *bam!* it's over. that's what always happen to me. sunday is the only time i can sit down and ruminate on my life so far. yet the chances are rare, i would either be occupied by thoughts on what-so-ever upcoming plans or schoolwork. there is almost no me-time. oh too much things happened and i cant just sort it out properly!

i have tankahkee young investors write-up to do. i invent an umbrella holder called bumbershoot. bumbershoot is actually a synonym for umbrella, cool right.

i have international friendship celebration to take care of. i am actually excited for it, it would turn out to be very festive i'm sure, yet the working out is tough. never knew that event organizing would be this hard. in indonesia it was all easy. you give your brightest idea, you help, you interact with people, but you just dont need to see all the minor details and budgeting and all sorts of tiresome paperwork.

i'll have common tests soon and i really wanna do well on those. wish to get straight Astar. yet english is just damn hard! the best i could achieve is C grade. and yet people in indonesia regard my english level to be so high. how contrast things could be in two different countries, you could be someone totally different depending on where you are.

anyway, i have diverted from my title. i was planning to write on my saturday night actually. it was well, fun? i hate to use the word fun since its so overused but i just couldnt come up with anything else. yea it was fun actually. i think the 10lovelies are bonding again. thank God. i thought things would never be the same like before but yesterday i sensed hope that we could be as sweet as before, haha. we went to a concert: festival of praise. yet it wasnt as good as we thought it would be. after that, we went to eat in Suntec. i ate 1meal together with lala, haha. it was a traditional kaya toast, what a mouthwatering meal! we then went to McD for a while and just had a good laugh along the way.

how i wish i could record all my moments in more than just words. i dont want good things to just pass by without me reminiscing it often.

tommorrow is MONDAY again. and im dreading it as always *sigh

free-day

2009-07-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

TGIF!

highlights of the day:

1. injections. thankfully i didnt get one. just my luck. lala, joshua, mike, nathan got theirs. two shots at once, sucky! then it ruined our concert night :( i wanted to go so badly! anyway, the doctor was sooo irritating! nerve-cracking. after injections lala felt dizzy so we took a cab. that saved us from walking uphill to the hostel. yeay.

2. starbucks-ing (again). i took a nap just after i reached the hostel and when i woke up i was like, what am i gonna do?? plans failed. so i went to the gym and showered. wanted to go to music room but it was fully booked, going to the cinema was nearly impossible if the guys are all just going to say that one-word "maleeees", island creamery was, um well, doesnt feel right. so in the end we went to starbucks instead. mike and nathan ordered the wrong drinks. nathan's tasted like nescafe and mike's even worse, kopi tubruk! haha

3. blogging, facebooking. and procrastinating my essay *sigh

starbucks-ing * hang out and not talk

2009-07-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

i have a new hobby!

starbucks is now opened near coronation plaza which is near to my hostel. kalo di film2 nih, kan suka ada orang yg sering nongkrong di cafe sampe barista kenal trus udah tau mau pesen apa gitu terus jadi temenan, seru! apalagi kalo barista nya bule ganteng! hahaha

nah, gw jadi pengen deh.

gw sama lala bikin program 'hang out and not talk'. gmn yaa, kan di sg tuh life hectic banget jadi kita mau escape ke cafe buat ngejer suasana chillin' sama bau kopinya yg enak banget terus hangout berjam2 aja baca buku denger ipod. perfect indulgence deh! tapi kalo sendiri kan males, jadi mesti berpartner. makanya we named it hang out and not talk! haha

jadi hari apa itu gw lupa gw k starbucks, tapi kali ini sama hesti. we spent 4hours there! watching movies, reading books, nulis2. tapiiii setiap 1jam gw pipis, kan gw ke lantai bawah, barista nya udah ganti orang terus, ga ada yg cakep terus! SIAL.

cuma ada:

1. bule. tapi tua

2. muda. tapi india

3. friendly. tapi cewek

yaudah deh. gagal. tp starbucksnya sih asik. jadi mau lagi deh kapan2, siapa tau barista nya ada yg oke, haha. fun fun fun

habitat lala

2009-07-29T05:25:00.000-07:00

i feel like starting blogging again. i want my journey away from home to be reminisced and ruminated nicely when i grew up. yet the dilemma: when i have the inspiration there is no time, and vice versa. sucky.

anyway today was fun! i got to seat next to Lala and we chat and joked a lot. tadi dia ngomong dengan muka serius, "nah iya ni, kita itu, kata nyokap gw, harus ngelakuin sesuatu sampe 40kali secara teratur baru bisa jadi, apa tuh, habitat. *berenti sebentar, ekspresi muka berubah* eh, kok habitat sih!?"

terus kita ngakak gila2an.

terus hari ini i was informed to stay back til 3.30 for an important meeting from the malay cluster society. udah males banget deh. so to fill up the time, i did my physics assignment yg susah banget! pas meeting untungnya it was a good news, i was selected to be the one of the leaders for the next bacth! and it's only the second batch. so i'm like one of the pioneers. coolie!

i procrastinated my comprehension practice and studying geo as well. cant help my desire to go online, it's been a while the internet was down. and tonight at 9.50 i have to meet the council president to discuss the international friendship celebration as i am the overall in charge

yeah, you could say, life will always be filled with busyness in singapore.

hopefully my day to day account jadi berguna buat gw kalo udah gede, siapa tau jadi buku tentang kehidupan scholars ato apa gitu kek, haha.

Citrine Pearl

2009-07-29T05:13:00.001-07:00

What?

It’s not an organisation, not a mere programme, neither it is a whatever-name-i-like-to-made-up. Jadi sebenernya ini apa gw jg gatau. Intinya, (aduh gw bahkan gatau intinya!) gmn yaa. Sejarahnya aja deh.

It all started today in the unbearably-boring-English-period. Puishan (Lala’s seatmate) ga masuk jadi gw duduk di sebelah Lala. Nah, gw lagi diet dan pas dia baca reader’s digest dia ktemu artikel bagus: “Put aside $5 a day and at the end you’ll have $140. If you’ve lost weight, it’s yours to spend! Otherwise, give it to charity.”

Then i gave it a thought. Gw terus mikir, daripada in the end gw spend for my own pleasure, mending i give it all to charity! Tapi gw reduce jadi $1 per day otherwise bokek kali gw.

So, here i am living luxuriously in a foreign country not spending even one cent of my own money! All that i’ve been wasting is the government’s money that i’ve earnt from my studies. Then, why not i channelled it for the poor in Indonesia who needs money and education? Kapan lagi gw bisa jadi blessing? Gila gw tadi udah super semangat deh sama Lala. Keren banget! Kita bakal belajar jadi committed buat give $1 per day, dan ga cuma soal komitmen, kita juga jadi berkat buat orang lain! Kita mau beli celengan weekend ini dan tiap hari masukin koin $1. Tadinya mau di akumulasi baru ambil duitnya, tapi kita mau tiap hari ada tindakan iman, sambil kita masukin koin kita bilang, “dear God, today i’m going to bless Indonesia and i’m going Indonesia being transformed”.

Programnya juga include one other commitment that we made. Buat gw, kalo gw gagal diet dalam hari itu, gw harus bayar $1 ekstra. Kalo Lala, kalo dia bolos baca alkitab. Nah, once we can fully commit ourselves to those promises, kita bakal masukin komitmen baru yg kalo kita gagalin mesti di penalize dengan bayar $1. Coolie! We’ll become a very committed person!

Aduh, pokoknya keren keren keren. Kita jadi blessing, starting a movement (who knows others might be interested and join our program, hehe), have a passion for Indonesia and to see our motherland being transformed (kita percaya if we want to plant the seed, pasti ada hasil!), and we’ll become more sensitive towards the needs of the less priviledged in our society.

Then when it’s time for us to go to Indonesia, we’ll open our piggy bank and divide equally the money. Jadi di Indo liburan kita jg lebih worthwhile! Gw pgn banget ngajar! Pengen ngajar TK2 miskin di indo ato anak2 jalanan, ato pelayanan apapun deh! Dengan talenta yg Tuhan kasih dan duit yg udah gw sisihkan. So i’m going to do my part in Jakarta, dan Lala di Bandung. Pas libur selese kita share stories deh!

Why?

Nah soal kenapa namanya jadi citrine pearl, there’s the story behind. Kita pengen cari nama keren tapi udah super stuck deh. Hopeless, kita buka2 vocabulary book (since it’s english class), and we found a list of gems for each birthday month! Mine is citrine and Lala’s is pearl. So we figured, since we are going to do something valuable and become a blessing, we’ll surely shine like gems! So here it is, CITRINE PEARL!

Dreams

Semakin kita omongin, semakin kreatif dan passionate aja deh! Kita mikir, kalo diseriusin, suatu saat (dan ga lama lagi) kita bisa jadiin ini satu organisasi resmi! We can collect money from other people who is committed and is interested to do what we do. Kita ga mau nerima donasi, tp kita mau mereka daftar dan komit buat bayar $1 per hari dan $1 for evey commitment they fail to do.

Terus kita juga cari orang2 yg punya the same passion buat sama2 ngelakuin misi ini, either bagi2 buku, makanan, ngajar, whatever it is. Kita juga bisa jadi kaya agen yg connect orang sm organisasi2 panti asuhan gitu2 jadi orang kalo mau bantu tapi gatau mo kemana tinggal ke kita and we’ll find the job that suits them.

But we only want to focus in Indonesia. Semua orang di Singapur bilang society gap di Indo gede banget, yg kaya kaya banget, yg miskin ajegile miskin nya. Indonesia di labelled negara yg miskin, bodoh, ga terstruktur, and we have to change that!

Then kita mau bikin blog buat keep a journal on what we have done sama kalo ada personal touching stories dari people that we help. Ah keren banget nih. Then kita bakal pake inisial Miss C and Miss P buat nama kita di dunia charity, haha.

Sooo, for the time being, kita lagi mikir ntar natal mau ngapain nih. Ga ada koneksi ke tempat2, area2 yg butuh di bantu. Terus in the long term pasti butuh lebih banyak duit if we want to make it a big thing. We’ll see! Yeay i’m so excited!

*kalo ada yg punya kenalan bantuin dong

joy is here

2009-07-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

"joy comes in the morning. morning is not necessarily what has an AM next to it. morning is when you wake up. so, wake up! joy is here!"

-israel houghton

promises

2009-06-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

hopefully i'll do this. lets see what happens. haha

8hours of sleep
min 15mins of devotion every morning
spend time with God every night
sing praises and worships whenever wherever i can
treadmill! *must lose weight this time ahaha
no more late night snacking
eat more fruits
join a cell group
write a journal
continue blogging
make more friends

near future

2009-06-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

i am looking forward to:

chibi, and other rics peeps comin to sg
national day dinner *photo ic!*
a*star award recipient ceremony
hillsong concert!
ben movin here *you'll be my diet partner and worshipmates 'kay
orientation
christmas
star cruise holiday, perhaps? :p

gotta be excited for this coming 6months before im goin back to indonesia again. it'll be full of twists and turns, but i'll keep on movin with dearest daddyJe :)

wishlist

2009-06-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

the message bible
driver's license
mommy's car (is it too much? ;p) and a garden party for sweet17
iPod nano or iPod touch
book: lady in waiting by jackie kendall and debbie jones

i think that'd be all for now. anyone mind giving 'em to me? ahaha

the return.

2009-06-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

here i am, again, after abandoning blog for 3months.

judulnya apa ya?

2009-03-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

ah. gw mood2an banget sih. skrg lg terserang sindrom males nge-blog. tp gw pengen hari2 gw terekam di blog. jadi intinya, weekend has been full of fun. jumat membetekan gara2 choir nyebelin. pemimpin nya *yg cupu dan masih 2taun lbh muda dr gw!* marah2 melulu. dalem hati gw cm ngomel, buset br pernah gw dimarain orang cupu. aduh jahat bgt yaa :p tp sebel sih. ibaratnya tuh gw udh kaya proses terjadinya earthquake 'stress build up in the earth's crust due to plate movement, when the rock can no longer hold the pressure, it will snap and earthquake is produced' nah gw udh bener2 ga bisa contain rasanya pgn explode. haha baru common tes jadi otak nya masih pelajaran smua. cm jumat mlm nya seru. sperti biasa kita main bola dr jam8 sampe jm9an. trs gw sperti biasa, selalu jadi korban. kalo ga ketendang bola, ketendang orang yg lagi nendang bola. adaaa aja kasusnya -.- abis itu ke island creamery. itu kayaknya tempat pemersatu kita deh. tiap disitu atmosfirnya slalu kekeluargaan bgt so sweet pkknya.

sabtu ujan deres tp gw ngotot mau jalan soalnya gw udh dandan haha. ahirnya semua berhasil kebujuk. mlm2 baru balik cape bangeet. mggnya momo ultaahh! ini yg seruu. aduh tp mls crt. pkknya asik.

today bnyk common tes yg di bagi! gw sneeenggg. phy dpt tertinggi pdhl susah. dan guru kelas sblh katanya sampe heran dia blg 'itu di kelas sblh ada yg dpt paling tinggi 28.5 edan itu ko bs stinggi itu' hahaa trs yg dpt Astar di kls tuh cm gw sm elmo. anak2 alumni rafles! waahh mr gary harus bangga! hehe.

besok skolah lg. udh pgn weekend mau seneng2 sm anak2. goodnight!

what a day :)

2009-02-26T08:41:00.000-08:00

today is a super encouraging day. seriously. and this is my 3rd post by the way. after the compliment by 'that' girl, there's a sweet email from a best friend, 'walls' asking how am i doing and when will i be back from my dearies in facebook, and lastly: a description about me by a close friend in facebook note:

"Smart, intelligent, nice, amazingly pretty, a good friend of
mine. Fluent in English. Lives in Singapore cause of her study. Honest, friendly, creative. Such a great pianist. Girly in fashion and behavior. I like her, she's just adorable! Well-known, very white as snow LOL. Already achieved two scholarships! Imagine that. Whoaaa. I punched her with Strawberry cake, once, in her surprise farewell from me, number 1 & 3. I miss her too. Come home!
Immediately."

i know feel so blessed with all the people God has let me befriended with in my life. there's a whole lot of 'em. the list is endless! and to those who has made me who am i today: i love you. really :)

another lovely words

2009-02-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

"kyknya lg sibuk bgt blajar yaa? ahahhaa
smangat nath.. and remember... i'll
always pray for you...maju...
GBU nath2.... :):)"

Even simple words, when said by a close friend with sincerity, can form a smile on my face :)

serukan: MERDEKA!

2009-02-26T07:29:00.000-08:00

ini memang bukan 17agustus. tetapi seluruh rakyat indonesia, tepatnya penghuni 3T1 dan 3T2 di BPGHS bersorak nyaring penuh sukacita pada hari ini, pukul2.05.

yeaappp! COMMON TESTS ARE OVER!

gw bahagia sampe gw pgn lompat2. sampe rasanya semua beban keangkat. trus jidat gw bs ga mengkerut lagi. nyampe hostel gw bs makan pelan2 bener2 dinikmatin. gw bs mandi air panas sambil merem lamaaa banget. gw bisa online. gw bs bengong2. melakukan apa yg gw mau. rasanya puas banget.

dan gw baru ngrasa betapa worn-outnya badan gue. slama blajar di force buat stay alert, buat fokus, dan skrg kaya mau collapse cape banget. kaki gw pegel2 pengen dipijet. jadi skrg nia is recharging

and guess what, amath gue beneran dapet Astar kaya yg gw target-in! pas mepeeett. 75persen. bahasa melayu jg udah di bagi. tapi ga sesuai target gue, kurang 1poin buat dapet Astar! jadi cm dpt A. okelah buat seorang yg totally buta sama bahasa melayu.

hari ini gw seneng lagi. gila gw udh kaya mau terbang waktu choir. gw dipuji abis2an! gatau nih ya, emang dasar gw geer ato emg bener, tapi tuh ada satu cewek ade kelas di choir yg demen banget sm gw. tiap choir mau disebelah gw, sok2 ngebecandain, ganggu2 usil2in gw. trus pas dapet no hp gw seneng bgt, gw suka di telv waktu dia plg skolah lah, lg di bus lah, sms pagi2 blg goodmorning, mlm2 bilang goodnight, dan sebagainya.

trs kemaren2:
cewek-yg-menurut-gw-ngefans-sm-gw: nia nia niaaaaa
nia: yeaahhh?
cewek-yg-menurut-gw-ngefans-sm-gw: in your class, does a lot of people like you?
nia: like me how? as in similar to me? or like 'like'?
*kepanjangan cape nulisnya sebut aja z*
z: yeah lorh, like as in 'like' you. the guys.
nia: haha. how would i know? i dont think so anyway. why?
z: no. nothing. haha

trus hari ini:
dia ganggu2 gw sperti biasa. trs dia ngomong sm tmnnya tp obvious bgt as if emg gw blh dgr
z ke temennya: eh who do you think is the prettiest scholar here?
tmnnya *t*: i dont know le
*gw dgr trs jb*
n: me me meeee! hahaha
*bisik2 apa gitu trs blg*
z: see, you're very pretty leh
n: haha

trus pkknya dia sibuk nanya2in temen2nya smuanya gt kaya lg pemilihan presiden gt trs dia blg
z: people said you're the prettiest scholar here

abis nyanyi. bbrp belas mnit berlalu. tmnnya yg lain nyenggol gw.
tmnnya-yg-lain: *sambil cekikikan* eh eh she said you're very pretty
z: *kaya malu trs nyenggol2 temennya* yea, i told you olredi waattt

dan nia hanya bisa tersenyumsenyum geer seharian. HAHAHA.

coming events: minggu ini elmo ultah. gatau nih mau diapain. hesti bisma jho nabilah jg mau ultah. banyak banget. weekend ini pkknya mau merayakan kebebasan sm anak2 indo. sabtu ada choir exchange di hwachong auditorium buat skolah2 di singapur, and i'm gonna perform! gw seneng deh sm choir disini ga amatir. bener2 classic pake penjiwaan jadi jiwa musik gw ga mati. sabtu depan ada NTU choir performing di victoria concert hall dan gw berhasil membujuk anak2 indo yg sama sekali ga punya interest di classic buat ikut! GILA gw bangga banget sm gw haha. pdhl klasik kan boring bgt buat yg ga ngerti, dan mrk mau ikut mengorbankan weekend dan duit 15dolar! asiiikkk. kekuatan bujukan gue. hahaha

oia lastly. andri lola baru liat ada promo gila2an. ke bali cm 5odolar! and we plan to go in mid april. cuma 3hari! hahaha. gila. gw udh balik indo brp kali nih. tp its hard to resist! and mom says yes already. cuma sm skolah nih yg ribet, iyalah ya, mo alesan apa gue hari skolah ijin ke bali buat liburan. hehehe. we'll see how it goes :p

wah jadi panjang. asik. hidup gw udh berwarna.

sedikit kehidupan ditengah2 common test

2009-02-23T07:30:00.000-08:00

wah ini post kedua hari ini. abis nya hari ini jd menyenangkan jadi harus diinget2.

dinner di dining hall.
nia: *noleh ke kanan trus ngeliat seorang cowo sebut aja si X*
X: *lg ngeliat ke arah gw terus nge-dada-in sambil senyum* kalo bahasa tubuhnya di translate jadinya 'niaa halooo'
nia *muka kaget seneng trs melambaikan tangan juga* translate: eh! halo!
X: *nunjuk ke papan poster2 council nominees trs nunjuk gw* *oia, masih dgn senyum nya* translate: lo ikut boarders concil kan?
nia: *ngangguk2 sambil senyum* translate: iyaaaa hehe
X: *trs dia nunjuk dirinya trs nunjuk gw* artinya: gw bakal ngevote elo.
nia: *kesenengan terus nunjukin jempol* artinya: wah iya?? asiikk! yeay

dan abis itu gw kesenengan seharian. gw gatau seneng ada yg mau ngevote tanpa gw minta tau2 ngasihtau mau vote gw. ato kedua, bukan krn ada yg ngevote, tp siapa yg ngevote. oops. dan kayanya alesannya yg kedua. ohtidak.

eh tp ga juga sih. dipikir2 yg pertama jg kok. iya kok. gatau deh.

trus gw sms X intinya: hey X! tengkiu mau vote gue. ksitau tmn lo yg lain jg yaaa. asik
X bls abs gw study time: yah. i will make sure every living thing in my hall vote for you dont worry haha

yak. betul sekali. gue makin seneng.

sampe malem2 abis gw baca smsnya lg gw baru nyadar. gw salah org!

yg gw sms itu tmn nya dia bukan dia. abs suka ga ngeh sm namanya ketuker2. gw jd mikir buset pede bgt gw sms k org itu blg makasih mau vote gw, pdhl slh org! untung dia blsnya gak 'heh emg gw mau vote lo?' haha. dia bls nya malahan menyenangkan gt. bgslah.

jadinya makin seneng.

ahirnya barusan gw sms org yg sbnernya. the real X. hahaha. kali ini ga salah org.

begitulah. setidaknya ada sedikit 'kehidupan' di tengah2 badai common tes yg melanda daku. hiks

terpaksa

2009-02-23T00:39:00.000-08:00

bete gue sm common tes. kayaknya emg susah deh dpt A.

nih ya buat physics. gw ga terlalu gmn bgt soalnya gw tau dr dulu phy gw emg ga bgs2 amat. kalo di raffles plajaran gw yg lain slalu Astar, phy gw kalo ga A ya Bples. jadi gw ga trlalu sedih. cm nih yg nyesek, bbrp detik sblom tes phy, ulangan phy yg sblomnya dibagi, dan gw cm dpt 20/35! dan itu adalah C! aduh drop lgsg mental gue. gatau deh dpt brp common tes.

amath lbh nyebelin. gw udh dgn pedenya nih 'oke amath gmpang gw bs Astar' tau2 soalnya di bagi gatau knp gw lgsg buyar! ARGH! not my lucky day. no1 yg pd bs smua, aneh bin ajaib, gw doang ga bs! ternyata gw mlh nyari cara yg susah2 aneh2 pdhl gmpang, dan sesaat stelah soal dikumpul tuh gw br dpt jwbn nyaaa! dan itu 7poin which is 20persen nilai total! jd kalo, KALO, yg lain bener smua br gw bs dpt Astar.

ah gmn nasib target2 gw nih. udh puyeng jd mls bljr deh. aaa tapi harus niat.

dan gara2 common tes harus blajar mulu, otomatis badan gw ga gerak seharian cm duduk baca, ganti posisi bentar, toilet bentar, bljr lagi. kan ga enak dong kalo ga gerak, jadi yaa mesti ada yg gerak. paling mungkin ya mulut. yaudah deh TERPAKSA gw makan. terpaksa loh. mo gmn lg cb. diet gw ancur deh. huhuhu.

besok bahasa melayu sm chemistry. harus bagus dlm nama Yesus!

belajar kebanyakan bisa membuat anda jadi frik

2009-02-21T21:26:00.000-08:00

weekend ini hidup gue rada membosankan. udah mau common tes jadi hari2 gw di penuhi dgn belajar belajar daan belajar. ga ada common tes aja gw jg msti belajar mulu. hari minggu ini gw udh janji ga mo kluar hostel dan seharian blajar. tp ga bisaaaa! aaaa. godaan terlalu banyak. gw udh ngabisin nastar ka eli, makan 1 ferrero rocher, sm pepaya.

ah iya, pepaya sial, gw ngrasa abis makan tu pepaya perut gw kaya di bunyi 'grook grook' *ga seserem itu sih tp gw bngung gmn bunyinya yg lbh pas haha* trus rasanya tuh gw kaya pengen boker. udh berkali2 gw bolak balik toilet hari ini! dan ee nya gw keluar2! haha. kaya masih kurang penuh buat di keluarin. oke, jadi gw ngemil dulu trs ke toilet. ga berhasil. lunch dulu trs ke toilet msh ga berhasil. paling mentok cm keluar kentut doang. *sigh*

eh iya tumben2an ga sih gw nulis pake bhs indo smuanya gini. lg bosen sm bhs inggris. blog gw udh diketauin org2 singapur sih jd ga bs ngomongin dgn bebas. intinya nih, udh basi sih tp gw blom crt di blog, temen sebrang kamar gw LESBONG!! ARGH MENYERAMKAN. dia tuh dulu suka muji2 gw katanya gw punya selera 'fesyen' *spy dia ga ngerti kalo baca* yg bagus gitu. trs rambut gw yg 'bergelombang' di puji2, kaos gw di blg keren gt2 deh. trs kalo gw lg mau pergi dia liat gaya gue slalu blg, 'woooo ibu seksiiii' *terjemahkan sendiri ya hehe* trs awal2 kenal dia suka ngundang gw kekamarnya, suka sms2 gw ngajak jalan dan sbagai nya. sampe suatu saaattt...

hesti makin sering di curhatin dia dan itu mengganggu banget. kita mulai nyadar ada yg aneh sm dia. dan satu malem dia ngomong
dia: aduuh gw jatuh cinta sama seseorang
hes: wah iya? dia siapa? *dia nya tuh menunjukan cowo (he)*
dia: gmn kalo dia bukan cowo?
JEGERRR HESTI UDH KAYA DISAMBER GELEDEK.
trs besok2nya dia ngaku dia sk cewe. trs hari ini dia dandan pake anting kalung sgl mcm gara2 mau belajar bedua temen nya gitu yg dia blg 'sangat panas' *terjemahin!* yg adalah seorang cewe. O'OOOOHH!

sepertinya otak gw udh terkontaminasi science nih. td gw sm cewe2 liat bunga mekar bagus bgt, tp biasa kalo malem kaya krg bgs gt. trus komentar gw sm hesti 'waaahh iya ini gara2 ada turgor pressure di dlm plant nya which cause it to open up during the day krn water enter by osmosis!'

udh gt pernah nih lg pelajaran bosen bgt. gw sama hesti inge surat2an. udh asik2 ngejayus gw blg: eh nama buat kita be3 apa nih? hesti nia inge? HIN?
inge: gatau nih apa yaa. hesniange? tianinge?
nia: tianinge -> tyanine! component of a deoxyribonucleotide
OMYGOD FRIK ABIS GUE.

trus prnah gw lg mellow. gw ngomong soal tmn2 di indo dan gw udh syg bgt sm mrk, kita udh dket bgt.
nia: aduh iya gmn ya jelasin nya, pkknya tuh udh saking dket nya ampe pas pisah sdih bgt. gmn yaa, nih kaya ionic bond kan ada electrostatic force of attraction between positive sm negative nya kan, nah makin bnyk positive negativenya bondnya makin strong dan butuh lbh bnyk kinetic energy buat break the bond. jd krn pngalaman suka duka pait manis nya udh bnyk jd susah pisahnya
lala: niaaaa! gila perumpamaan lo
nia: *iyayaah* -.-

aaaa pkknya common tes harus cepet2 selese gw mau seneng2

currently loving: adhitia sofyan's song

2009-02-20T09:26:00.000-08:00

brief info: he's an indonesian bedroom singer-songwriter.
what i like the most: adelaide sky

yang baru di hidup nia

2009-02-19T22:36:00.000-08:00

WHAT'S UP?
*umm, ceiling? <-- JAYUS*

satu. time passed by like a jetplane! udh hampir 1term gw di sgpr! dan hr ini gw udh mulai common test aka termtest kalo d rics. serius deg2an banget! pertama kalinya gw tes takut fail! idk what to expect, idk whats coming, dan impression yg d kasih sm senior2 ga memuaskan. mrk smua blg scholar2 awal masuk emg bakal fail2 trs krn ssh. L1R5 mrk awal2 tuh 18-13an gitu. sementara harusnya sih kalo diatas 10 kita dipulangin, tp lebay mana mungkin. fyi, L1R5 tuh sistem di sgpr gt deh intinya sih makin dikit poin lo brt mkin pinter. nah target gw buat common test tdnya no failures dan A1 ato A2 harus mendominasi. tp skrg gw mau push further. gw pgn smua test gw minimal A2. gatau deh bs ato ga. scholar2 dr dl awal2 bs C5 gt. but i dont wanna settle for 'good enough'. i want to push my limit. org slalu blg you'll get less than what you expect, jd yaudah gw expect nya setinggi mungkin, jadi kalo gw get less than it, masih tetep tinggi deh! nothing to lose anyway, right? i realize that there's nothin to lose if you dream big. you may say you lose confidence dan sbagai nya, tp failures are just normal kan. gw ga sabar dapet nilai2 common test gw

dua. i'm in love with scrapbooking! currently loving doodling, writing quotes, targets, dan sgl mcm list list gue trs gw tempel di kamar buat motivasi. inspirasi gw buat ini berawal dari: BENA. yepp my very own lil brother! ;) -you may want to check this out: scrapblog.com

tiga. gw skrg punya prayerbook. gw kategoriin aspek2 nya, trs gw bkin ceklist to tick for every answered prayers! jdnya kalo gw doa lbh fokus dan kalo udh dpt gw makin wow-ing lg sm His favor in my life

empat. gw harus lbh kurus. HARUS. skrg dlm sminggu gue: PE skali, lari 15mnit 2kali minimal, main bola sm cowo2 skali minimal, renang skali minimal. awas aja nih kalo ga nambah kurus

lima. ini yg gw bangga2in: GW SKRG BS LARI 2.4KM DLM 15MNIT! lari nonstop! kcepatan di treadmill nya 9.0. constant throughout. wii bangga bgt gue. msh inget kalo di rafles dl 1.4km aja udh kaya mau mati.

ballot

2009-02-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

im runnin for hwachong 9th boarders council this year! dearests, pray for me yaaa. hope i can make it in. see see seee, its my poster! *im very proud haha* my quotes "i'll do my best, and i mean it. its not just any cliche election tagline" ALTHOUGH IT IS. VERY CLICHE. ehehe :p

i'm lovin' it

2009-02-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

"HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY MY BESTEST
FRIEND!
i love you more than how i loved
you last valentine! :D"

thanks bestbud! :) ily too though we're miles apart! haha :)
yeayy i'm lovin my v'day!

must read: THE PACT

2009-02-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

"wait!" emily cried. her words were thick with tears, but she lifted her chin and crossed her arms tight over her chest to keep from shaking. "i, um, i have this problem. i broke up with my boyfriend, you see. and im very upset about it, so i wanted to talk to my bestfriend. she swallowed and looked at the black ground. "the thing is, they're both you."

reasons why you shouldnt celebrate vday in spore

2009-02-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

1. singapore guys arent romantic *the government even made a comittee named 'Romancing Singapore' ckck*

2. people live in an HDB flat. so if u wanna get yr goodnight kiss like the westeners do in front of the house, then here you do it in front of the HDB lift, then what if sddnly the lift opens and people coming out rushing and such. pathetic -.-

3. in indo you go out on a date with the guy picking you up with his private car. in singapore, MRT? bus? taxi?

4. you ought to do the romance part in a private place, say, a car. in singapore you are a living show with the public *read: me and my friends* seeing you and feeling disgusted

5. since everyone walk with a bouquet in their hands, it becomes smthn not special, in one bus, i could spot 3 people with the exact same bouquet! sad.

couldnt find anymore. hahaha. conclusion: i'll wait til i go to europe for uni haha :p

happy v'day lovelies! :)

2009-02-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

i googled on love but decided to searched from the bible instead.
found this meaningful verse in 1John3:1, rephrasing it simply:

"It is My desire to lavish My love on you"

i was like... wow. so deep. i searched the meaning of desire. He doesnt just give His love out of nothing, but He actually longs, craves, yearns! to love me! then i searched the meaning of lavish. it is not just giving, but giving abundantly, plentifully, exceedingly, generously, and luxuriously!

i am now even more totally aware that i am SOOOO loved :) yeayy

*YOU OUGHT TO FEEL THE LOVE I AM FEELING, TOO!
smooches :)

my day

2009-02-12T07:43:00.000-08:00

GW SUPER BETE. in the end of the day lagi. i thought im gonna end my day badly, apalagi gw belom doa, and how am i supposed to talk to God kalo dalem hati gw ada kebetean?? pkknya super bete deh sampe nangis tp ditahan2 abis di hostel ZERO PRIVACY. tapi abis baca email mama, which is always encouraging, inspiring, wholeheartedly written, i can finally pull out a smile! ga maksa loh. beneran seneng seneng bangga puas gitu deeehh haha. yeayy mom you made my dayyyy! :D loveyouuuuuu *mama udah mau valentine loh, ga ngapa2in nih sekeluarga?

and guess what am i doing on v'day!??

wouldnt tell ya the answer now.

haha. so, guess.

nighty night! :D im finally happy again, cant wait to talk to Daddy Je!

chatter

2009-02-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

i think this week is my melancholy week. idk why. oh, yeah, i know why. but its just a long long story. and my melancholy-ness *is there such a word?* makes me unwilling to go to school tmrw! and on tues i have american maths competition and im not prepared!

ria is leaving. off to melb for college. everyone is in college. im still in sec3. sigh. oh well its okayy, feeling young for a longer time haha. anyway, im so sad ria is leaving :( and melb isnt like singapore malaysia indonesia which is very near and u can travel back and forth 4times per year. so i can only meet her again this comin christmas. i miss jeni and sapphira too! hope to see them this march.

got to sleep or else im gonna be like panda with dark circles around my eyes.

takecare loved ones! you know i miss you this very moment..

sunny sunday

2009-02-07T19:59:00.000-08:00

kebo-ing again today. haha. woke up at 10, tu jg gara2 inget bnyk krjaan blm kelar. hrsnya skrg lg bkin compo, td ga ada idee! topic: an occasion when a family moved to a new home and found that the keys provided didnt unlock the front door. how am i sppsd to write abt it?? aaah. tdnya gw mkir mo sok2 lebay trs ending nya tnyt emaknya slh bawa kunci malah bw kunci rmh yg lama, ketuker gt. ato ga ga unlock the frnt door soalnya tnyt itu kunci back door. tp jelek bgt dua2nya. jd gw mkir crtnya mrk di tipu. tp kasian bgt tll tragis. HELEEEPPP

tdnya mau k lion air sm joshua ambil tiket pulang brg soalnya. tp mls bgt. ahrnya gw pkir gw ambl mgg dpan aja sndr gpplah nyasar2 dkit plg. trs gw bk lg itinery nya d blg tgl tnjukin itu pas cek in, trs gw tny jo. daaaann BENER! jd dia sia2 deh ksana hahaha yes yes

ntr sore mau jln sm ria. she's goin to melb for college dan bakal transit di sgpr for 12hours. thank god i got to meet her before she's off to college

oia, masa gw mimpi dikasih kado ulang taun harimau dari chibiii! gila. gw kaget pas bangun! di mimpi gw tuh harimaunya gedeeeee banget, trus gw keliling hostel naik harimau. tp harimaunya baik gt ga gigit, harimau nya syg sm gue. trus gw peluk cibi erat2 soalnya itu kaya kado terbaik gw gt. OH MY FRIK BGT MIMPINYA

nostalgic

2009-02-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

i miss them so much. i want to go home. i miss home. i miss who i was with them. i miss the jokes, the laughter, the memory, the goofyness, the love we all shared together. sigh. love is indeed byzantine.

blogwalking

2009-02-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

currently enjoying blogwalking. especially fashionblogs. but i found this particular blog y'all might be interested to check out, its just random silly stories happening in Jakarta

ngupingjakarta.blogspot.com

my most-funny stories so-called award:

1.CEO: "Wah, kenapa terlambat? susah ya cari alamatnya?"
Orang indo mental bule: "Iya, I could only show the taxi driver your address. saya coba bicara
tapi tidak lancar dan dia terus berbicara dalam bahasa Indonesia."
CEO: "Well, kamu kulitnya juga sawo matang. Of course he thought you speak the
language."
Orang indo mental bule: "Iya, saya tanya lantai kantor ini juga difficult. Bahasa Indonesia saya jelek sekali sampai rasanya kemaluan saya besar sekali."

Kantor di Jakarta Pusat, didengar para sekretaris yang langsung ingin
memberikan les privat ke orang itu.

2. Cowok modis #1: "Keren banget tuh iPod, pengen beli ah gue!"
Cowok modis #2: "Yah, telat lu. Gua sih udah punya dari lama, tapi iPod gue mereknya Sony."

3.Teman #1: "Eh, loe gimana sih, masa gini aja gak bisa ngerjain? Tipis banget sih otak loe!"
Teman #2: "Iya nih, otak gua tipis banget. Sampe-sampe bisa dilaminating!"

Universitas di Jakarta Selatan, didengar oleh seseorang yang bertanya-tanya bagaimana bentuk fisiologis otak orang itu.

4.Obrolan tentang seorang teman yang sudah 2 tahun tidak pulang dari sekolah di Amerika.
Teman #1: "Eh, tahun ini X pulang loh!"
Teman #2: "Iya, this summer kan dia pulang?"
Teman #1: "He eh. Kangen deh gw!"
Teman #3: "Iya ya. Kenapa sih dia gak pulang tahun kemaren? Emang tahun kemaren gak ada summer ya?"

5.Seorang ibu melihat anaknya yang berumur 3 tahun sedang memegang-megang tusuk gigi.
Ibu: "Eh, kamu kecil-kecil jangan megang tusuk gigi. Ntar ketusuk gimana? Ntar sakit kan? Mau sakit? Mau? Ha? Mau gak? Ntar bisa berdarah loh! Mau gak? Kalo mau ya udah mama kasih lagi yang banyak. Mau gak? Ayo bilang nggak! Bilang! Ayo bilang! Mau nggak? Ayo bilang nggak! Bilaang!

Kedai ayam bakar di Jakarta, didengar seluruh pengunjung yang berharap akan ada sutradara yang bilang: "CUT!"

6. Cewek #1: "Eh, ke dufan yuuuukkk!"
Cewek #2: "Yuk...yuuukkk...gw mau nyobain arwana baruuu....katanya seru tuuuh!"
Cewek #1: "Arwana? kan kita mau ke dufaaannn..."
Cewek #2: "Iya...arwana...yang kaya jet coaster...arung jeram..gitu..."

7.Cowo: "Kenapa yah, kok kalau makan kangkung jadi ngantuk?
Cewe: (diam sejenak) "Oooh, karena banyak zat besinya..."
Cowo: "Hmmm..." (menunggu penjelasan sambil kagum atas kepintaran temannya)
Cewe: "... Jadi berat di mata loe."

2009-02-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

"You've got to be hungry - for ideas, to make things happen, and to see your vision made into reality."

Dame Anita Roddick - Founder of the Body Shop

*i'm so loving body shop right now. its got somethin to do with my future i guess, haha

loveyas :)

banci hiphop

2009-02-04T06:53:00.000-08:00

besok gw interview Astar *click on the link*! deg2an tp excited juga. aduuhh gw pgn masuk nih. jd niat pdhl awalnya males apaan sih scientist2 culun hehe. tp bisa ngebuka masa depan gw bgt tuh. Astar briefly described: scientific research agencies di sgpr yg anggotanya scientists, professors, smart2 people frm sgpr and around the world. nah astar jg narikin scholars, and im nominated to be one. and tmrw's the interview!

ka eli kue lidah kucing pake keju belanda nya enak bangeeettt. parah.
eliza: eh niaaa, ini apa? beli diimana kok enak?
lala: iiih enak niaaa *terus ambil lagi 2*
hesti: hmmm, ENAAAAKK!
inge: makasih nia *terus asik skype-an lagi*

hari ini ada art enrichment programme jg, gw ambil hiphop. dan td abs susulan geo, gw lala inge masuk ke indoor sports hall. trus keren gt moves nya crumping2 kaya di stepup2. gilaaa. gw merasa cupu nih dance nya gara2 br ikut hr ini soalnya hari senin nya gw syuting *anak rafles liat gw di video mgg dpaaann! hahaha. principal BP mau dtg nunjukin videonya* nah abis slese dance, instructornya nanya 'who hasnt take their attendance?' kita ber3 maju. cari sesuai abjad: ga ada. berdasarkan kelas: ga ada nama kita jg. liat nama program nya: old skool hip hop. ternyata kita salah kelas! yg kelas hiphop ada di multi purpose hall. ahirnya gw ikutan group foto dulu *biarpun gw bukan grup itu haha* trs gw lari ke atas ke tempat hiphop. daaaan instructor nya kaya banciiiii! eeeww. satya jeet versi muscular. nyesel ikut hiphop.

upcoming events:
sabtu - chemistry enrichment program, nanyang polytechnic, from 9am tp 5pm. courses: bikin perfume boleh di bawa pulang! yeay. trs paper weight apa gitu gatau apaan sm DNA apa ga ngerti jg
minggu - MOE activities, treasure hunt at sentosa island

pray for my astar interview!

smooches :)

introducing #2

2009-02-03T01:37:00.000-08:00

"Some people said we could make a good couple, but we would rather be the best bestfriend." ;)

-Nathania Christy

introducing #1

2009-02-03T01:27:00.000-08:00

"Why would i be proud of something everyone has? But i do. My mom must be exceptional."

-Nathania Christy

piano

2009-02-01T08:44:00.000-08:00

this is us playing classic in pajamas! ahaha. this wasnt planned so we didnt dress up :p

levin playing the song i once played 4yrs ago

levin playing her other song

me playing my fave song: edward elgar

home is the safest place to be

2009-02-01T07:59:00.000-08:00

Kalimat itu sering banget gw baca waktu jalan plg di bus dari skolah. Ada iklan apa gitu yg pake tulisan itu. Tiap baca tuh gw yg kaya ‘aaah im far from my safest place :( tapi gak juga sih, ntar lama2 Singapur juga bakal jadi rumah gue kok hehe. Cuma jadinya seneng banget waktu mau pulang.

Soooo, here goes my 4days Indonesia trip!

Nyampe jakarta lagi kluar dari airport, didepan ada crowd yg jemput orang2 gitu, suddenly mama lari ke dalem and hugged me tight. Aaah seneng! I felt secure to be in her embrace once again. I thought only dad would pick me up coz mom needed to pick ben up at rics. Ternyata ada mama!

Then langsung ke raffles ngobrol2 sama milla alver pat bebi sartob chibi demas mike mr.manish mr.marihot dll. Seneng banget masih ga percaya im seeing these faces i could only imagine before.

Malemnya FA! Finally. I cried waktu worship, felt so thankful. Tapi yang dateng kurang banyak, tp ngobrol2 seru sama icha esta tius semi hito alrey. Kangen hyubed bgt! Rasanya homy bgt bs denger jokes2 mereka lagi. Then we took pictures! :)

Saturday jalan with demas then dilanjutin sama mila alver rachelle. Foto2 lagii!

Pas jc hari minggu waktunya ketemu cewek2. We talked and talked and talked. A lot. And tili shared her beauty secret haha

But the sweetest of all was the time i spent with my family. We went shopping together, visited our soon-to-be new house *which is huge!* then we ate a lot! I love indonesian food! We also took pictures *but not with dad :(* and i played piano again – with much enthusiasm.

siblings!

mom

emba ku tersayang yg udah kerja dari mama masih smp. ka eli makasih kue2nya sama daster sama seprei sama bedcover sama seragam sama *aduh banyak banget!* kak, nastarnya 1hari di sgpr langsung abis loh! kue coklat nya jg hari ini udh abis haha

snapshots with my lil sis yg sekarang udah jd centil suka shopping haha

My supah’ splendid God!

2009-02-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

What: Pastor Kong Hee’s sermon
When: Sunday service
Where: City Harvest Church

This sermon was really cool. I think im gonna make a long post on this. Pastor Kong Hee preached this coz it coincides with chinese new year. The theme is sooo chinese. At first i was like, okaaayyy bad timing, shouldnt go here today. Haha. But it turned out to be very amazing, really it made me tremble. I’ll just try to shorten the sermon:

Chinese are identical with Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. But they all were founded in 5th BC, but the chinese history could be traced back far until 4500 BC. So what did they believe in during that period of time?

Shang dynasty: it was parallel to the time of Exodus in the bible. From the written records, it was said that the chinese worship a God called ‘Shang Di’ which means ‘Supreme God’. Zhou dynasty: they called their God ‘Shang Tian’ which means ‘Most high God’. So they didnt worship idols, but only one almighty God.

But why are we so sure that they worshipped the same God we worship?

There are evidences. (Pastor Kong Hee showed all the details from which the evidence were extracted, the chapters and pages from the ancient books. I’ll find some time to research on it, i found it very fascinating, hehe) first, they believed in the God of love. What other religion have a God of love? They have God to be feared and obeyed only. The Chinese believed in the all knowing and all powerful God, not one god for death, one god for prosperity, etc, like other religion.

Another one: in China there is an ancient building named the ‘Temple of Heaven’. Its now a Taoism temple, but unlike any other temple, it has no –not even one- image of gods or idols. Not even the image of Shang Di. Why? Because they understood the 10 commandments! Wherever the empress went, of the capital city is moved, they always build altar. Where did they learn this from? Chinese are the descendants of Sham, Noah’s son. Noah lived only one or two generation before the earliest civilisation of China. What did Noah do when he went out from the ark? He built altar. The chinese must have remembered what their ancestors did to honor their God and they did the same thing. During the period of the Tower of Babel, they were dispersed and the present Chinese went to the east while the Israelites, to the west.

Their sacrificing process: to be cleanse from their sins, they have to sacrifice goat or lambs which were clean, spotless and not blemished. Blood must be poured out to purify from sins. For a covenant to be made, blood must be poured out (thats why if you want to joing Chinese gangster now you have to cut something to let your blood out, so the tradition remains) The sins of men will be transfered to the animal to be sacrificed. And after the sacrifice they’ll sang at least 12 songs (we only sing max 6songs at church now!). the emperor will washed his hands and functioned exactly like the high priest. And what did all this sound like? The sacrificial process in the old testament! So while the Israelites did this on the west and were recorded in the bible, the chinese in the east did parallely at the same time and were recorded in their own books.

And for the song, extracted from Ming Statues vol82 page28 (if i copied down the data correctly hehe), titled ‘The song of beginning peace’ is just like the verse in genesis1! Another song titled ‘Xiu he song’ mentioned their God as the ‘Heavenly Father’. There is no other religion in the world which see their God as a loving father!

The practiced were carried out generations to generations, from one dynasty to the other. They had to do it repeatedly for every sins they made to be purified. So one emperor got tired of this and stopped the practice, and thats when idolatry came to China.

But indeed this was such a troublesome process. We have to repeatedly sacrifice for every sins that we do everyday! Until there is an ultimate sacrifice, a pure, sinless man to be sacrificed replacing the lambs, then we are set free.

Matthew2:1-2. Thank God Jesus came. People believed its a fable. How could three men follow a star? But in China, Han dynasty, every night, 14 astronomers watched the sky. And on the day when Jesus was born, there was a comet! A comet from a star that was among the brightest, that could be seen on earth for 70days! Such a magnificent wonders of nature that does not happen often. The chinese scholars recorded that the star that fell was the ‘Altair’ which means ‘perfect sacrifice’! that, i believe, is not coincidental. Surely God is giving a sign that on that day, the perfect sacrifice was born, and the star that fell as comet will lead the three men to the newborn king. When the Chinese astronomers observe that wonders, they were amazed and recorded in Chinese history, “this comets signify the new is replacing the old, this undoubtedly symbolizes change. A big change is about to happen”

Luke23: when Jesus died the sky was dark. It certainly was not just a typical cloudy rainy day when someone died! It wasnt like what we always thought. In the exact time when Jesus died in the west, in the east, the Chinese observed a solar eclipse that lasted for 3days! It was during the period of ‘gui hai’, another major nature wonders observed exactly 34years after the last wonders which was the comet. 34 years is the age of Jesus Christ! The emperor were troubled by the absolute darkness and mentioned that it must have occured because of the sins of men. The emperor said, this must be happening because a man of heaven has died. So exact!

Can you even believe it? All these things took place in the west. The east knew NOTHING about this. they only observe the nature wonders. But they could say the exact things more than once, thats not coincidence, that is called ‘prophecy’!

The chinese also observed that 3days after the eclipse, there was a rainbow encircling the sun! On the day Jesus Christ was ressurrected! What a bright, promising day!

So on the day Jesus was born, died, and resurrected, nature signified them! Isnt he really the son of God then! I was like wow-ing along the sermon. And i suddenly remembered this phrase, and concluded myself that indeed: the universe proclaims his wondrous works. It appears to be true literally.

Pastor kong hee also talked about this one guy who inspired me so much:

So along those years, the Chinese actually believe in the same God, only diff names. There’s this Italian guy in China, a scholar, brilliant scientist, mathematician, and also a missionary named Matteo Ricci who first discovered all these and linked them together. He was taken aback and started telling the Chinese about Christ. To reach out to the Chinese, this was what he did: he dressed himself as a buddhist monk! Holiness is not what you wear, it is the matter of the heart. He entered and reached out to the Chinese world, understanding their physche, and gave a suitable approach. And this is what we should also do! Do not be a religious freak! Like the pharisee who judge people, pointing out their mistakes. To show Christ we have to show love. Matteo ricci realized that change can only come top-down. So he reached out to the leaders of the society, to the brainy, to the scholars! He was a genius, but a devote believer! I remember daniel, sadrach, mesach, abednego who were taken from their country to work as ‘scholars’ in the palace, and they made a change. I remember joseph, taken to another country, become an ‘insider’in the new top society, and made a change. Oh, there are just so much people in the bible that God use in a similar way. They are well-educated, smart, taken to other country to be an insider, to know the situation, but their heart is always on God, and God led them to make a change, to testify His glory. I always want to serve God at church, to be a youth pastor or missionary, and i always thought, God why do i have to study so hard then? Im not using all those theories and calculations at church. But this morning i was strucked, so deep, i was like, wow God now i know what you want me to do, what you want me to become. i believe God will open for me path by path and lead me in the right directions and i’ll shine my light wherever God puts me in. I want to be like Matteo Ricci, like Joseph, like Daniel, like great great people in the bible, scientist and missionary, bringing the gospel to the brainy!

Okay, long enough. This is my last point: matteo ricci then became the advisor of one of the Chinese emperor *whoa, the mastermind behind the ultimate leader!* then the emperor *i forgot the name, kang xi i think*converted to Christian, he wrote in his poetry that he believed in the eternal life given by the son of God who sacrificed Himself to set men free of sin, somethin like that if im not mistaken. Then christianity started to grow in China, until the western, the Pope heard about this, and he stopped the chinese from believing in Christ! Weird huh? He looked down on the Chinese and banned them from being a christian, the current emperor tried to negotiate but was ignored. The period was quite famous in history but i forgot what is it called. So my point: as christian we have to really evaluate ourselves. We are not teaching isolation and separation. We are not excluding ourselves and point out, arguing, debating on other religion’s weaknesses. No. Christians: insulation and penetration! See the difference: we are insulated by God’s grace, the holy spirit, His favor, all of these, but we are penetrating our light to the world! We can preach about God, arguing and debating and win in the end, but breaking relationship. Or we can enter their world and understand them, and win their souls for Christ.

Whoops. Too long. I really do hope you get my points, otherwise i would just be wasting my time :( i hope i can research more on the historical facts to strengthen my evidences haha. But anyway, the CD of this sermon are sold in City Harvest Church for $30. Ah, tired. Nighty night!

postholiday mood.

2009-01-27T02:02:00.000-08:00

yeapp im back from indonesia! how was it? cant describe. i was happy but sad but hm. idk. its like a weird kind of mixed up feelings. i always get mixed up feelings i wonder why. jhoan and demas tried to explain in to me haha. i'll update the detail story later *if i have the mood and the time*

so im back. safe and sound in my lovely hostel. i unpack my stuff and do the-maids-job cleaning my room, re-sorting my stuff, looked at my agenda for homeworks, eat my homemade nastar! *superyummy*, and re-decorate my room

this is me after holiday
new tshirt *kembaran sm levin sm demas*
hair rolled up *baru belajar triknya dari tili haha*
*looks so much nicer and easier drpd pake rol rebek*
gambar orang2 diblakang gw kasih background
kasur gw covered with bedcover made by ka eli
and there's a new laptopper below floopsy *boneka gw*

tomorrow's school again! *sigh*
miss the friends but not the work

aaa i really need to update my blog more often. missing so much stories already. the summaries are written in my HP notes and they're like sooo much and i havent had the mood to post 'em here.

i guess im over with the 'lil fonts and colorful posts' hahaha xp

2009-01-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

bena said the font is too small. really? fine. i'll make it bigger. just slightlybigger.

its 5days to indonesia! im supah' excited! yippie yippie yeayy.

and, i had a lot of fun today. escaping homeworks and all those pile of books i need to study. having fun with my girls. detailed story and pictures later. *yepp we took pics! 128 in total. in 3hours* hahaha.

yet we even havent called it a day. we went back and took some more pics in the room, then we watched sevenpounds. very thought-provoking. a masterpiece! i like the climax: 911. there's an emergency, someone is comitting suicide// who's the victim? // i am. wowowooo that was cool.

then we spent like 15minutes for the after thought. we discuss the movie thouroughly. the movie deserves a 20thumbs up! *mine and the other girls altogether* again, detailed review later.

oh i got a headache. its running late. and got church tomorrow. goin to city harvest. yey. fun fun fun. im gonna put in some more thoughts from the sermon *hopefully*

whoops. not just my head, now my stomach also hurts. aw whats happenin. i need my beauty sleep right away. remove the black surrounding my eyes.

nighty night :) smooches!

2009-01-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

i like writing in small fonts now! it looks more concised and cute. with lotsa colors too! with more random posts, with more updates, with more pictures! im motivated to start actively blogging again! yeay. hahaha

*letssee how long this will last :p

nothingness

2009-01-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

last wk's sermon was well-presented. the pastor spoke about his new year's resolution:
live a life of nothingness.
a life with nothing to lose. nothing to prove. nothing t o hide.

we always want to have something, but dont y'all know that some nothing is also good?

nothing to lose: as we get older, we posses more things and we are constantly worried that we're gonna lose 'em. solution? surrender everything *and yeap, everythingmeans everything* to God. say, God i believe you know whats best fo' me so this is my all i give to you. so when everything's in God's hands then you aint got nothin to lose!

nothing to prove: we live in a world that always wants to prove somethin'. prove that you're smart, you're able to do this and that and blah blah blah. but there's just too much pressure in living that life dont ya' think? who are you trying to impress anyway?

nothing to hide: put off yr mask! no more two-faced this year. start with a clean page. one thing i've learnt: by being whoever you are, there's always people who'll like and dislike you. so just be plainly who you are, though some may not like it, its better than being who you are not and having people disliking you, thats a double burden right?

conclusion: i want to be better this year. and i will. i know i will.
haha yeah this is just a random short post.

smooches xD

missing my loved ones

2009-01-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

lg online tb2 ngeliat foto hyubed dan tau2 itunes di laptop mainin lagu sahabat kecil! knapa momen nya mesti pas banget. ahir2 ni gw bener2 occupied dan ga ada waktu buat mikir. suddenly lagi tenang2 dan tb2 aja semuanya jadi ke flashback dan jd real banget. smua memori2nya keulang lg diotak. aduh ga tau ya pokoknya kalo lg melo gini mau nuangin ke kata2 kok susah banget. ga tau gmn jelasin nya. kalo ga melo tuh hidup seru2 aja, tp kalo udh gini gw keinget lg jaman dulu seru banget. ga cuma seru sesaat tapi ada deep friendship jg. gw msh inget hari terahir gw mau pergi pas hyubed ke rumah gw, pas farewell di putri duyung, bahkan jauh pas di dago pakar. kalo lg kgn2nya rasanya pengen banget meluk mereka, tp gmn caranya kan pada jauh. kalopun nanti gw balik belom tentu jg smua kaya dulu lg. rasanya udh lama bgt hidup gw berlalu tanpa mereka. kangen joke2 nya, kangen liat muka2nya *skarang aja muka mreka udh blur diotak gw* aduh gmn ya gatau mengekspresikan nya nih ah. ekspresiin pake lagu yg lg gw dengerin aja deh

gita gutawa - sahabat kecilku

kau jauh melangkah
melewati batas waktu
menjauh dariku
akankah kita berjumpa kembali

sahabat kecilku
masihkah kau ingat aku
saat kau menunggu segala cita dan tujuan mulia
tak ada satupun masa
seindah saat kita bersama
bermainmain hingga lupa waktu
mungkinkah kita kan mengulangnya

tiada, tiada lagi tawa mu
yang slalu menemani sgala sedihku
tiada, tiada lagi candamu
yang slalu menghibur disaat ku lara

bila malam tiba
ku slalu mohonkan doa
menjaga jiwamu
hingga suatu masa bertemu lagi

tiada, tiada lagi tawa mu
yang slalu menemani sgala sedihku
tiada, tiada lagi candamu
yang slalu menghibur disaat ku lara

sahabat kecilku
masihkah kau ingat aku..

a quick post

2009-01-03T18:04:00.000-08:00

its 10am and i kinda prepare myself too early for church. now im waiting for my friend to get ready and i just bore myself with nothing to do. here people regard me as the nia who 'takes a long time to get dressed' or the nia who 'chooses her clothes very specificly' or the nia who is 'much a shopper'. hahaha. i'll just take that as a compliment then xD well yeah, havent really got a shopping partner here. lolla is there but we havent actualy shop together. and now, being persuaded by jade *my vietnamese senior*, im aiming to hunt for post christmas sale in expo. okay, this post is plainly random and trivial. idc haha. think my friend is ready so got to go! xoxo

HAPPY NEW YEAR DEARESTS! :)

2009-01-02T09:15:00.001-08:00

cant believe its new year again! Time flies soooo fast. I still can recall last christmas i was in Solo attending my relative’s wedding after a mission trip with my church mates. And now here i am, living my dream – a brand new life in Singapore. Havent update for quite a while. Main reason? I enjoy my life TOO much here *wink* yeah, life is just great! Maybe coz school hasnt start, well well we’ll see. Haha. Got 2 days left til i start going to school. Wonder what to do. Hmm hmm. I’m going to be sec3 again, but as think more about it, i’m actually kinda happy for it. Who got to repeat high school with a good cause anyway? People always want to repeat high school aka the best time in life, and how are they gonna do that? By having bad grades and have to repeat another year? And here i am repeating high school with a good reputation and everything in my life taken care of! Wohoo! Credit goes to God for His endless favor in my life :) hehe.

Anywaaaayyy, lastly i’ve been busy with a lot of FUN stuff like holiday to malaysia, being a leader in orientation2 (that was a great opportunity considering i’ve just been here for about one and a half months), and going shopping. Malaysia was so awesomely enjoyable. Here’s what i do: eat, take pictures, go to hotel, take pictures, hang out, take pictures, watch movie, take pictures, go to petronas, take picture, stay out til midnight, take pictures, go to sunway, national zoo, china town, and a loooot more! And yeah, take pictures. Andri brought his sis’ nikon camera with me and lolla as the model, yeayy.

Orientation was another thing. I didnt really enjoy O1 but O2 was a blast. I partnered up with this guy named Bihou which was easygoing and fun. we kind of combined our OG (orientation group) with OG4 so i got to know 2 other OGLs (orientation group leaders) named yujing, henry, and anyao. I enjoyed myself getting to know all those cute ones , the soon-to-be sec1s from malaysia. They were all happy to know us, too. They think of us as their ‘da jiejie he da gege’ haha. Sadly, i kinda feel alienated due to my chinese limitation haha. I felt bad having them translate for me over and over. But i got to know a whole new bunch of people as the outcome. It’s so nice to be known you know. I gained more friends, double yeay!

As time goes by, more and more people came back to Hwachong from their holiday. This place gets crowder each day! I like it. It gets more lively and cheerful. The dining hall is now totally opened, and it is huuugeeee! It feels nice to see a lot more people in the dining hall swaggeringly chatting with each other. And nice also to say hi to more people, having more friends now, hehe. Son is back today, kinda surprised to see him. I met him too in the countdown party, he was there with this one guy who said happy new year and smiled eventhough i didnt know who he was, Lol. Zhi xin is also back, looking prettier with her new hair. Indons seniors as well – bayu, iddo, and robert. I loveeeeee it!

Aaannnd, the most recent event which just took place not even an hour ago... *drumroll* 2009 COUNTDOWN PARTY! The event was a hit. We had “great performance” as in very funny performance, as in, well, uumm, not so skillful performance. To be honest, the performers were terrible haha. I felt like going to the stage and sing myself hahaha. Seriously, you can even do better i guess. But thanks to their brave act, we all had a fun time *laughing at them* okaaayy, miss meanie mode off. We had games and our group won most of the time! Each time we won we got points to be used at the last game – auction game. There were boxes filled with stuff, either outrageously yummy snacks or simply plain water, toilet paper, or even rubbish. Then you have to earn the boxes by auctioning. And guess what, our group was so lucky, we got all the snacks for us and the other got the less interesting gifts! Then we ate and had fun, and at about 15 minutes to 2009, we all danced together and there was this one man doing hiphop dance in a very cool way! Whoa, i never knew someone in hwachong could do such a thing. I think i ‘UNDER DEMICIATED’ them hahaha. I hope you’ll get my joke, that was the word from bedtime stories haha. Then we counted down and popped the balloons and i took a hair mousse and ran to catch a junior and just spreaded it on his face, then we all started running and catching each other for fun. i really enjoyed that part! I got a lot of victims! Eliza, inge, son, bihou, yujing, shaun, lyncam, daqi, duwei, a looooott!

I guess that ends my story. I kinda want to post a reflection on this year and a review on bedtime stories but oh well, lets see how my mood goes hehe. Hope to see y’all soon my loved ones! Miss you soooo much like i miss my lovely bantal guling dan AC di rumah! Haha xoxo nia :)

quotes and phrases

2008-12-22T07:36:00.000-08:00

these are just some quotes and phrases i've collected. setiap baca apa yg bagus gitu selalu gw catet di hp, eh tau2 udah numpuk. enjoy reading! ;)

I savored every moment with you like a child lingers over a lollipop

Change isnt always for the worst; the shell that forms around a piece of sand looks to some people like an irritation, and to othes, like a pearl

When you are sad or lonely, think about how much God wants to be your friend

I watched him walk away with sickness in my heart – though it was a pleasing kind of sickness, if such a things exists. I mean to say that if you have experienced a moment more exciting than eny in your life, you are sad to see it end and yet you still feel grateful that it happened (memoirs of a geisha)

The right self belief: i am what God says i am (sidney mohede)

Always be yourself because people who mind dont matter and people who matter dont mind

The time when you start takecaring your face is how your face will look in the next 10years (miss wan, on a grooming class organized by bukit panjang)

Some things are just better left unsaid

Only in the agony of parting do we looks in the depths of love

It is not the how to but the why i do something that is important. It is the why that gives you the power to do the how to. The reason why most people do not do what they can do is because they do not have strong enough why (robert kiyosaki)

His familiar husky voice sent a wave of wistfullness through me. A thousand memories spun in my head, tangling together (bella, eclipse novel)

But i have this longing in me, that the King of heaven would label me an extravagant worshipper. To worship is to be full of adoration, to bow down, to revere and to hold in awe in the beauty of God (darlene zsech)

Passion gets people’s attention. People want to follow people who are passionate and living for a cause. Unfortunately, the cause of Christ is not the only one people commit to (christine caine)

What would be worse than being born blind? To have a sight, without vision (hellen keler)

He who spends the most time wins (jeanne mayo)

Doubt dies unborn if its is not spoken

Once a conjuring trick is explained, it loses its magic (paul arden)

On stealing: it is not where you take things from – it is where you take them to (jim jarmusch)

Instead of waiting for perfection, run with what you’ve got and fix it as you go (paul arden)

Saying goodbye to someone you care about deeply is like ripping a scab off a wound: it takes a while for the pain to stop, and even longer for the scar to finally heal

God is God and i am not. I can only see a part of the picture He’s painting. God is God and i am man. So i’ll never understand it all for only God is God (steven curtis chapman)

God loves you. He wants you to relax in the knowledge of that love. He wants you to experience the peace of mind that comes from resting in His love and living without the torment of fear and doubt (joyce meyer)

Have you ever had a teacher? One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine? If you are lucky enough to find your way to such teachers, you will always find your way back (mitch albom)

Hold on to your dreams. There will come day when they will seem foolish. But they arent. This world wants to steal your heart away and damage your precious innocence. But there’s something more God has for you.

Even something as simple as a kiss becomes unforgettable and priceless when the author of romance is scripting the love story (eric and leslie ludy)

I realize that every moment we spent apart adds even greater beauty to the time in the future when we will spend our lives together as one (eric and leslie ludy)

updates updates

2008-12-19T21:59:00.000-08:00

this is what i've been doing lately:

dinner with mr gary, mr lim, and pa marihot. mr gary is super nice. we ate in longbeach, geeze that was surely expensive. i heard the cheapest is like $45-50 per person! we ate 9 dishes excluding the desert and eat no rice! we ate expesive dishes like black pepper crab, mozarella cheese wrapped scallop, everything is just so yummy! ;D mr gary even gave us A LOT of cookies for christmas gift.

buy christmas gift for the girls' secret santa! that will be a blast im sure. we'll exchange gifts but we wouldnt know who is that from haha. fun fun fun. then watch twilight with miss cheng and her friend dira. dira is fun!

today im going to city harvest church. so curious. its like singapore's hillsong. wonder how it will be like. and this eve will be their christmas celeb. and there'll be candlelight! aaw cant wait.

i still have to go to bras basah to buy a lot of books and to changi to buy tickets. i think im gonna buy after harvest. and christmas shopping too! but i think i'm able to hold the desire til im in indo! MANGDU HERE I COME. mom let me shop a lot (a lot, and i mean A LOOOOT) in mangdu okaaaaayy? ehehe. compare to singapore mangdu is heavenly cheap!

i think i'll upload less pics in my blog since facebook is easier, haha. so this will just be the stories i guess. and now i also make an expense list in my laptop to control my money. im have to be a smart shopper.

next week a lot of my friends will be going with their parents til new year. i hope im gonna do fine without them. think i'll go to Malay with andri and lola if they arent busy. and hwachong will make a christmas and countdown new year celebration! yeay. i love living in hwachong. but for new year eve i'll go to esplanade with the indons seniors. there wil also be orientation 2 in hwachong for 40 sec1 Malay scholars, and i've signed up to be the orientation group leader. its a good activities to kill time i guess. hope it'll be fun.

twilight

2008-12-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

now this is the movie people have been waiting for. just watched it yest with hestia eliza bisma miss jillian and her friend, dira. the story, i dnt think i should tell, of course who wouldnt know right? overall, i'm not too satisfied with the movie. maybe thats because i've read the novel in advance. the novel is so so sooo much better! the director is quite an amateur. she couldnt inject much emotion to the movie as it is in the book. the movie was kind of dead, and the climax wasnt so clear. and the ending! such a spoiler. suddenly victoria appear and ruin the prom atmosphere. it was supposed to be a romantic movie but it was more tense and emotionless. the background music was bad. bella and ed's conversation was to cold and fake, and i hate the part when they were in the wood and they lie down and stare at each other and there was nothing. no smile no soft romantic music whatsoever. we were like, 'what!?'

talk much about the movie and the director. now the casts itself. idk its either the director can not direct or the actor can not act. robert pattinson's act is weird! esp. the part when they were in the bio lab and when they have a kind of field trip. bella said 'you didnt even said hi to me' then suddenly ed said coldly 'hi'. that is so lame! haha. and some parts are cheesy like 'you are exactly my brand of heroine' (?) ahaha.

concluding, i guess i feel that way simply coz i've read the book. when i consider it again i think i still want to watch the movie again. the story was great

and, oh! i love kirsten steward. she is a kind of girl which is not so pretty in terms of having a striking beauty but the more you see her the more you like her. that kind of girl you know. i love her hair in the movie, its like a good kind of messy hair. alice is stunningly beautiful. and fresh with the short hair. she look somewhat ordinary with her long hair. but rosalie is just wrong. her butt is too big *yeah i noticed ;p* and she isnt pretty like what is described in the book. but the guys are cute! unfortunately they were supposed to be paler in the movie. and jasper! if you watch the movie again, look at his expression! it was dissapointing, he could look much better than that. dira joked, he must've been asked to give his 'best constipated look'. hahaha.

well well, i guess thats all. check this out, just found it yest night --> www.instyle.com

take my yoke

2008-12-17T23:13:00.000-08:00

”Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew11:28-30.

The first sentence is a comfort. But the rest is weird. In Sunday School I used to memorise this verse but only the first sentence. When i read the rest, i was like, what?

Rasanya aneh gitu, Tuhan bilangnya kan Dia mau kasih comfort, terus mau ilangin beban kita, tapi knapa endingnya kita disuru ambil yoke and burden?

Ternyata Tuhan mau kita taro beban hidup kita di Dia dan in turn, kita ambil beban nya Tuhan. Tuhan blg gini, “udah lah ngapain lo pusingin hidup lo dan segala macemnya, kasih aja sama gue ntar juga beres. Itu urusan gampang. Nih gantinya gw kasih lo tanggung jawab yg lebih penting, jangkau temen2 lo di hwachong, di bukit panjang, di dunia baru ini yg udah gw kasih ke elo” gitu deh intinya.

Terus gw buka encarta dictionary, dan yoke itu ada arti lain, which is “bond keeping people close”. Kalo di 1raja-raja19:19, elisa disuruh ambil 12 yoke of oxen, kalo di Indonesia-in kan 12 pasang, jadi yoke bisa jg jadi ‘pasangan’. Pas gw baca gw langsung ngebayangin kalo pas Tuhan bilang ‘take my yoke’ itu kayak Prince charming di film2 yg lagi propose, ‘maukah engkau berpasangan dengan ku?’ gitu hehehe. And that is just so cool!

Nah, soal pasangan, baca di korintus tuh tentang pasangan yg tidak seimbang gitu2. Tuhan bilang, ‘do not be unequally yoked with non-believers’. Jadi dalem berpasangan itu harus seimbang. Imagine, yoke yang di pake sama animals gitu, if one is higher than the other, nanti yokenya jomplang dong.

Jadi nih, demi kita *diulang* demi KITA, makanya Tuhan mau dateng ke dunia turun takhta. Have you ever wonder why? Smuanya tuh cuma supaya Dia bisa seimbang sama kita yg keciiiill,dan supaya Dia bisa berpasangan sama kita *padahal belom tentu kita nya mau juga!* wow.

Kenapa Tuhan mau turun dan jadi sama dengan manusia? Supaya kita sama Tuhan bisa jadi partner. If that wasnt based on His unconditional love for me, why else would He do that? Gw sampe wow-ing everytime i remember begitu berharga nya gw dimata Tuhan.

It’s like if there are 1000 steps dividing us and God, God has taken all that 999 steps, through all His sacrifices for us and everything, but as a loving God, He didnt force us to accept Him. Dia udah ngelakukin segitu nya supaya men and God can be reconciled, tapi dia butuh sesuatu dari kita. He needs our response. Kita tinggal bilang iya, dan terima Tuhan, and walk with Him each moment of our lives.

Dan gw udah berjanji taun 2009 ini gw mau jalan sama Tuhan. I want to take His yoke, renew my promise with Him and walk my 2009 to the fullest. Dan waktu kita jalan sama Tuhan, semakin hari anugrahnya makin bertambah, dan wonders and miracles will be something usual, something yg biasa, a part of life.

Apalagi gw udah hidup sendiri, which is berat banget, hidup tanpa keluarga and family love, pasti kerasanya lonely, apalagi kalo masa2 mellow dateng. Jadinya pas denger kotbah ini tuh seneng bgt, dikuatin banget, jadi ngerasa lagi kalo i’m not alone. I have something precious that the world dont have :)

PEREK

2008-12-17T22:34:00.001-08:00

tenangtenaaaangg, gw ga berubah jadi binal ato liar dan segala macem nya kok. haha. ini isinya jg bukan gmn2. cuma mau ngeklarifikasi! jadi harus di baca.

jadi ceritanya, scholars indo dari generasi ke generasi tuh pada manggil scholars cina dgn sebutan perek. haha bukan ngatain, mereka anaknya baik2 tp biar enak aja panggilnya pendek gitu. kan disini mereka disebut PRC, ga enk kepanjangan, dan kalo kita ngomongin pake bahasa indo kan susah PRC2 tetep ketawan mreka diomongin, jadinya kita kasih nama sebutan yg cm anak indo tau. pe er ce nya kita baca langsung jd perek gituuu. jd yaudah kebiasaan kita sebut nya perek tanpa maksud jelek haha. so dont get me wrong okay? ;)

jadi tuh gmn ya jelasin. contohnya nih, gw kan punya temen yg udah gw anggep kaya ade sendiri, gw panggil dia chibi, trs lama2 jd cibay. nah di indo kan gw manggil2 cibay ya cuek2 aja kan krn itu panggilan sayang. tp disini gw ngomong cibay dimarain! gara2 gw br tau artinya tuh memek hehe. jadi yaa sama aja. kaya di indo ngomong2 perek tuh kasar tp disini biasa aja ehehe.

the day the earth stood still

2008-12-17T05:07:00.000-08:00

JANGAN NONTON FILM INI. yah but if you live in indonesia where you can watch movie asal2an with only 15thou okelah. gw nonton di singapur pake student price 6.5dollar! which is 50ribuan. dan kita bener2 mikir banget nih nonton ga ya? dan ternyata rugi.

critanya ttg mahluk yg ke bumi buat protect bumi dari manusia karna we're destroying the earth. the thing in a form of human played by keanu reeves said, 'if we destroy human, the earth will be saved. but if we let humans live, in the end both will die. there is no choice' gitu2 deh. inti filmnya sih bgs, too once again raise public concern to the condition of earth, dan awal cerita nya jg deg2an gitu. but it has such a horrible ending! sebel kan kalo film udh bgs tp ending nya jelek, such a spoiler! pas kita nonton tuh kan dipikir masih lanjut filmnya, eeeh tau2 udh credits. ugh. rugi pokoknya.

living by grace

2008-12-17T04:40:00.000-08:00

aduh pokoknya gw tuh skrg bener2 live by grace deh! hidup disini tuh serius enak bngt. bner2 smua gratis. gw cm kluar duit buat beli sabun sgl macem, sama sisanya have fun. paint the town red! ;)

tiap malem kan gw email nyokap, dan otomatis gw jd kayak reflect back on my day gitu kan, dan disetiap step yg gw ambil tuh selalu ada aja jalan Tuhan yg gw ga pernah sampe mikir Tuhan bakal direct gw that detail gitu. dan bener2 Tuhan tuh kasih gw kemudahan gila2an, sampe gw amaze sendiri, Tuhan kok bs sih seenak ini? emg sih ada jg hardtimes nya tp kalo gw sih prefer liat sisi positif nya which is uncountable!

tp gw sempet takut loh, masa kan Thn kan adil, trs gw suka mikir we are all given the same amount of happiness and sadness. nah gw mikir kayaknya hidup gw ga pernah yg susah2 bngt gmn gitu, ntar kalo jatah happiness gw abis gmn? masa sisa hidup gw jadi sedih2 terus? haha. tp that was just a silly thought, dan skrg i know the answer.

we are all indeed given the same amount of happiness and sadness *bner kan ya, Thn kan adil kan ya?* haha, dan eventhough beda, God knows us best and He has different ways of making us mature, jadi ya percaya aja deh sama Thn. dan sbnernya setelah gw pkir2, hidup gw tuh ga enak2 terus jg kok! biarpun org liat 'aduh enak bgt sih jadi nia' tp hidup gw bnyk susah nya jg kok! haha. cm yg bikin beda ini nih: mindset and perspective.if we choose to look on the positive side, ternyata kan hidup kita seru2 trus berjalan nya, dan seolah2 sedih2 nya cm apa sih yg cepet berlalu gt hehe. jadi kalo gw pikir2 sbenernya ya hidup gw seru karna i choose to think of it that way. aduh gitu deh pokoknya kalo gw jadi ribet muter2 maaf yaa hahaha

okay, hari ini gw lg bodo amat sm structure blog gw dan language dan sgl macem, gw lg bosen bkin yg gt2 gw pgn blurt out aja. mngkn gara2 gw udh enek sama bridging course kali ya hahaha. nah balik ke live by grace..

gilee. gw tuh ya bersyukur bgt tiba2 buat tmn2 gw anak2 indo ber10 di hwachong! kita friendship nya emg ga yg gmn2 bgt, tp wajarlah kan bru knal 1bln, tp gw bersyukur anak2nya asik2 dan ga ada yg nyebelin gmn gt, smuanya baik2. Thn jawab doa gw! dan buat gw masuk hostelnya hwachong tuh God's favor bgt, ini tuh trnyta hostel plg bgs se-asia pacific! dan daerah paling tgg di sgpr jd ga panas, dan sekolahnya elit jd sgala fasilitas ada. bayangin 'rumah' gw ada fitness center, kolam renang, sgl mcm lapangan, olympic size running track, ajegile. trs buat hidup d sgpr jg wow bgt, lo tinggal isi EZlink lo, dan pergi kmn2 tinggal tap kartu ke mesin dan olalaaaa lo bisa muter2 singapur gmpang bgt. kalo lg bokek ga bs bli makan, tnggal pulang ke hostel ada makan gratis *di hostel lain makan mesti daftar aduh ribet* dan dari smua segi, ukuran kamar, laundry service, temen2nya, hwachng tuh paling asik! dan stiap gw banding2in, aduh yg Thn kasih ke gw is the best deh! *ga tau sih ya, mngkn ada ga enk nya jg, tp gw mau ngucap syukur buat smua yg enak2nya*

dan stelah gw pikir2, what do i have to be proud of? NOTHING. smua bukan hebat nya gw, bukan prestasti gw. tapi kerja Tuhan dlm hidup gw. dan stlh dapet smua ini, gw cm blg, smua yg Thn janjiin tuh bener deh! ga ada yg boong. dan bahkan lbih jauuuuuh lebih dari yg kita bs bayangin. smua ayat2 tuh bener.

'no eyes has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, all God has prepared for those who love Him' terus 'delight in me and i will give you the desires of your heart' terus 'blessed is those who find great delight in my command' trs 'my plan is to prosper you and not to harm you, a plan to give you hope and future' trs apa lagi yaa? banyak bgt pkknya! waktu kita afalin tuh ayat2 dan jd pedoman hidup, they really come true! dan skrg gw bener2 in awe deh, bner2 God is real in my life.

waktu sblm gw k sgpr, kita scholars ber5 di nubuatin sama 1pendeta gt, gw inget kayaknya nubuat gw yg paling simpel, and i was a bit dissapointed - 'you will be closer to God'. i was like, thats it? not the best students not whatsoever yg keren2 gitu? dan skrg gw nyadar gw jahat bgt wktu itu dan pikiran gw childish bgt. skrg gw bersyukur bgt sm nubuatan itu. dan gw tau itu yg gw mau banget2an more than anything else.

nyokap gw blg, 'nubuatan buat kamu itu ....cukup buat mama....krn buat apa sekolah jauh2 dan sekolah tinggi ...kalau akhirnya jauh dr Tuhan ....mama mau semua berkat Tuhan yg kita nikmati ....justru membawa kita makin dekat dg sang pemberi berkat...'

gitu deh pokoknya. endingnya gantung gpp ya. pkknya maksud gw gitu. haha

i'm back!

2008-12-17T04:15:00.000-08:00

just a short notice. well, depends on how my fingers could handle it, kalo ga keterusan this will just be a short notice.

i'm back! and this blog is still alive.

hahaha. parah parah rasanya udah lama ga update blog. tiap ada apa2 yg mau gw post tuh slalu gw catet tp gak gw tulis2, ujung2nya jadi numpuk. dan tiap ada yg baru ga lgsg gw tulis tp gw pikir mending catet dulu dan tulis yg lama, jd in a chronological order gt. yeh kalo gt trus sih mandek aja nih blog gw.

jadi skrg gw bodoin yg lama2 deh.

today! hmm hmm.

td pagi gw ke bank masukin cheque $240. wowowoo bsok gw kaya mendadak! gw pikir ribet ternyata gampang bgt tinggal isi acc no, hp no, sm nama trus masukin ke box deh. dan besoknya katanya lgsg masuk duitnya. yes! cashless no more. which also means gw harus traktir si lola sama andri hahaha.

siangnya kita ke rumah ms cheng! she is super nice! she showed us her pic album, and she was so geeky before! she changed a lot - now is sweet and cute, and she has a good personality, i somehow sense it, hehe. dia baik banget, kita di beliin snack and drinks buanyaaakk, and she ordered pizza and kfc for us!

then we talked about group1and2 in bridging course. yg grup2 tuh anak2 cina yg kita panggil perek. mreka ga diundang kasian haha ;p aneh2 aja deh mreka, seru ngomonginnya. ada bnyk crita2 ga penting yg seru

1. hesti mau beli 1set sragam lagi jd ada 4. roommate nya yg perek nanya
perek: oh you're going to buy another set of uniform?
hesti: yeah, so it will be easier for me to wash it
perek: oh thats a good idea! i havent wash my uniform
and hesti was like, what!? -.-

2. kita kan nyadar perek ga pernah mandi pagi, soalnya kalo pagi yg mandi cm cewek indo ber5. trus pas ada drama mreka tulis daily activities mreka, pertama 'brush your teeth' kedua 'get dress' wow. mreka bneran ga mandi. dan roommate nya hesti nanya ke hesti, why do you bath every morning? *buset hesti lgsg bingung mau jawab apa haha

3. pagi2 pas gw sama eliza udah slese mandi, perek2 kan masih tidur. trus kita bngung, buset enk amat tdur nya molor, kpn siap2nya nih? tau2 1perek bangun, buka selimut, and guess what? pas selimutnya dibuka, ternyata dia udh pake uniform!

4. pas study time, smua udh in their position, tau2 2 cowo perek masuk, dan mreka pake sragam! pdhl itu malem2 jam8 kan, dan kita masih libur, bsoknya baru bridging di skolah. kita pd bingung, buset nih ngapain. pas ditanya jwbn nya, 'i dont want to wash another clothes' irit amaaatt

5. ada lg si jiangwei, dia di lemari cuma ada 1setelan suit and shirt for formal occasion, uniforms, 1 white tee for sleep, and 4 ballack jerseys! tiap hari pake baju ballack. kalo ga blue, white, short sleeve, long sleeve. parah. pas ditanya jawabnya, 'i want to wear this everyday because when school starts i have to wear uniform' pdhl sih ga ada bju lain haha

6. ada perek yg kocak krn dodol agak autis namanya bandot *disamarkan* haha. dia gosipnya suka sm merah *disamarkan lagi*, tp ada cowok malay nyebelin namanya inem *disamarkan juga* suka dketin tu cewe.pernah suatu kali si bandot lg brg merah trs inem dateng, lgsg jelek2in si bandot trs tau2 si inem belai rambut nya merah! buat perek kan itu hal ga biasa. trs si bandot crt sama kita2 indons katanya *baca dgn nada liubin, soalnya emg persis bgt cr ngomongnya* 'oh my god, i dont want to look at them doing that so i excused myself, i said im sorry i need to take something and i run, but i just find something better to say! i think i should say, OH SHIT, YOU SHOULD WASH YOUR HAIR!' hahahahha itu lucu bgt kalo dibaca nada liubin

aduh pkknya hdup bersama perek2 sangat menghibur deh.

Tuhan punya rencana

2008-12-02T04:26:00.001-08:00

gw sngaja post ini blog buat smuanya yg mungkin ngalamin yg sama kayak gw. banyak sih temen2 yg msh tinggal sama kluarga nya, tp applicable juga kalo lo lg ngalamin masalah yg beraaaatt banget dan lo bner2 ga bisa ngrasain Thn, rasanya hidup tuh cuma pass by gitu aja, kurang bermakna, dan lo ngrasa kaya robot tnpa perasaan cuma nglakuin rutinitas gitu aja. awal2 gw di singapur jg gtu, ga bermasalah gimana sih, tp bnyk lah perubahan nya, rasanya kosong tanpa tmen2 yg slalu sm gw, dan kadang gw ngrasa kaya i'm losing my old self. kadang gw mikir apa gw salah ada disini, tp udh lama gw tau smua aneh2 yg gw rasain emg part of adapting aja. dan dgn smua yg gw tinggalin di indo gw tau bakal worth it kok in the end. jd harusnya gw ngucap syukur banget. dan emg kita jg ga blh trus2 ada di comfort zone jg kan. ternyata ngelakuin nya susah ya, baru kerasa haha. ngomongnya sih enak. email nyokap gw ni nguatin bgt dan sampe bikin gw nangis. and whenever you feel the same way i felt, remember that all these great people in the bible had felt it too. tulis deh kisah2nya gitu, dan trahirnya tulis nama lo dan rencana Thn di depan yg Dia janjiin buat lo. like what my mom did. nguatin banget.

"BAGAIMANA YUSUF, DI JUAL JADI BUDAK DI MESIR, SENDIRIAN, TAPI YUSUF BERTAHAN DAN TETAP BISA TERUS BERGAUL DENGAN TUHAN DAN YUSUF MERAIH SUKSES DAN MENGUKIR SEJARAH BESAR. SAMA JUGA DENGAN NEHEMIA, DANIEL DKK, MRK ANAK2 MUDA YG MENGUKIR SEJARAH, KRN DI PERANTAUAN DI DEWASAKAN.

YG MENARIK BANYAK ORANG YG DIPAKAI TUHAN SETELAH MERANTAU. MUSA SETELAH MERANTAU 40 TH DIPANGGIL TUHAN, ABRAHAM DIPANGGIL KELUAR DR KELUARGANYA, YUSUF DIPAKSA MERANTAU DIJUAL JADI BUDAK OLEH KAKAKNYA, YAKUB TERPAKSA MERATAU KRN MAU DIBUNUH ESSAY, DANIEL DKK 4 PEMUDA YG MERANTAU KE BABEL. NEHEMIA JG SAMA DST DST AKAN ADA DAFTAR PUAAAANJANG ORNG YG DIPAKAI TUHAN SETELAH DIPAKSA MERANTAU.

JADI KAMU PASSSSSTI AKAN MJD JAUH LEBIH DEWASA DGN MERANTAU. SEBELUM MERANTAU SJ SUDAH DEWASA, TTP DGN MERANTAU AKAN BENAR2 BERGANTUNG DGN TUHAN, BUKAN MAMA BUKAN YG LAIN. JG MJD MANDIRI.

TUHAN PUNYA RENCANA BUAT MUSA, SAAT ITU IA 40 TAHUN, PUNYA VISI BUAT BANGSA, RELA MENINGGALKAN ISTANA BUAT BANGSANYA. DIA TERPANGGIL, TETAPI TUHAN BELUM MEMANGGIL, IA KURANG DEWASA.... LALU DIJINKAN MERANTAU KE MIDIAN 40 TH KEMUDIAN, TUHAN PANGGIL DIA. 40 TAHUN DI NEGRI ASING, SENDIRIAN. SEOLAH TUHAN TDAK MENDENGAR, SEOLAH TUHAN LUPA RENCANA-NYA. TAPI TERBUKTI TUHAN PUNYA RENCANA

TUHAN PUNYA RENCANA BUAT YUSUF, DIA BERI VISI DAN MIMPI-2, HANYA DIA ANAK KESAYANGAN PAPA MAMA, DIA ANAK MANJA, DIA KURANG DEWASA.... TUHAN PAKSA DIA MERANTAU JAUH KE MESIR... SENDIRIAN...BAHKAN MASUK PENJARA.... SEOLAH TUHAN LUPA RENCANANYA... YUSUF MUNGKIN BERPIKIR, APA SAYA TIDAK SALAH ADA DI PENJARA... DISANA IA SEMAKIN TAJAM HIKMATNYA DAN DIPAKAI TUHAN LUAR BIASA

TUHAN PUNYA RENCANA..... JUGA BUAT NATHANIA CRHISTY, SEORANG MUDA DARI BINTARO.... ANAK MAMA....

MASIH INGAT BUKU RAJAWALI... BAB TENTANG KESENDIRIAN....???
TUHAN IJINKAN KESENDIRIAN.... KRN TUHAN MAU SENDIRIAN DENGAN KITA..... DALAM KEINTIMAN YG LEBIH ERAT.....

DIA PUNYA RENCANA"

A (long) Walk to Remember

2008-12-02T04:14:00.000-08:00

30.11.2008

I got lost in Orchard. For 3 hours. It was a completely grueling day. Perhaps the most wearying day of my life in Singapore. This is how it began.

Today i went to Little India and Science centre. I was wearing my new roman sandal and it felt slightly uncomfortable, i got footsore and was really exhausted. At 5pm i was supposed to attend church. I reached Hwa Chong at exactly 5pm and was actually considering wether or not i should go to church. I was friggin’ tired and wished to sleep. Yet i took my bible and went anyway. We (clara and I) were late already and it even took us 30 minutes to wait for the bus! It was so rare that the bus came so late.

There are 2 bus to Orchard – 171 and 174. We usually use the 171 but this time it was 174. Apparently they take different route and we wait for the usual bus stop but we didnt see it until the end of Orchard road! We decided to stop and find a way to Orchard Tower. We walked straight but we couldnt spot that building. Fine, i thought, since the beginning i was sure i was not meant to go to church today, and now i was even more convinced, so i called Lolla and told her we’d wait for her til the service ended and went out for dinner and went to church tomorrow again. Lolla suggested that i went home instead and took a rest. So we struggle to find our way back, so we searched for the nearest MRT station. Thankfully there was a one-dollar ice cream stall, we each bought one, that kinda made up our day a bit.

About 15minutes later, we found the MRT station, top up our EZ link for a while and on the way up when i was about to sms Ms Smahon to excuse ourselves from lesson the next day in order to go to church, suddenly my handphone switched off by itself! Geez. What is wrong with today! We thought God didnt let us go to church, but that was weird, why would He wanted that?

Okay, i thought, at least i found this way out familiar, this must be right, an end to our draining day. Guess what, it turned out to be familiar because i was once lost in that very same place! So yeah, we were lost – again.

Then we walked for another 5minutes, and found a bus stop. Yes! This is the end, we exclaimed. But it wasnt like what we thought it would. The bus was heading to the opposite direction! So it’s either we took the bus, made a detour and spent more money, or we cross the road and that’s it. We looked across and, you know what, it was a one-way street! We didnt want to spend more money so we try to find another bus stop purely based on our instict.

We thought we knew the direction, but we didnt. We end up on an unknown road and suddenly it wasnt Orchard Road anymore! Instead, it was like trees and bushes everywhere! We didnt want to take the risk and we could only wonder, how stupid we were. At first we were like, ‘oh! We got lost. So fun! it’s an adventure! We’re dora the explorer.’ Blah blah blah. But as time passed by and we were still lost, it wasnt fun anymore. I started to get irritated, i mean, hey, it’s Singapore, a well-developed and small country, how could i get lost here? And for 3 hours?

That time, i just randomly blurted, ‘Goooooodd, pleaseee send Your angels!’. Suddenly it strucked me. Hard. I was like, ‘yeah, how can i not realize? I have a great big God, and an army of angels surround me, and where have i been? Wandering for 3hours and on my own (well, with Clara actually) but hey, why didnt i asked for His help?’

Then i told Clara, ‘La, i think i know why, we didnt pray!’ and she was like, oh yeah you’re right. Then we started to pray. Suddenly i felt thankful God let us had this so-called unlucky day. There was a lesson than needed to be retold. Cliche as it may sound, about surrendering everything to God, but it somehow strucked us deep.

But it was just halfway of the story! It was irritating, at some point we were like so sure of the way we took and the next moment we found we were lost, again, for the oh-so-many times. From that full-of-bushes street, we went back to MRT station, again, for the third time (i kinda shorten my story coz i thought you would be irritated by reading such a long story) then we took the MRT to Newton.

The bad luck still followed. The bus didnt arrive until 15minutes later. It was already 7.30pm. we had missed our dinner period. Great, i’m going to waste another money for dinner tonight, i grumped. So we consider our alternatives. It was either eat in island creamery area, adam road hawker centre, or coronation plaza.

The bus stop turned out to be quite far from island creamery and adam road and i just couldnt walk anymore. Well then, no other choice but to eat in coronation plaza. I sighed, i had imagined eating es khacang and oyster omelette.

Next bus stop. We didnt got off because we thought coronation plaza was on the next stop. We were wrong. I felt like shouting! Gosh, what’s wrong with this day! Where am i gonna eat now? Okay, i still have some snack and i could still buy one charsiewpao and tetrapak juice in Hwa Chong.

There are 3 bus stops along Hwa Chong because the premises is just SO HUGE. Been here for 3 weeks and never had i got off at the wrong stop. But this day, this very particular day, i got off at the wrong stop! I ponder deeply what mistakes have i made to deserve such a day. And finally, i have to walk. It’s like from my house in Indo to Tops/Giant. That is far! Especially when i had no more energy.

Finally we reached Hwa Chong, but we still had to walk inside. Well, at least we wouldnt get lost again this time, or would we? That would just be plain stupid. Haha.

Looking at the bright side, there was a lesson learnt, and stars in the sky! All this time we hadnt seen a single star in the empty sky! Now there were, and among them, there two brightest stars giving such radiant glow. That’s our stars, we claimed. Hehe.

I kind of thought, ‘kita kayak orang majus aja, pas natal lagi, nyari Tuhan (pergi ke gereja) ga tau arah. Dan pas malem2, penunjuk nya bintang paling terang di langit. Tapi kok bintang nya ada dua? Dan kok malah ujung2nya bintang nya diatas Hwa Chong?’

Then i simply conclude, ‘yaudahlah, berarti bagus Tuhan Yesus ada di Hwa Chong.’ and that brightened my gloomy day! Hahaha. Seru juga hari ini.

if you want me to

2008-12-01T06:55:00.000-08:00

The pathway is broken

And The signs are unclear

And I don't know the reason why You brought me here

But just because You love me the way that You do

I'm gonna walk through the valley

If You want me to

Cause I'm not who I was

When I took my first step

And I'm clinging to the promise You're not through with me yet

so if all of these trials bring me closer to you

Then I will walk through the fire

If You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen

When you lead me through a world that's not my home

But You never said it would be easy

You only said I'd never go alone

So when the whole world turns against me

And I'm all by myself

And I can't hear You answer my cries for help

I'll remember the suffering that Your love put You through

And I will walk through the darkness

If You want me to

-ginny owens, if you want me to

hostel sweet hostel

2008-11-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

*drumroll* jreng jreng jreeeengg welcome to hwa chong institution boarding school!

ini pemandangan hwachong kalo sunset. jadi bukit timah itu daerah paling elit dan paling tinggi di singapur, dan gw tinggal disitu! gratis pula. woo Tuhan baik. nah, disini masi ijo banget, banyak banget pohon sama tanah luas jadi mata seger deh, pemandangan sore2 jg bagus bangettt.

dari depan, mesti tap access card buat bisa masuk area nya, udah gt nyapa uncle penjaga entrance nya supaya nanti kalo dapet masalah, uncle nya bisa dibaik2in hihi. trus jalan terus masuk ke hall D, tap kartu dulu. naik lift sampe lantai 6, tap kartu lagi, belok kiri, daaann sampailah di c6L01! yang artinya, kamar nia!

ini kasur ku. di tembok ada orang2an dari hyubed, di kasur ada boneka flupsy dari anak rafles, ada teddy bear dari andri lola, di jendela ada kaos doeshout yg udh dicoret2 hyubed. di dpan kasur ada gitar titipan senior.

meja belajar! ini tempat sejuta kenangan. ada kaos hyubed, foto sec4s2 sm foto sec2a punya hesti di rak, di notice board ada tulisan ayat2 yg nguatin, kartu dari tmn2 cina, foto prom sama cewe2 4science, fotobox sama demas, cc christa, mila hesti, sama jen ria ira, sm foto kluarga. di meja ada foto gw sm demas di dpn eiffel tower boongan *sok romantis* hahaha. trus ada foto sama mama deh.

liat liaaatt sragam lamakuu! hehe

sekian trimakasih

The Harp

2008-11-30T05:26:00.000-08:00

another composition i wrote during bridging class. enjoy! ;D

A beam of sunlight filtered through the dense forest, dazling Chris’ eyes. He woke up from his tender sleep and looked around. It was so serene, nothing could be heard except the whooshing sound of the wind, the water trickling, and the chirping of the birds producing sweet melodies. Chris washed his filthy body and prepared himself to continue his journey. Apart from his loyal dog, Cowby, he was all alone in that dark, misty forest. Afraid as he was, he was still somehow competent to keep on reassuring himself to find that fascinating harp.

Chris came from a broken, poor family, where happiness was merely an illusion. His dad had left him and his mom 2 years ago and married another woman. His mom was not more than a maid in a nobel family. Life in the mid 1980s, in a small village in France was tough. His daily activities were filled with going around collecting garbage and if he was lucky enough, getting usable second-hand materials from people in the neighbourhood.

One sunny day, when he was walking in the nearby city, his eyes focused into a small stall at the corner of the street that was not there before. Something fascinated him. He gazed at an elegant, ancient book as if he had found an uncomparable treasure. The stall owner, a beautiful lady with flawless complexio,n approached him and with a velvety voice, offered him the book. He was overjoyed.

He cheerfully walked home, whistling along the way, and started reading the book. It told the story of an old man with a mystical harp given by a goddess. The goddess was playing the harp on a rock in a river and it sounded so heavenly peaceful. An old man on a pilgrimage passed by and was mesmerized by the melody. The goddess, seeing the sincere heart of the old man, then gave the harp to him. She said, “Play the harp whenever you feel gloomy, whenever you see someone dejected, and the harp will give you such peace that compares to nothing else in the world.” Then without the old man noticing, the goddess suddenly dissapeared.

From that moment when he finished reading the book onwards, Chris kept on daydreaming about finding the harp. He longed so desperately to feel even the slightest bit of happiness. He wanted to pursue that contentment no matter what. He believed that it was not something mystical and he was determined to find it.

He visualized the place where the story took place and suddenly a flash of memory entered his mind. He remembered the exact same place to be the place in the forest where his mother used to take him and play with Cowby a long, long time ago when he was still about 3 years old. He believed that the story was real and had happened a long time ago. He even thought that the lady who gave him the book was the goddess herself who reappear on earth to help him. The journey thus began.

Now, here he was, on his eighteenth day wandering around in the forest. He had no idea which direction to lead, no food with him – nothing. He left everything he owned for this destined journey. He simply relied on his imagination and let his instict lead him. A lot had happened during those eighteen days journey. He often stumbled and fell, caught by the snaking roots and was drenched. Along the way, he often doubted the existence of that harp. There were times when he just felt like giving up. How can I be so stupid, he thought, that was merely a fairy tale, nothing more. He felt so idiotic to have let his innocence consumed him and believed such story.

Yet, deep down, he could feel something urging him so strongly to continue. Thus, after he washed his body and nudged Cowby to wake up, he sauntered deeper into the forest, watching carefully his every step, and keep an eye on the surrounding, in case there were signs of a river nearby.

He finally felt it! A wave of joy washed over him. He felt it was coming near. There was an opening on the forest, and he could see brief spells of watery sunshine. The river he had imagined all along was right there. He began to search for the harp fervently. Just when he was tired and almost lost home, he saw something gleaming from afar.

A golden harp.

It was there. It was real. Right in front of him. So it’s true, he thought, it’s really true.

ain't walkin' alone

2008-11-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

this song keeps me strong, away from home. i want to think that i'm not alone, and this place is also my home, for everywhere is home when Jesus is with me.

Along life's road

There will be sunshine and rain

Roses and thorns, laughter and pain

And 'cross the miles

You will face mountains so steep

Deserts so long and valleys so deep

Sometimes the Journey's gentle

Sometimes the cold winds blow

But I want you to remember

I want you to know

You will never walk alone

As long as you have faith

Jesus will be right beside you all the way

And you may feel you're far from home

But home is where He is

And He'll be there down every road

You will never walk alone

The path will wind

And you will find wonders and fears

Labors of love and a few falling tears

Across the years

There will be some twists and turns

Mistakes to make and lessons to learn

Sometimes the journey's gentle

Sometimes the cold winds blow

But I want you to remember wherever you may go

You will never walk alone
As long as you have faith
Jesus will be right beside you all the way
And you may feel you're far from home
But home is where He is
And He'll be there down every road
You will never walk alone

random entries

2008-11-24T06:41:00.000-08:00

It’s already the 18th day! Woooo.

Today we played this game called ‘WINK MURDER’ during bridging class. It was really fun. Our group is always dismissed early cause we simply had nothin else to do. Asik jadi lbh banyak free time. Makanya we played the game. Kasian yang orang2 cina, blajaaaar muluuuu.

By the way, the Chinese are called the PRCs, and the indonesians called them ‘PEREK’ haha. Soalnya mirip sih ‘PRC’ jadi perek biar gampang. Kalo orang India kita bilangnya OI (Orang India). Jadi kalo mau ngomongin (lebih sering sih ngetawain) ga akan ktawan! Hahaa.
Seru loh meng-observe orang di MRT ato Bus, pada kocak2, yang cina2 singapur ato india2 hahaha. Disini alay nya orang2 india gitu. Dan yang menyedihkan, bule nya jarang! Eh tapi ada 1 cina ganteng di vivo vity, jadi mas2 di ben&jerry. Tapi disini sih bukan mas2 ya orang cina smua, jadi apa dong? Koko2? Hahaha.

Oh right, back to WINK MURDER. You have to play it some time! Caranya gini:
1. Bikin kayak undian gitu sesuain jumlah nya sama jumlah pemain
2. Di kertas2 nya, 1 tulis ‘MURDER’ 1 tulis ‘POLICE’, yang lain biarin kosong
3. Terus kita ambil kertas nya, buka, dan jangan bilang apa2 ke yang lain.
4. Nah kalo dapet ‘MURDER’ you have to kill 3-5 people by winking at them (terserah sih mau berapa org yang dibunuh, sesuain aja)
5. Nah kalo yg dapet kertas kosong di wink sama MURDER, you have to say ‘i’m dead!’
6. Tapi yg bukan murder ga boleh asal wink2.
7. Terus yang dapet kertas POLICE, tugasnya merhatiin sekeliling dan tebak siapa murdernya!
8. Kalo mau lebih seru, bikin murdernya ada 2.
9. Kalo kebetulan murder burnuh murder, diem2 aja ga usah blg i’m dead krn murder ga bisa dibunuh

Seriously, this game was really enjoyable.

Today we got our 3rd comprehension result! Guess what, I PASS! I pass my compre for the first time! FIRST TIME! Hahaha. Kalo di indo sih biasa, disini gileee pas doang bangga banget, padahal mepet Cuma 52%! Tapi yg pass cuma gw loooh, the others failed.

Oh, i have one funny story.

A few days ago:
Pas mau turun buat study time, kan gw sama hesti sperti biasa, trus hesti bawaan nya banyak dan botolnya di slipin di ketek gitu. Pas di lift...
Hestia: OHNO! *bayangin hesti dengan ekspresi emoticon nya!* mana botol guee!!? *panik2 lebay*
Nia: *gw liat di keteknya, dan gw langsung ngakak* hahaha noh hes lo ketekin!
Hestia: *pasang wajah emoticon nya* huh -.-

Today:
Lagi turun mau study time juga, udah mau masuk dining hall skrg...
Hesti: *mikir: loh ini botol gue udah gw pegang* OHNO! Buku gue manaaaa!?? *nyari2 dengan panik ala hestia*
Nia: *mikir: waduh mana yaa? Trus gw celingak celinguk nyari, daaaaannnn, di ketekin lagi!* gue kali ini ngakaknya udah ga tahan sampe mau jatoh.
Hestia: *dalem hati* huh, pasti gw ketekin lg deh makanya nia ktawa -.- hesti liat dan bener dia ketekin

HAHAHA.

Trus ada lagi.

Kan ada 2 cewek anak bandung di kelas. Nah, kalo orang bandung tuh bilang ‘seru’ tuh ‘rame’.
Clara: heh, bisma, itu teh buku twilightnya rame gak? *baca pake logat sunda*
Bisma: *bingung* heh?? Eh? Enggak, gw bacanya sendirian kok
Huahahaaa ngerti gak? Haha kocak banget itu.

Daaaannn, hari ini gw BAHAGIA. Haha ga sih ga selebay itu.

Tadi kan ber5 cewek2 mau ke coronation plaza buat mendekin rok skolah, trus cowok2 lagi maen bola, jadi kita samperin ngobrol2 bentar.
Malem2 abis study time si erwin bilang: hey nia, you know what, when you came to the field, there’s this one Japanese guy who said something about you *trus dia ngakak2*
Gw lgsg mikir dong, omaigat gue knp lagi td? Dikatain apa nih gw sama ni cowok jepang? Duh gw ga aneh2 tanpa sadar kan? *gw udah trauma ngupil pas lagi webcam dan gw ga nyadar kalo itu lg webcam hahahha gue di ketawain deh*
Gw udh bodo deh, ga mau tau, malu. Tapi yg lain pada nanya2, ahirnya erwin bilang: he said you are hot.

BEDEEEUUHH. Fans gw nambah 1 deh! Ternyata NFC eksis juga toh di singapur! Hiahahaa. Cowok jepang looo. Si eliza lgsg nanya2 ganteng apa enggak hahahaa. Trus eliza bilang: aaaahh gue gimana dongg, masa si hestia udah ada mao ping, si nia udah ada tomoki, gue blom niiih. Hahaha.

Okeh, itu ga penting sih sebenernya.

Yasudahlah, good night! :D

this is hwa chong!

2008-11-23T05:15:00.000-08:00

bayangin gue cina hiphop:

yoyoyoooo! evrybodehh we are the hwa chongerzzz! this is our home bebeeeehh. so cool, cool meeeeennn! cool like us, oh yeaaaahhh. we rockzzz!

mode off.

jangan di lanjutkan terlalu jijay.

yaa ini lah hwa chong in the inside, blm smpet foto2 yg lain nya, ntar di update lg.

pertama ada nia ngebet mau foto tapi ga enak sendirian jadi ngajak inge.

terus ga enak sm fotografer nya, jadi diajak juga deh

terus ini bisma si fotografer mau difoto ala twilight, tapi megang rubiks instead of apple

nah ini smua cewek yg ada di bridging class

terus cowok2 dateng abis makan char siew pau *itu favorit kita kalo abs study time loh!* terus kita ajak deh, ini smua indo di kelas kcuali hesti sm nathan.

the end

An Epiphany

2008-11-23T05:10:00.000-08:00

This is a composition i made together with Hestia and Eliza during our bridging class. karangan nya dapet pujian terus loooh! wohooo bangga

A slight touch grazed my forehead. I woke up with a jolt on a pile of newspapers. My mom dragged me to a nearby station where we usually sold newspapers for a living. She usually told me to go to the station straight away. However, today it was different. She gave me what we had earned yesterday, some food, and water. I gave her a puzzled look but went anyway. After a tiring afternoon, i returned to the same spot where i was supposed to meet my mom.

Hours had passed, but there was still no sign of her. Where had she gone, i wondered. As i was starving, i opened the food package she gave me and gobbled it up hungrily. It wasnt long before i realized she wasnt coming. I was abandoned.

I knew that she had never wanted me and that i was a heavy burden on her. She always wanted a life of her own, a life of no responsibility, a life without me. I was distraught. A bleak future was ahead of me. I had nowhere to go, no one to talk to, and i sunk into an endless despair. Years passed by, not a day went by without me wondering why she left me behind to fend for myself. I was consumed in bitterness. Everyday was the same. I felt like a living corpse with no sense of emotions.

The day had come when i turned all my hatred i had been harbouring into compassion. I saw a young boy sobbing on the street alone and it suddenly struck me that i had once been in his shoes. I felt compelled to reach out to him and i sat beside him. From that moment onwards i had a passion to help those in need of love.

Here i am now, accomplished and on my own. I had established a foundation to provide shelter to those kids who have no one. I feel a sense of satisfaction from what i have achieved so far. I’m alive again.

We're dora dora doraaa the explorer!

2008-11-22T08:46:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 22nd 2008

Today is our first field trip! We went to Toa Payoh and shopped for a while. Gw liat ada tempat jual nailpolish sama magazines udah kepengen, tp ga ada yg mau. Untung akhirnya berhasil beli teenvogue. Tp karna majalah impor jadinya mahal! $7 harganya. Dan sekarang $1 udah Rp 8600. Parah.

Lunch time we went to an HDB! Singaporeans live in a high-rise flats unlike Indonesians. Here, houses are extremely expensive. However, i’m really astonished by the way the Singapore government manage the land use. Singapore has a land scarcity, yet it is so well-managed and it still has a lot of empty green space. I mean like, Singapore has nothing to be proud of, you know, unlike Indonesia which is abundant in culture, history, and natural resource, yet Singapore can attract many people to come and reside there.

Anyway, we ate at Ms. Smahon house. I really felt sorry for Ms. Smahon because i didnt really appreciate her before. And her 4years-old son, Skippy, is really good-looking! She wasnt lying before when we asked about her son. Then i asked Skippy to take picture with me.

Nia: Skippy, can i take picture with youuuu?
Skippy: *playing PSP* noooo
Nia: oh, c’mon Skippyyyy, dont be so mean
Skippy: noooo
Nia: Ms. Smahon, can i take picture with Skippy?
Ms Smahon: yeah, yeah suuurreee.
Nia: but Skippy doesnt want tooooo...
*Skippy ran to his room*
Irwin: heeeeyyy Nia, remember your age!

Hahhaaha.

Then the Indonesians went to the highest floor yg adalah lantai ke 30, dan kita turun nya naik tangga supaya kurus! and this is how the view, and how our exhausted faces looks like:

Then we went down, and ... *drumroll* ... we saw a playground! Gw langsung bilang, eeeh main yukkkk, trus kita main2 sama foto2 deh! Udah seru2an gitu pas balik kita liat tulisan ‘...only for children under 12 years old...’ hahhaa. Telat deh taunya.

Lanjut, kita ke rooftop garden, adanya di atas parking lot lantai6. It was fun, we just sat down and chat. My legs were shaking, really. Saking kebanyakan jalan kali ya.

Before we departed back to the hostel, we took a group picture. It was a loooonggg shot! It’s hard to unite 32 people in a picture, haha.

At about 5pm, the Indons except for Elmo, went to Queensway. It was like Singapore ‘Taman Puring’ but a looooottt more expensive! I bought 1 canvas shoes for school. Then we went to Ikea. Aaahh banyak banget barang bagus2 pengen beli deh.

Mau pulang, we were planning to eat at Hawker Centre di Adam road. But theeennn, we stopped at the wrong bus stop! And it was like in the middle of nowhere. Dan gue kebelet pipis! Akhirnya kita jalan jauuuuuh banget. Kaya di pinggir hutan, ga ngerti jalan sama sekali. Jadi berpetualang deh! Hanya berbekal bus directory pocket book, kita menjelajah singapur melewati rintangan berat! Uwoooh waktu nyampe tempat makannyaaaa, rasanya puaaaaaas banget. Ehehe

Ga tau knapa yaa, hari ini rasanya seneng banget. Kayak baru deket banget sama ber12 satu kelas ini. Baru ngerasa sayang deh kayaknya hehehe. Tomorrow is church! Ga sabar. I long to worship. Andri lolla ngajakin ke Malaysia, tapi passport gw di tahan! Huh.

Day 8 - a surprise for ms cheng!

2008-11-20T05:11:00.000-08:00

random pics

class pics

Been here for exactly 1 week. Today Ms. Cheng didnt teach us one whole day. We had Mrs. Smahon in the morning and Ms. Tan after lunch. Having taught by Ms. Cheng before made the 2 other teachers sounded kind of boring.

We played this game with ms cheng, so fun!

With Mrs. Smahon we had some corny riddles and a creative writing project from a given picture. My group was the best! Yippie. She said it was fantastic, original, non-cliche, and well structured. And she kept on complimenting us saying it could be made into a movie and it would sell.

We had some riddles as always! The others are really jayus so I posted some which is not that funny but at least less jayus lah.. Try to answer please! :p

1. A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for 3 days and then left on Friday. How come?
2. A man was found dead in the middle of a large field. Next to him there is an unopened package. There is no other creature on the field. How did he die?
3. Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of a villa in Egypt. Nearby is broken glass. There is no mark on either of their bodies and they were not poisoned. How did they die?

With Ms. Tan, we learnt some words to express sound and touch. It was interesting, i’m surely gonna be an expert in writing soon! Then we tried to use the sound to produce an orchestra. Too bad we didnt recorded it.

When Ms. Cheng arrived, we all hid inside the toilet and took some pictures first :p then we surprised here, coming inside the class bringing 2 pizza box. She was sooo touched. Mission accomplished! With her we played some warm-ups game.

before the surprise - Toilet

the surprise

after the surprise

I finally exercise today! I went out and played basketball former RICS (me, hestia, nathan, elmo) versus the others including our 2 seniors. One of them was said to be the 2nd best player in Balikpapan and he almost went to Pelatnas if it wasnt for the scholarship he took.

Tomorrow the Indonesians will go to suntech, yeaaay. Cant wait! :)

the AH skit

2008-11-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

This is the skit we did on our intonation session. You see, different tones can make different meaning. Enjoy! *try to play it some time, it’d be fun!

Cast: Girl, thief, police, maid, father, mother, neighbour.

Scene: A living room.

Action: No word is spoken troughout except “Ah.”
Maid is dusting living room singing in “Ah’s.”
She sees the girl coming and gives a disgusted “Ah” and leaves.
Girl sits down and studies. She goes “Ah..Ahh..Ah.” (to show she understands).
Parents enter and the girl shows them her test paper.
Mother is delighted: “Aaahh!” and gives her a present.
Father congratulates her: “Aaahh.”
Girl puts the present in a jewelry box (or wherever) and goes to bed.
A thief enters: “Ah!” and takes the present.
The maid enters: “Ah! AAAHHHHH!” and screams for help.
Parents enter and scream.
Thief panics: “Ah..Aahh..Ah” ... and cannot escape.

Ending: Neighbour rushes in with police: “Ah!” They capture thief.
Thief leaves with cop.
Family all sigh: “Aaahhh.”

Day6 - skit and study time

2008-11-15T00:22:00.000-08:00

It’s the second day of the bridging class. Ms Cheng is really fun. We learnt a lot, yet it wasn’t like the stressing kind of lesson. During our break, Ms Cheng introduced some fun games to us. One is called ‘2 truths 1 lie’. So basically we had to mention 2 truth 1 lie and the others have to guess which one is the lie. It was fun. Could be even more fun if you can be creative enough. I thought mine was kind of difficult, however it turned out that they could guess it easily. Can you? :p

2 TRUTH 1 LIE.
-i used to bite people when i was a kid
-i love paris hilton
-cokroach freaks me out

Hahaha.

Anyway, after that, we started playing some other games and suddenly we were all contributing our games, those kinds that Indonesians usually play. Apparently, Ms Cheng also knows some, and Joshua and Bisma were always like the last ones who know. We had a good time that moment.

In the class – which is from 8.30am to 4.45pm (can you believe it? Studying english only, one whole day!) – we learnt english intonation which i thought would be boring but turned out the opposite. We learnt that one single word could have different meaning when said in different tone. And we did one cool activity: one word skit. The title was: Aaaah! It was fun! REALLY. I’ll post the script later so you can have the idea how is it like. Then we have to make our own skit. My group was Elmo, Hestia, Eliza, Inge, Clara, and me. We made a skit in the same way, only one word is said which is ‘hmm’ (hrsnya videonya lbh pjg tp di rekamnya telat) and the other group made one titled 'NO'

Later on, I wanted to joined the other Indons to play basketball or just chill out enjoying evening breeze. Hestia and I toured around Hwa Chong ‘premises’ (a vocab i just learnt today!) which is like sooooo big (they have the olympic sized running track, olympic sized swimming pool, and like 5 baketball court, and moreeeee). But we couldnt find them in the end.

I didnt really like the dinner today. At first the food was okay. But it’s always chicken, chicken, and chicken all day. Thankfully, Eliza brought a slice of Bee Cheng Hiang for me, yippie!

And now I’m in the dining hall, having a compulsory study time from 8 to 9.30pm. Yeaaahh, it sucks right, we have to study, the rules are tight. There was one guy who were late...

The mentor: You. Can you see what time is it?
The guy: It’s 8.04.
The mentor: Exactly. You are sooo late

And i was like ‘what??’

So this study time is supposed to be done everyday, except if the next day you dont have lessons going on. However, overall, i really enjoy my time here, meeting new friends, adjusting to the new life, and everything. It’s like you now see life from another point of view, being another you, something that most people wouldnt have the chance to do so.

Day5 - bridging class and birthdays

2008-11-15T00:18:00.000-08:00

Bridging class starts today! We gather at 8am in tutorial room C1. After filling some forms (student pass, student medical records, book orders, opening bank account, and all other settling-in stuff), we were separated to 2 groups. The Indons plus 2 Malays and the Chinese plus 2 Vietnamese. We discovered that our group only needs 200 hours of bridging class while the other group needs 300. That means we would finish the course on December 12th! Awesome. Hopefully we dont have anymore lessons whatsoever. Unfortunately, i the school doesnt allow us to go home for 2 months. That means i’ll spent my christmas here! *i am mostly sad but i dont know, i wish it would be fantastic, experiencing something new.

So the bridging class, we were supposed to have 2 teachers (you know, their names are Ms Cheng and Ms Chong!), but due to a personal matter, the other teacher cant make it, so we’ll be with Ms Cheng every single day. She looks young and fresh and lively and fun and all you would expect from a great teacher.

During our break, Ms Cheng gave us some riddles. I wanna try some of them on you. Reply the answer on the comments okay! :p

1. What letter is wet?
2. What letter can see?
3. What letter can you drink?

4. What color is sad?
5. What color can you eat?
6. What key do children like?

We also did something else fun. We build straw towers! Sounds lame, but dont know why, with Ms Cheng, it was sooo fun. It was the coolest tower we could ever built. Mine was supposedly the tallest, but luck was not on our side and when she pushed the tower, our wonderful tower suddenly collapsed. Strange, cause previously ours (hestia, elmo, tinesh, and me) was like the best. The base was firm, and we construct neatly and it was very high. And we were like teasing others’ towers. That somehow reminds me of the tower of babel written in the bible.

At night, I went out with the Indons seniors for the first time. It was super fun. I get to know with a lot of new people, and all boys! That reminds me of hyubed :( now a wave of wistfulness washes me, ah. So yeah, in Hwa Chong Institute Boarding School (HCIBS, in short) the Indons are all boys. There are about 20 of them. They are Adi, Adrian, Fadhli, Theodore, William, Robert, Bayu, and many more.

‘Island Creamery’ was the name of the cafe we went out to. They said the ice cream was so delicious. We were also going to celebrate Noval’s birthday. When we reached, we waited for Iddo to buy the cake. Then Iddo started singing ‘happy birthday to you..happy birthday to you..happy birthday to Noval..happy birthday to you’. Then he continued happy birthday to Bayu, Fadhli, Adi, and me! I was surprised. First because there’s so many birthdays on november and second cause they sang it to me too! :)

After blowing the candles, i got the chance to eat the cake first continued by the others. Then we put some cream to each other’s faces. Iddo was so silly. He was so carried out by the atmosphere and he accidentally put the cake to a girl who was passing by! With his boyfriend! And the girl was just like ‘what the fuck!?’ ahahaha.

Orientation days

2008-11-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

Day3
we had a local tour! banyak bangunan tua bgs2. pgn banget foto2 udh ga tahan tp ga ada temen jd ga enak. ugh, pkkny harus ksana lg sm hana ato sapa kek.

Day 4
Things I did:
-went to church for the first time
-went to orchard! *ga tahan pengen shopping

-had lunch with mom in a small Japanese resto *I finally could hang out and really talk to mom. Before was like, we lived in the same place but with all the activities I had, I couldnt really feel that she was here. I really savored that moment. Lucky me, cause that turned out to be the last time I hung out with her. The next day she went back to Jakarta and I couldnt even give her a goodbye hug! :( then we took some pictures!
-CAMPFIRE!

mommy and i

campfire

top2bottom,left2right:

jolyn and me. robert, senior dari indo. luna, vietnamese. my orientation group. last pic: group leader dance

The orientation dance!

2008-11-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

it was a funny ice-breaking kind of dance. seru deh. tp partner gw resek nyebelin banget. untung ada cowok vietnam baik, seru, ga punya partner yg ternyata adalah senior gw di bukit panjang ntar. bagus deh. haha. gw tinggalin aja tuh partner nyebelin gue trus dance sama si cowok vietnam. ternyata beneran cupu anaknya. suka di ketawain sama senior2 gw.

i got this dance from youtube. enjoy ;)

D-day! – Ello, Singapo’ !

2008-11-13T08:33:00.000-08:00

*baca judulnya pake aksen orang singapur.

Mr Lee (my new principal), Cik Gu Mai Moon (our teacher mentor), and Pak Sazali (our Malay teacher) had waited for us in Changi Airport. Oh, and Hanna, too!

My impressions (baca: keudikan gue waktu nyampe Singapur)
-Changi gede banget! Gak kaya Soekarno-Hatta yang panas sumpek kotor. Langit-langit nya aja bagus banget. Banyak kaca2. Udah kayak mall deh.
-Principal nya gaul. Pake kemeja kancing paling atas di buka trus di keluarin, jeans, sneakers, sama backpack kalo ga salah.
-Hwa Chong juga guedeeeeeee (bacanya mesti lebay). Hampir separo lebih Bukit Timah Road itu diabisin sama Hwa Chong. Semua fasilitas ada. Terus udah computerized banget. Dimana2 ada kamera. Akses masuk boarding school, masuk hall, masuk kamar, make fasilitas, student card, student pass buat bebas fiskal, bayar McD, naik bus, dapet diskon, semua dalam 1kartu! Imagine. Kalo itu ilang, mau gimana idup gue. Jadi berasa makin kaya jaman Antikris. Serem ya.
-I can’t shit! Masa toiletnya ga ada semprotan gimana gue cebok coba. Rebek deh. Ternyata di Singapore emang toilet ga ada semprotan nya. Cuma ada paling di hotel2 bintang. Tadinya kita kalo mau boker mau ke Fullerton Hotel, tapi gila, gimana caranya, bokerku berat di ongkos dong.

We thought we could rest for like how many days, but we found out that we had to follow the orientation program which had already started like 2 days before we arrived.

Cerita tentang orientation juga panjang. Seru juga lah. Tapi capek parah. We danced and sang a lot! The dance was funny. There’s also this story about one guy i really really dont like. Maybe later. I also want to post the dance actually. But yeah, later.

D-Day! – Selamat tinggal Indonesia

2008-11-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

This day finally came. My journey has begun. Another fresh chapter of my life, another challenge, another opportunities, another excitement awaits me. It’s the start of something new.. (baca sambil nyanyi lagu high school musical)

My head was so full of many things and i somehow couldnt really describe how i felt that moment. It was like my feelings lay dormant cause i’m so occupied by all the odds and ends and the things I have to take care of. It was like a mixture of deep sadness and overflowing excitement.

I thought there would only be 2 or 3 people in the airport since it was a school hours, apparently a lot of students came. So it was a kind of like my farewell with the RICS students.

See pictures below! :)

my future, His plans.

2008-10-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

"You hold the future in your hands
You know my dreams and you have a plan
And as you light my way, I'll follow you"
My future decided - Hillsong

i am dead confused lately. it's exactly 3 weeks til i leave Indo, and now i'm reconsidering. i'll be brutaly honest. i was born in 1992, so right now i'm supposed to be in grade11, but i'm still in grade10. it's because i was born in November, so my previous school counted it to be 1993, so i have to repeat my playgroup.

but i know God has a plan. bit by bit He led me. i performed so well that i got scholarship for my secondary education in a new school, raffles, and in all penabur. somehow God led me to choose raffles, though we knew that penabur is a good school and raffles, on the other hand, is new and we knew nothing about it.

apparently, we chose rightly. door of opportunities were opened. i went to India on an exhange programme for free! it supposed to cost about 20million something. it was a once in a lifetime experience. as if it wasnt enough, God gave me another surprise. again i went for an exchange programme to Japan! this time with my own personal money. so for the two trips, my family didnt spend much money for me, they only had to provide me with money for shopping.

some time along the way, raffles had a problem. or maybe just me. but i didnt quite like the current system, and the principal. my family and I prayed so hard on that matter. we knew it was God's way for me to be in raffles, and we believed something good will come out. it appeared to be true. not so long after, a new principal came, Mr Gary Tan, someone who has a fatherly heart, who is passionate in doing his job, and a devoted Christian.

in raffles, i tried to skip grade9 and took a test, but i wasnt qualified. i thought it wasnt fair. i'm still smarter than some of the 10th grader, or at least that's what i thought. again God showed me why. it's because if i skipped grade9, i would have taken my igcse, and not having the opportunity to pursue my dream to study overseas - i got a full scholarship to Singapore! for 4 years! it felt like a dream come true. i didnt have to spend a single cent for 4years, and instead got an allowance!

everything was perfect, except one thing: i have to repeat secondary3. here came the problem. i was older than my other classmates, i've been wanting to skipped grade, and now i have to repeat one year. i just counted, i will be 16 when i repeat sec3 again. that will make me 20 when i finished junior college. and about 23 to finish university. and 26 probably, to finish my second degree. geeze.

but my mom told me a very wise analogy of a jumper. a jumper can jump from wherever point they want. but in order for him to jump higher, he has to take a step back first. so, what matters is quality and not quantity. it's okay to take longer time, but in the end those who are patient, will reap more. i was comforted with that thought.

when yesterday i went with my mom to a parent meeting to discuss our paths after igcse *which i dont need to take because of the scholarship thing* i kinda regret me going to singapore. i mean, the paths are all so easy! getting a degree in age below 20! i imagined my friends, less brainy than me, finish school faster! that surely isnt fair!

mom told me that we can actually do that if we choose design, perfomance arts, business, management, psychology, education, etc, as our major. but to choose a more difficult major, the path is indeed much longer.

but i thought to myself, isnt those 'easy' majors what interested me most? i always wanted to be an educator, a business woman, a pianist, those fun, unstressfull stuff. i never want to be a doctor, a chemist, or to take those boring majors like pure chemistry and end up working in the lab, wearing thick glasses, has no sense of fashion, no spirit for life, blahblahblah. i always want to be like my parents. a minister, youth pastor, worship leader, book author - those inspiring people. i have a heart for indonesia. i want to come back as soon as possible and fulfill my dreams. i want to see transformation in the youth, in Indonesia.

if that's what i want, then i should have taken the easiest path. i shouldnt have taken the scholarship. what for, study so hard to end up taking those majors which i can take without wasting my 4years? but i also dont want to end up taking those 'difficult' majors i have no interest on. so you see, i am dead confused.

but not until mom told me to open some verses in the bible which really strengthened me.

Isaiah49:6
"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

God really dares me to dream bigger! my dreams are too small to be just a servant, to just restore the lost, unreached tribes of Indonesia, to unite and bring transformation in this country. instead, He will make me a light for the whole world - something much more bigger - something for Indonesia and other countries as well! that the whole world will know Christ through me!

verse1-3 says *i changed Israel to my name*
"before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of His hand He hid me; He made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in His quiver. He said to me, 'You are my servant, Nia, in whom I will display my splendor."

i shivered as i read the verses. they're so powerful!

mom smsed me 'i feel that you are chosen and prepared by God for a great work..a work much greater than you dad's, your uncle's, your grandpa's..you can reach the world of the proffesionals, the rich and the influentials..siap2 aja Tuhan pake lebih dashyat..love you'

when you surrender completely to Him, He will direct your path bit by bit, and whatever you do will prosper. delight in Him and His favor will be on you. surely God will bless the righteous..

point of views

2008-10-16T08:54:00.001-07:00

“Let me see forever with eyes You’ve opened
Standing in Your beautiful light
Hold me near
Hold me near to You
And let me see the world through Your eyes”
World through Your eyes - Reuben Morgan

How something appeals to us is determined by how we see them. But now I don’t know which one it is to see. Have you encountered a case in which you can get different stories by choosing your point of view? Like seeing a cup half full or half empty. In that illustration, you know you have to see the cup half full – simply because it is the positive side.

Some people can only look at things in their perspective and don’t bother to look at other sides. But I’ve learnt to be objective, and now I’m facing difficulty in choosing which story, which side should I believe.

When I believe in something, I will give in to it. When I don’t, I will hold back. You get what I mean? Now, I kinda feel it both ways, I’m uncertain of the truth that I keep on giving in and holding back at the same time. And I feel like I can’t choose what to do because I don’t know what is right. I tried to find the answer, but I think it’s not like it’s one or the other, but instead someplace in the middle. Sorry, I confused you didn’t I?

Anyway, still talking about point of view, I remember a lesson my mom gave me – in the car, as always. We were talking about God, about how we see God, how people argue about how God is like, about how God thinks and stuff. She then gave me a good analogy.

Seeing God is like us being a mouse, blindfolded, holding an elephant. If we hold its tail we’ll say ‘oh elephant is small, cylindrical, and short’. If we hold its ear we’ll say ‘elephant is thin and wide’. Holding its other part we’ll make us say different things. And all the answers are basically correct, because those are parts of elephant’s body.

Same concept is applied in understanding God. God is so big, and who we are to try to understand His thought, to understand who He fully is. We can only comprehend so little. And I think that is the greatness of our God, Jesus. If everything about Him can be explained logically, then His thought and ours are just the same, nothing so grand about God. But He is God, because He is inexplicable – yet real, because we can feel Him.

I’d like to think of it this way: God is love. Love is inexplicable, complicated, beyond logic, yet we believe because we feel it. So does God.

And about the first part, I guess I have to start asking God, and see things from His point of view.

sahabat kecil

2008-10-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Baru saja berakhir
Hujan di sore ini
Menyisakan keajaiban
Kilauan indahnya pelangi

Tak pernah terlewatkan
Dan tetap mengaguminya
Kesempatan seperti ini
Tak akan bisa di beli

Bersamamu kuhabiskan waktu
Senang bisa mengenal dirimu
Rasanya semua begitu sempurna
Sayang untuk mengakhirinya

Melawan keterbatasan
Walau sedikit kemungkinan
Tak akan menyerah untuk hadapi
Hingga sedih tak mau datang lagi

Bersamamu kuhabiskan waktu
Senang bisa mengenal dirimu
Rasanya semua begitu sempurna
Sayang untuk mengakhirinya

listening to this song, a wave of wistfulness washes me - always. a thousand memories flashes back, spinning in my head, tangling together. friendship. what a deep word. it's exactly what you need in life. even Jesus came to establish friendship with us. the song reminds me of faces i love, of laughter, of all those times spent with my nearest and dearest.

my church bestfriends.

the hyubeds. yahuds. all those silly groups we made. trying to find people's 'aib' (what's the right words? goofy-ness?), our sweet time in bandung, jogja, pelayanan di depok, bsd, gading, ldk, banyaaakk banget. those endless futsal competition where i never join but only support (ples di paksa bayar) haha. those evenings, waktu bahagia sore2, kumpul2 di rumah temen ngobrol2 main2. and so the story goes...

schoolmates.

demas especially! 5years friendship. wow. never imagined i'd have someone like that. cieh demas lo tersipu2 gak dem? hahaha. one thing i love most, is that i can share everything with you! even the most unimportant stuff. ah masih panjang kalo mau di lanjutin.

4s2. milla hesti shell alver mike momo jalu ape kenny kevin

praiseandworshipteam. these are mates whom i rarely hang out with but once we talk, we can talk deep and be really supportive

chibi temen gue yg paling dodol

other mates. pat nat lauren etc etc

chy tili. jen ria ira. jhoan. jordy. faraway friends. more buddies.

oh the list could just go on forever!

i'm really thankful God has given these wonderfull people. people who may just pass for a short while, or who sticks for years, who are near to us, or far away, yet they bring certain meaning in my life..

bottom line: lagu ini bagus banget!

click for:

lyrics

music(with amateur video, havent found anythin better)

laskarpelangi the movie

andrea hirata's blog

about laskar pelangi

a series of unfortunate events

2008-09-26T06:29:00.000-07:00

i had a really really bad day today.

a kind of day where i feel like, really, i just want to close my eyes and hoping that when i open it, every lil' things that bothers me would just fade, replaced by another bright, promising new beginning.

i dont really know, but a lot of things distract my thougts recently. i noticed that i havent updated my blog for quite some time and i dont have the mood for it. i never took the effort to write something and instead, just posted recent pictures. i dont even know what to write this very moment, i kinda hope to produce something good to write but.. oh well, i dont know.

okay, so my day. we planned today to be a family day and went to dufan. i wasnt feeling so cheerful and easy-going on the way to dufan and really looking forward to it unlike usual. i desperately wanted to distract my thoughts, so i texted 2 of my besties. but i just dont feel it right you know, cause it's like i'm faking it, i laughed and joked but deep within i dont feel that way. i was so upset and when demas called i answered him rudely *i did, didnt i dem? sorry :(

i dont know what's wrong with today, but it seems like all the plans we made come undone. it wasnt just me, even my mom was gradually getting upset. so what happened was, the dufan plan was cancelled because we found out that it was so crowded eventhough it's still not lebaran yet. ben wasnt so happy about it, he sighed and said that he'd rather go to bernando's house. we tried to figure out what to do inside ancol cause we've already paid 80thou for the entrance. we ended up having nothing to do and decided to go to fx. the traffic was extremely unbearable! it really got on my nerves and i just kept quiet most of the time. mom was pissed off but she managed her emotion. our first purpose was to bring kak eli and her husband to have some fun but it turned out dissapointing. the atmosphere in the car wasnt helpful, i sensed that we were all kinda in a bad mood.

and you know what, the fx plan was again cancelled. we couldnt stand the traffic and decided to went home straight away. so our plan to ride the 6floor-long slide and to watch laskar pelangi and to treat kak eli and her husband coffee bean was altogether cancelled.

my bt-ness was getting unmanageable and i told jhoan about this. i was so confused lately. i feel like i'm getting away from God, i never missed praying, reading the bible, and having my private time with God every morning and night but most of the time i simply just cant feel Him. i wonder what was wrong. it's like i really wanna do the best to God but i'm just helpless. and what hurts me most is when i'm doing something wrong, and i know how it is supposed to be, but i just can control myself to do so. and when i cant do so, i'm getting more upset and pissed with myself and then the cycle goes on. take today's example, the day was just getting worse and i questioned God 'why?', and i just cant be happy and be thankful for what God has given and look on the positive side instead of just groaning and moaning and went all over about my bad day. see, i'm perfectly aware of what to do, but i just cant do so. i hate those kind of thing.

after we passed sudirman and the traffic got better, mom asked if we want to just watched laskar pelangi in bp, i'm no longer interested in doing anything, so i was just like, yeah sure whatever.

today was like, too many strong emotions that's filling my head. besides the giving-thanks thingy, i also felt like i've wasted another day of my holiday. this lebaran holiday was my last holiday in indonesia and i really want to make the best out of it, but when your expectations are getting high, you know what usually happens..

another one, i felt rather guilty to my mom and as well awe-inspiring at the same time. i mean, we all got into this so-called mess, we all felt the traffic, we all face the dissapointments, but why is it just me that feel this way? i know mom was so pissed, and probably more than i was, but she somehow able to control herself. and i think i can picture how hard it must be on her you know. like when things get worse and the children feel bad, as long as the parents are able to handle the situation, then the family and the whole things will be fine, dont you think? but if the parents lose control? it'll all fall apart. i think that's how my mom looked at it. if she got carried away, then the whole supposedly family fun day will be a total mess. also, when i was like questioning God on what good can possibly come out of this, and forcing myself to be thankful, she was like humming and singing a song praising God and thankful for the day! she once said lightly, 'yah maunya nyenengin anak, malah jadi pada bete' aawwww, that must be really hard on her. and i somehow felt so terrible for being so selfish.

busy with my thoughts, it suddenly rained outside. i think the rain was somekind of reminder from God that if we trust in Him then something good will come out as the result. i wonder if we insist to go to dufan and wasted almost 500thou (mom has to pay for the 6 of us) only to do nothing because of the rain. so yeah, God always has His way and He works in all things to bring good to those who love Him, just like in Rome8:28.

continuing my day, after spending 4hours in the car, we finally reached bintaro plaza. it suddenly reminded us of the Israelites spending 40years wandering around in the desert to reach Canaan the promise land from Egypt when it supposedly took them only for 2weeks. same like us, we took a long route from our house in bintaro permai to ancol first then bintaro plaza. silly, huh? wasting time, money, petrol, only to end up like that?

as if it cant get any worse, the movie we've been so eager to watch was all sold out. so we travel to sambal desa to have an early dinner. guess what, we have to travel further because of the one-way system starting from 5pm, and the traffic was so bad. we turned back and decided to eat masakan padang. unfortunately, they dont serve food before 6pm because of the fasting thingy. so we just ordered the food and bring it home. but the food we ordered wasnt available! and the vegetables which was supposed to be free was charged for 4thou.

mom, feeling unsatisfied with all our ruined plans, asked me 'oh well, where else do you want to go?' me, feeling tired with the whole thing, directly answer 'geez, lets just go home!'

and that's the end of our 'family fun day'

what i told you just now isnt the complete story, i still had few minor occurences that made me upset like holding my pee for a long time because of the traffic. haha that was stupid but trust me, that was annoying!

i'm just too tired to describe my day. but well, looking at the bright side
1. i got my holiday plan with jhoan all settled
2. boredom made me texted my friends and had some chitchat
3. having our dinner plan cancelled, i learnt to cook today. i cook! *bangga nih
4. lessons learnt, another step to maturity
5. i had some time to reflect and come to a conclusion that God is good, all the time
6. weird, but i love today! it is not wasted for nothing but rather useful for me to rethink and reevaluate my self. i think i'll be needing this kind of day, but not too much okay God? :p

nighty night! :)

sleepover partyyy

2008-09-24T05:52:00.000-07:00

who: nia chibi sartob
when: last wednesday
where: chibi's house
what we did: photobox at pim. play with jay, her lil talkative brother. trying on her mom's vintage clothes. photoshoots. swimming. blowing bubbles. photoshoots again. shop at pasar senen and blokM.

take1

take2

swimming

paintball-ing

2008-09-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

i went paintball-ing for the first time! :p it was fuuuunn. but i got so many mosquito bites -.- i wonder why on earth am i so attractive to mosquitos? okay, so the paintball thingy was a kind of get together for the 4science students after exams *yeeesss exams are over!* anyway, these are the pictures

4211 foto dan sumpit jepang

2008-09-05T01:44:00.000-07:00

ada.apa.dengan.nia?

1. senin udah exam! ckck time does fly fast. ga krasa udah 1term aja, cepet banget. dan skrg harusnya gw blajar tp malah asik online. niat awalnya sih cuma mau denger lagu smbil blajar, trs gw inget baru dpt foto2 jepang dari ms helny, jadi liat2 deh, krn liat2 jadi mellow trs jd mikir2, diem2, trs jadi tergoda buka fs...terus..terus..terus ya udah deh ujung2 nya ga blajar.

2. total foto yang kekumpul dalam 1folder pictures di laptop gw ada 4211! gila ga tuh. total sub folder nya ada 94. parah ya hahaha. ga tau deh sisa2 foto lain yang kececeran. skrg gw bingung deh, sebegitu banyaknya tumpukan foto, jadi susah mau nyari yg lagi dipengenin.

mending:
a. disimpen semua, supaya semua detail2 memori ga akan terlupa (termasuk foto2 yang ga terlalu bagus dan asal jepret)
b. di apus semua yang ga ada gw nya *hihi :p
c. di apus yang agak2 ga penting jadi lbih dkit tapi ga banyak foto2 ga guna

mending yang mana ya?

3. KANGEN JEPANG. dsana seru banget, cuma kenal selama 1minggu, ga bisa saling ngomong, kbanyakan cuma pake bahasa tubuh, tapi pas mau pisah nangisnya gila2an, sampe kayak ada yang meninggal. trs lagi fotobox tau2 nangis2an di dalem box, untung ga ngantri yg mau foto. trs kita bli gelang persahabatan. trus pas pisah slg kasih kado perpisahan sama surat2 :( hiks

4. gw lagi baca bukunya jodi picoult 'the tenth circle' bagus banget banget. tebelnya lebih dari alkitab, ukuran nya jg lebih besar, pertamanya udah males takut ga sanggup, ternyata 3 hari udah mau selese. seru banget, jodi emang pinter, semua buku2nya bagus2, research nya bagus, topiknya berat. bener2 mesti mikir. design covernya simple2 tapi bagus banget, deep banget, bener2 reflect a quote that says 'picture speaks louder than a thousand words' (ps: click the link to view the website!)

5. waktu gw plg dari jpang, gw oleh2in mba gw dari kcil yang gw panggil 'kak eli' dompet. beberapa hari berlalu, dia blg tnyata dia pengen bgt sumpit jpang. sayang telat, sumpitnya udah gw kasih temen sama oma. karna gw sayang ka eli, pas sahabat gw ke jepang, gw nitip sumpit buat mba gw (ps: sahabat gw ini sering ke rumah, dan para mba2 gw suka sama dia, katanya ganteng HAHAHA)

gw ga nyangka tnyata dia inget titipan gw, pas mau gw ganti duitnya dia blg 'ah ga usah ni, itung2 buat fans' *yeah right -.- hahaha

tadi gw kasih sumpitnya, dia seneng banget! sampe 'yampun ka niaaa, baik banget, ini beneran dari jepang? ya ampuun' wow ga nyangka sumpit bisa membawa kebahagiaan tiada tara ya. seneng bisa jadi berkat melalui sumpit hihi.

mba gw lari2 seneng ke suami nya.
mba: eeh aku dapet sumpit jepang dari ka nia loooh *nada bangga
suaminya: *stlah diliat2* lah? bedanya sama sumpit disini apa? sama aja
gw: eh iya kak, itu sama aja ya, hehe *gw jadi ga enak*
mba: *masih kesenengan* gapapa, yg penting kan udah terbang naik psawat dari jepang. asli jepang loh!

ah kak eli. aku pasti sedih ntar di singapur ga ada ka eli yang masak makanan enak2, yang suka crita2 bareng, tentang aku pas kecil, tentang lomba tumpeng 17an yang ka eli dicurangin gara2 jurinya suaminya lawan ka eli, tentang suami ka eli yang kalo laper marah2 terus baik lagi waktu di masakin, tentang mbak2 lain dirumah yang lagi puber demen nya pacaran.

(hey my bestie! mudah2an lo jadi turut seneng denger mba gw berlonjak bahagia karna sumpit pemberianmu :p)

random melancholy chatter

2008-08-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Almost 7.30am. It is unusual – me waking up so early today. I greet my Father in heaven, thanking Him for the new day, and read some bible passages.

Realizing that it’s still morning, I gently slide my curtain and opened my window. A sudden feeling rushed in as the morning wind blows into my room. It’s been so long I haven’t had the chance of enjoying nature especially the atmosphere of peaceful mornings. I had been so isolated with technology – seeing cars, buildings, being more indoor, and more sitting down in front of my laptop *I’m doing it even now*

I suddenly felt so melancholy. I remembered my childhood, a time never can be returned. Those times when I’m still in primary, all the ‘puppy love’s *yeah that was fun to remember*, and those times when I was always the class captain and we had to line up first before entering our class.

Anyway, it starts to rain. I see raindrops in my window, hear the sound of each drops sent from heaven reached the earth while listening to some worship songs. Ah, life. It gets tougher as we grow older. It used to be so simple, everything used to be so wonderful. Well, it is still wonderful now, but we all have to fight for it, don’t we? More mixed up feelings, more problems, more hellos, more goodbyes, and more unpredictable. Until finally you come to a point where you think, what is it all for? We are just ‘a flower quickly fading, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind’. Life is just so short, it is too sad if we don’t find a meaning, something worth, out of it.

Okay, so that moment when it still rained, I was just doing nothing but staring outside and thought ‘I won’t be looking out from the same window 2months from now’. Yeah this thought bores you, right? Well that’s what I always feel each time I get so melancholy. Luckily that mellow thingy doesn’t come so frequent.

And oh, actually there’s still some things in my mind that I’ve been wanting to say, but suddenly my melancholy is gone, and I just don’t feel like writing anymore. So, considering that I might easily bore you, and take your precious time away reading my random chatter, I come to a conclusion that I will really really spend my time wisely. And memories are God’s gift for us to always remember the bittersweet past and thank Him instead of crying, regretting, or longing for that moment to pass again. So, bye.

our very own ladies day

2008-08-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

girls

just wanna

have fun :p

4 girls - nia sartob eliza chibi

saturday night

pondok indah mall

semku and kyla's birthday

2008-08-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

hari ini semku sama kela ultah. karna kela udah 2taun berturut2 di surprise-in, kali ini giliran semku. niat ngerjain semku jam5 di permadani dengan alesan ada pelatihan gereja, malah balik kita yang di kerjain. semku baru pulang jam7 jadi rencana batal, kita smua bubar jalan graakk.

jam7 kita tadinya kumpul di rumah sempo, udah sms2 telv2 tnyata jadi nya di japos. pokoknya hape gw ga brenti berdering dari sore. singkat cerita..

ada 1 sms.
semPO: nia jadinya kumpul di japos ya..

wah tius ntar ga tau lagi, gw telv deh

nia: ius, tar kumpul di japos
tius: eh iya udah tau tadi semPO nelv gw

hape gw geter2 lagi. kali ini alver. nyasar nih anak, daritadi anak2 greja ngurusin ultah tau2 ada alver nelv

alver: nia ada pr sm tes apa aja?
nia: pr cuma physics, tes ada emath amath chem
alver: chem!? when?
nia: bsok ver. gw kayaknya ga sempet blajar nih. lagi mau surprise-in temen gw. lo jg ga usah blajar ya, susah gw ga ngertiii.
alver: ehhhmmm
nia: ahaha pasti lo juga ga bawa bukunya?
alver: iya
nia: yes brarti ga bs blajar!
alver: eh gw bisa minta ajarin hesti.. eh tapi hp hesti ilang ya. nia minta no rumahnya dong
nia: ga boleh! tar lo blajar lagi. gausah lah temenin gw aja :p
alver: ih kurang ajaaar. gw bisa minta mila
nia: udahlah ver gausaaahhh. gw ga blajar jg kok, cm tadi ngescan dikit2
alver: nah itu udah blajar namanya
nia: bloomm baru di scan, dikit2 doang. paling tau topik2nya trus coba recall2 udah ngerti ato belom, gimana2 gitu
alver: beh itu sih udah blajar. yaudah deh yaa
nia: okedeh slamat minta no telv hestia hahaha
alver: huh dadaaa

ga lama, hito telv lagi

hito: nia ntar jadinya di japos ya
nia: iya udah tau *udah mulai cape di telv2 mulu haha*
hito: ooh iya pokoknya kata ka mike jangan masuk k japos nya
nia: loh, surprise nya gimana?
hito: iya surprise nya diluar
nia: ga mau rugi ya? ga masuk makan di japos?
hito: iya, kita makan di warteg sama kambing2 *kayaknya dia jadi gedeg ahaha*
nia: yee. yaudah daa

tut tuuuut. sbelom ditutup udah ada waiting call dari semPO. ckck mau apa lagi ini anak.

sem: nia lo dimana?
nia: udah jalan lewatin bp
sem: tar kita kumpul di japos
nia: *buset udah tau guee!* lah lo kan udah bilang sama gue
sem: haha oia lupa dadaaa

gw masih kaget drtd telv ga ada abis2nya. di blakang mobil bena cuma ktawa2 ngliat temen2 gw yang ada2 aja. eeh tius telv.

tius: niaaa lo dmn?
nia: gw udah di jalan lewatin bp *mulai cape ngulang2 jawaban* knapa ius mau gw jemput?
tius: gausah ni gw sendiri aja
nia: emang lo dmn skrg?
tius: masih di rumah mau brangkat
nia: nebeng gw aja
tius: ga, gapapa. gw brangkat naik ojek. da niaa

trus gw cuma bengong2 mikir, jadi ni orang tujuan nelv gw ngapain yak? ngasitau dia jalan naik ojek?

pas udah sampe, kita kumpul di luar japos, nunggu aba2 dari si mama gahol mamanya semku buat masuk

mama semku: ayo masuk aja, aku tadi bilang mau pipis sama semku. semku udah marah2 itu soalnya dia mau pelatihan gereja udah telat banget, udah bawa2 gitar, tapi aku paksa mesti makan dulu, dia udah bete.

jegeeerr. gw lupa alesan pertama kita ada pelatihan, dia pikir dia telat padahal kita smua disini. aduuuh ayo alre sm yg lain cepeeett

tau2 jordy, adenya semku lari2 keluar

slh 1 dari kita: ckck ini anak ngapain, ntar semku curiga masa mau pipis juga pipis kok bareng2

jordy masuk lagi

semku: kok lama jor?
jordy: iya mama jadinya boker
semku: tadi katanya pipis?

ckck polos amat sih jordy.

di lantai atas, ada mba2 yang nyanyi2 gitu, si mama semku yang adalah mama gaul langsung maju ke panggung nyanyi2 dengan pedenya dengan joget2. dengan kaos pink stretch sama skinny jeans dan rambut wave panjang, kayaknya mending mamanya yang perform deh daripada si mba2 itu yg nyebelin berasa suaranya seksi. masa orang lagi seneng2 dia nyanyi kepedean suara kenceng2, trus ngetawain mamanya semku. ih sirik aje.

begitulah singkat cerita kejadian hari ini. cukup seru. happy birthday semku kela.

say the color

2008-08-25T09:45:00.001-07:00

it's just some random fun stuff to do. fyi, color, art, music, those thingy belong to the right side of the brain. while words, logic, and reasoning, and stuff belong to the left side. so if you find it easy, then you're right brain is stronger. have fun!

kuning biru oranye
hitam merah hijau
ungu kuning merah
oranye hijau hitam
biru merah ungu
hijau biru oranye

idea from provoke magazine
provoke-online.com

weekend. indonesia. hyubed.

2008-08-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

sabtu: jam4an kurang, gw, ka mieke, sama hyubed *baca: cowo2 pentolan jc bintaro yang banyak fans nya, hahaha* (ada joger alre hito dave rio semku sempo) pergi naik mobil gajah ke depok buat pelayanan. sebelom nya kita udah latian dulu di permadani dari jam12. gw duduk di depan sama ka mieke, terasingkan dari hyubed. gw jadi pemegang peta aja deh, ngeraba2 jalan, seru juga, berasa jadi dora.

pas nyampe gw kaget. ternyata gede. itu semacam konser, kkr, acara 17an, gitu deh. dekornya jg bagus, ada choirnya pake kaos satu orang satu huruf bacanya 'the last generation'. karna kelaperan, kita ke kansup *kantin supir* pesen mi goreng pake telor 8porsi. lamaaaaa banget. masak nya satu2, sambil nonton lomba 17an pula. perut udah bunyi2 kelaperan. jadinya kita ngobrol2 dlu, ngakak2, malah bikin tambah laper haha.

acaranya bagus, mereka bawain lagu2 true worshipper, keren2. we had an awesome night. lompat2, joget2, nyanyi buat Tuhan. jam8.30an, waktu nya manggung *gw pikir kita bakal manggung di awal jadi gw bisa langsung pulang ke ultah rachelle, hiks shell maafkan akuh!* kita bawain lagu andalan 'Allahku dahsyat' sama 'Tuhan Allah ditengah kita'. dua2nya di aransemen.

kotbahnya dibawain ka angga, ada altar call juga. kayaknya doanya doang sampe 1jam deh. tapi ga bosen, kita smua stay dalam hadirat. tantangan pertama buat jadi God's hands and feet, trus jadi history maker, dan yang trahir jadi guardian buat temen2.

sayang ga foto2 :(

minggu: semangat kemerdekaan masih kental banget, spirit ke-indonesia-an masih panas2nya. hari ini kita smua kembaran pake batik. joger worshipleader, nia hito jojo adrian singer, kyla semku rio dave musik. ada dua lagu yang bagus; berjuta tangan sama doa kami.

berjuta tangan

berjuta tangan terulur menantikan
uluran kasih dan pengharapan
hadapi masa depan

berjuta tangan terulut menantikan
kasih yang besar dariMu Tuhan
ampunilah bangsaku

ini tanganku ini kakiku
utuslah aku britakan injilMu
ini doaku, air mataku
s'lamatkan lah Indonesia ku

doa kami

syukur untuk setiap rencanaMu
dan rancanganMu yang mulia
dalam satu tubuh kami bersatu
menjadi duta kerajaanMu
kuucapkan berkat atas Indonesia
biar kemuliaan Tuhan akan nyata

bagi bangsa ini kami berdiri
dan membawa doa kami kepadaMu
sesuatu yang besar pasti terjadi
dan mengubahkan negri kami
hanya namaMu Tuhan di tinggikan
atas seluruh bumi

lagu doa kami nyentuh banget. tadi kita nyanyiin nya sambil gandengan tangan satu ruangan. kita sama2 mohon ke Tuhan supaya ada perubahan buat Indonesia. keren banget deh, kita nyanyiin bener2 dengan iman, kalo sesuatu yang besar pasti terjadi.

abis itu ibadah selese, kita ngobrol2 bentar, milih2 mau makan dimana, eeeh keburu di panggil buat pelayanan lagi di kebaktian pra jc. pra jc seru, jadi berasa di hillsong kids. kita nyanyi2 sambil nari2. openingnya kita nyanyi Indonesia Raya, tapi dasar si dave, beat nya jadi agak2 jazzy gitu, seru deh, haha. buat ngabisin waktu, kita main banyak games, salah satunya main tebak lagu, 'berpacu dalam melodi' ahaha. tapi si joger curang ngasih tau jawaban nya ke slh satu anak :p

setaun yang lalu: jadi inget, persis taun lalu, pas 17an, ada lomba fashion show. kyla cherish hito tius jadi modelnya. pada cakep2 banget haha. ga nyangka, pas gw inget2 lagi, gw langsung mikir 'wow cepet banget! setaun udah berlalu. ga kerasa' time flies fast. jadi mesti bener2 make use of it. 1taun aja kerasa cepet, apalagi 80hari. tuh kan, mikirin itu lagi, sedih.

ga kerasa, udah lama juga gw temenan sama anak2 gereja, hyubed dan kawan2. biarpun cuma ketemu pas weekend tapi rasanya dekeeet banget. they're the kind of friends who are not always seen, but always there. hehe. seneng kalo udah ngumpul, dan bisa ketawa2 gila, bisa saling support, saling doain, suatu pertemanan yang jarang ditemuin di dunia luar.

banyak banget memori yang kita buat. banyak inside jokes yang cuma kita yang ngerti. banyak cerita2 yang ga bosen2nya diulang. banyak banget yang terlalu berharga buat ditinggalin. ah gimana nih, pokoknya gw harus kuat di singapur. Tuhan, nia berdoa supaya di sngapur Tuhan kasih nia temen2 yang sebaik hyubed dan ccy :)

ah kalo mau di flashback semua, terlalu banyak memori nya, terlalu banyak kejadian2. ada yang seru bikin ngakak, ada yang bikin senyum kangen, ada juga yang pait2 haha. tapi smuanya jadi bikin persahabatan nya seru. ntar aja deh, bikin post khusus tentang anak2 gereja.

1. cewek2. nia-model-tili-karin-model
2. hito ceris kela tius. catwalk-ing
3. 8:jogerrard. 9:tiustuis
4. hyubed united :p

si belut di hari kemerdekaan

2008-08-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

jumat: ada yg beda hari ini. gw ke skolah pake sragam putih2. hari ini perayaan 17an. yeaayyy. gw jadi apa sih tuh namanya yang mimpin choir gitu tangan nya gerak2 nge-aba2-in irama satu dua tiga empat gitu? hahaha. dirijen? jirigen? dirjen? apa lah itu.

terus kita upacara. GW KANGEN UPACARA! kangen esde. kangen jadi paskibra dulu. kangen ke-indonesia-an yg terasa lebih kental dulu. kangen pelajaran bu mona *yang dulu heboh berantem sama pa misran* nyanyi2 lagu daerah. kangen pelajaran nari tradisional bu budi yang dulu gw slalu paling smangat paling depan. gw masih inget tuh dulu nari mentok yang gaya kaya bebek2 gitu, nari meong *kalo ga salah* terus ada gaya aneh guling2 sama jadi kaya kucing gmana gitu. ada nari bambu trus bambu nya suka kita pake perang2an, ada nari piring trus piring gw pecah. ah kangen. masa kecil yang ga bisa diulang.

jadi inget, dulu waktu paskibra pernah malu2in. bendera jadi putih merah pernah. bendera pas di bentangkan kelipet pernah. terus pernah lagi lagu indonesia raya nya udah selese tapi bendera nya belom nyampe ujung tiang, gw narik nya kepelanan. yah daripada kecepetan ya, kalo udah pol kan ga lucu nungguin lagunya selese.

tapi gw jadi prihatin. gw inget guru gw bilang, orang indo tuh pinter2, ngerti dunia luar, globalisasi dan segala macem, tapi ga ngerti negara nya sendiri. gw jg ga mau sok pinter, coba tanya gw kota ini ibukota nya provinsi apa aja gw blom tentu apal. padahal dulu sd bisa. sayang deh. klise, tapi emang indonesia tuh kaya budaya banget. kalo generasi sekarang yang notabene gaul2, canggih2, ga gaptek, high tech banget, udah ga care sama budaya, gmn nasib bangsa kedepan nya? jadi sedih. ahir2 ini karna gw udah mau ke sngapur, gw jadi ngidam jajanan indo mulu. tapi kok susaaaaaaaah banget nyari nya yaa? padahal ini nyari makanan indo di indo loh! yg bnyk dimana2 malah masakan luar. gw seneng banget waktu di skywalk pim ada jajanan tradisional. demen deh gw. makan kerang telor sama kue apa tuh yang bentuknya kaya tete. tuh kan, gw bahkan ga tau namanya.

dan sekarang di bidang edukasi juga, orangtua kayaknya lebih tertarik kalo anaknya masuk international, kayaknya keren gitu. emang bagus sih, gw jg di internasional, tapi ga enaknya, ke-indonesia-an nya tuh pudar. masa waktu upacara lagu2 indonesia ga apal. aduh.

gw jadi inget satu lagu nasional yang keren.

tanah airku tidak kulupakan

kan terkenang selama hidupku

biarpun saya pergi jauh

tidak kan hilang dari kalbu

tanah ku yang ku cintai

engkau ku hargai

meskipun banyak negri kujalani

yang mahsyur permai di kata orang

tetapi kampung dan rumahku

disanalah kurasa senang

tanah ku tak kulupakan

engkau ku banggakan

gw nyanyi nya 'jep' banget. biarpun gw udah ke malaysia, india, jepang, hongkong, tetep aja rumah gw di indo, hati gw di indo. ntar jg gw mau ke sngapur. gw pengen, gw ke sngapur buat nuntut ilmu. belajar dari sekolah kehidupan. gmana hidup sendiri, ngatasin masalah tanpa orangtua, dan ahirnya gw jadi dewasa. itu yang gw mau melebihi ilmu pengetahuan yang bakal gw dapet dari sekolah formal. dan kalo udah selesai, gw pengen balik ke indo buat menabur di negri tercinta *ceileh.

oia pas 17an di sekolah, ada banyak performance dari primary division. i was like wow-ing all the time, geez they were irresistably cute! haha. imut2 banget deh, pinter lagi. yang gw suka pas mreka main burung kakatua pake angklung. terus ukuran angklungnya hampir sebadan mereka. trus kan angklungnya mesti di geter2in gitu, trus badan mereka ikutan geter lucu bangettt!

hari berlanjut. ada banyak games per house. dunstan tigers gak kalah2 amat kok. mostly second place i guess. ada balap karung, main enggrang, jalan pake batok, futsal pake sarung, seru seru! terus gw bosen jadi gw mainin permainan anak primary pas udah ga dipake. caranya ada gelas di gantung di tali, trus kita mesti mindahin gelasnya dari ujung tali ke ujung satunya dengan cara ditiup. gw ga tahan ngakak2 jadi kalah huhu. udah gitu si tama anak primary nginjek rambut gueee! emang rambut gw keset, hiks.

left to right, top to bottom:

1. gw sm mila siap2 mau lomba

2. niup setengah ketawa

3. liat tuh di ujung kanan si tama godain gw sblom rambut gw dia injek

4. tampang kesakitan gw abis di injek rambutnya

5. meniup lebih bersemangat

6. berhasil!

ada kejadian lagi. GW NANGIS. gara2 belut. huh. abis lomba, belut2 nganggur di ambil sama elmo dkk. terus mreka ngejer2 gw sambil bawa2 belut. gw histeris takut banget. jijay belut geli2 licin2 gitu. kasian juga deh belutnya. udah megap2 kurang air tuh. gw saking parno nya sampe di isengin pake daun aja treak2. trus udah agak tenang karna makan es, eh tau2 dari blakang ada yg ngagetin 'nia belut!' trus gw ngerasain sesuatu di leher gw. LEHER! trus reflek gw jepit leher gw gitu, dan gw merasakan sesuatu yang geli2 berlendir, ternyata belutnya dilempar ke leher gueeeee! ohmai ohmai. gw triak2 takut. katanya di leher gw ada coklat2 merah gitu, hiiii. tau2 air mata menetes, gw nangis. wow. gw aja sampe kaget, buset nia segitunya ya. si lauren langsung ga enak minta maap mulu hahaha.

trus, sadisnya, tersiarlah kabar bahwa si belut malang itu udah dipotong2 sama si tara. ckck cewek macho memang si tara itu hehe :p

beristirahatlah dengan tenang hai kau si belut. selamat 17an semuanya.