My Personal Website

Just finished to publish my personal website (http://www.mysmu.edu/phdis2008/lindawati.2008/default.htm). Finally, managed to finish it. Thank you to all my friends that help me making this website. Thanks to Herman who helped me in making the design and transform my picture to a lovely header. Thanks to Eddy who helped me to check the grammar, wording and language. Thanks to Helda who became my final checker for my website (she check everything, especially the content). And thanks to the others that give me a very big support when I'm developing my website.

Feel free to visit my website and give me comments ...

Short Trip to Hanoi – Halong Bay

It was almost three month since my short trip to Hanoi and Halong Bay, Vietnam. During this one month, I didn’t have time to write a post about that trip. Correction, it is not because I didn’t have the time, but because I’m too lazy to write it :D. The trip was short but memorable; it is one of trip that I wouldn’t forget.

To make it short, I went to Hanoi and Halong Bay with 7 other crazy friends, 4 girls and 3 boys. Our trip was arranged by a tour travel agency and thanks to Nellie, whose already dedicated her time to negotiate with the tour travel, we had a fair price for 4 day and 3 night trip. We planned this trip for around 2 to 3 months.

The trip started on Tuesday, 30 April at 1.30 pm. We gathered at Changi Airport and after all of us arrived, we checked in. We used Vietnam Airlines from Changi to Hanoi. The plane took off at 4pm (Singapore time) and arrived at Hanoi at 7pm (Vietnam time, which is one hour late then Singapore). We were greeted by our tour guide, Kuang, and our driver, Toing (if I’m not mistaken), both are Vietnamese men. They escorted us to Restaurant Green Papaya to have dinner. We ate Vietnamese Cuisine there. The food was good; at least we all liked the food.

After dinner, we went to Jasper Hotel, the hotel that we were going to stay during our stay in Hanoi. Kuang helped us to check in and arranged our rooms. Although there had been a little misunderstanding about the room arrangement, we finally resolved it. After room arrangement solved, we wanted to explore night activities around Hanoi, so we took taxi to go to Hoan Kiem Lake. The lake was near our hotel, it only took about 5 minutes with taxi. Hoan Kiem Lake is historical lake in centre of Hanoi and serves as one of places for public activities. Although it was already quite late, 9pm, the lake was still very crowded. Perhaps because it was weekend, so a lot of Vietnamese stayed out late and spent their time in the lake. There was also a kind of performance by local singer there and a lot of people watched it. We walked and took pictures along the lake. We spent about 30 minutes there and then we rushed back to our hotel because it was started to rain. Here we experienced the traffic of Hanoi. The traffic was terrible. When we want to cross the street, not only we had to pay attention to the left and right side of the road, we also had to pay attention to the front and back side of the road. Terrible right? Luckily we managed to cross the street in one piece.

I almost forgot, on our way to the hotel, we dropped by on one of the seller on the side walk and tasted the Mix Fruit Ice (various fruits mix with ice, sugar, milk) and sit on small chair (looks like chair that is used by children).

On the second day of our trip, our driver picked us from the hotel at 8am, just after we finished our breakfast. And our five hour bus journey to Halong Bay begun .... usually it only took about 3 to 4 hour drive from Hanoi to Halong Bay, but unfortunately, it was the national day of Vietnams, so a lot of people went for holiday and made the traffic very crowded. After arrived at Halong City, we waited almost 30 minutes for our boat, Hai Long Suite (I hope it is right). Our boat cannot go to the pier (I don’t want to call it a harbour, because it only a small port) so we had to take another small boat to embark to the boat. At the boat, we had our welcome drink and listened to Cruise briefing. In the cruise briefing, one of the boat staffs explains about the cruise activities, places that we were going to visit and onboard activities. After that, we savoured a delicious Vietnamese lunch as Hai Long Suite heads to Bai Tu Long Bay passing the towns of Hon Gai and Cam Pha, Oan lagoon, Mat Quy (Monster Head) and Am Tich (Teapot) Islets and Vung Vieng fishing village (according to the itinerary).

We rested for a while in our cabins (the boat cabins is more comfortable and nicer than Jasper hotel rooms). We went to the sundeck and enjoyed the air and view there. And then, as stated in the itinerary, we docked for a while and visited Surprise Cave (Sung Sot), the largest and most impressive cave. Well, the boat was not actually docked, only anchored, but we used small boat to transfer us from the boat to the land. The cave is made by nature. There are three large grottoes, each festooned with stalactites and stalagmites that take on different shapes, such as a dragon, tiger, and event Buddha Hand. In the end of the journey in the cave, we saw a spectacular view over the bay below. We spent a few minutes there to smell the fresh air and of course took a lot of pictures. Then, we climbed down and went back to the boat.

Back in the boat, there was an onboard activity, cooking demonstration. Because, all of us were not interested in cooking, so we skipped that activity and took rest in our cabin. We went to the sundeck again, enjoyed the air, and took pictures. According to the boat schedule, we should go to the fishing village after that, but unfortunately, we missed the small boat, so we cannot went to the fishing village. So we made another plan. Four of us, me included, went for kayaking.... while 4 others enjoyed a Happy Hour drink in the boat. After one hour kayaking, we got back in the boat, ordered drinks and went to bath. Then..... dinner ..... seafood seat dinner onboard. After dinner, we sat on the sundeck and enjoying sky view at night ...

The next morning, we were still on the boat. We should have started our day with Tai Chi on the Sundeck, but we skipped that activity. :D it’s too early to wake up. We had a light breakfast and then went to Virgin Island. At Virgin Island, we climbed almost 200 steps to go to the top and viewed the bay below. It is an amazing view. After that, brunch was waiting for us. We ate our brunch as the boat leisurely back to the pier. We disembark at Halong Pier, Halong City and proceed back to Hanoi.

Similar from Hanoi to Halong, our bus journey from Halong to Hanoi also took about 5 hour. But again, we didn’t feel bored. We only stopped once on the souvenir shop. In Hanoi, we picked up Kuang, our tour guide, and enjoyed late lunch at A Taste of Hanoi Restaurant. After that, we rushed to see Water Puppet Show in Thang Long Puppet Theatre. The show divided into 17 water puppet performances with different themes and music. The show took about one hour. It was a nice show that captures several legends and habits in Hanoi. After the show, we rushed to the nearest shopping mall. Should enjoyed shopping everywhere we go :D and that’s the end of the third day in Vietnam.

The last day in Vietnam, just before we went to Hanoi airport, we visited the biggest pagoda in Hanoi (already forgot the name.... :D). We didn’t spend much time there.. we only spent enough time to walked around the pagoda and took pictures. Then... went directly to airport...
That’s it. That was the end of our short journey to Vietnam. It was a pleasant journey ... and a journey that worth to remember :D.. thanks friends for having this journey together...

My crazy friends that went to Vietnam with me: Helda, Nellie, Lilis, Maryana, Harta, Handy and Bong (in no order in particular)....

Our photographer: Helda, Nellie, Harta and Bong ....

A Few Pictures together....

Stairway to heaven???

Me in The Boat (Love this Pic... thanks friends :D)

Together - minus photographer (Bong)

Together - minus photographer (Nellie)

Together - minus Bong & Helda

Me and my background :D

Together and Halong Bay View

Lets Jump....

With Boat Crews..

Girls only

Who's more scary??

In my sleepless night

In my sleepless night
I’m often wondering
Where is my soul mate?
Who is my soul mate?
When I will meet him?
Is soul mate truly exists?
Or have I met my soul mate but because of my mistakes I drove him away?

In my sleepless night
I miss saying good night to someone before I sleep
I miss smiling to someone every time I meet him
I miss laughing with someone
I event miss arguing with someone
I event miss fighting with someone
I miss seeing around someone that can understand me

In my sleepless night
I would like to have someone that can
Cherish me
Support me
Encourage me
Love me
Make decision for me
Not because I’m not able to make decision for my self
But sometime it feels good to be able to let someone else make decision
I miss love ....

So this is what its feels like ..

I know that eventually I will hear about the “news”. But when I actually heard it, it felt like something hurt inside of me and make me want to cry. I can’t describe that feeling; it’s not a good feeling. I just know that I felt hurt inside. So this is what its feels like..

I’m finally able to feel it. Even thought that’s not a good feeling and I want to get rid of it as soon as possible but at least I realize one thing, I still can feel that. So is this meant that I’m still a woman that can be hurt? Not a woman that don’t have feeling at all. :P

Anyway, enough with this feeling. Just want to do my work as soon as possible and plan for my next explorer … :D

Pass All My Course Works

I finally know all my grades for this term course works. I manage to pass all the course works with 2 A- and 1 B+. It is not too bad I think, considering I only spent a minimum time for my entire assignments (except for DSS term paper class, I spent almost 1 month for that because my Prof asked me to submit it to a conference, even thought in the end, he and another Professor that we collaborate should re-writing it for conference submission :D ).

By passing entire course in this term, I completed my course work requirements. I already pass all 6 courses for my study. But after finishing the course works, doesn’t mean that my study become easier.. new challenges and researches will definitely come. It will be tougher than the course works. Should prepare my self for that …. Its not the time to be lazy … come on Linda … gambate ….. :D

My Two-day Trip to Melaka (Malacca), Malaysia

Last Saturday and Sunday, I went to Melaka (In English: Malacca), Malaysia. I went there with two-other friends. Melaka is a historical city centre that has been listed as a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO since 7 July 2008. Beside for its historical attraction, Malacca is also well-known for its food. Most notable of all is the Nyonya Asam laksa (Nyonya-Baba Cuisine) and Chicken Rice Ball. Nyonya Asam laksa is not made with curry powder, instead, it rich with various spices and taste a bit sour. I like the taste... it’s really good. Another food is Chicken Rice Ball. These rice-balls, about the size of golf balls are taken with boiled chicken flavoured with sauce and sesame oil. The rice itself is best taken with pounded chilli-sauce. We ate Nyonya Asam laksa and Chicken Rice Ball in Jonker Street. I already forgot the name of the shop that sells Nyonya Asam Laksa and Chicken Rice Ball, but in Jonker Street, we can find those two very easily. Another food (it’s a desert actually) that I like in Melaka is Cendol covered with brown Melaka Sugar. The cendol is tasted very sweet.

(from: www.jonkerchickenriceball.com)

Nyonya Asam Laksa

Cendol

Other than enjoying the food in Melaka, we also went to other places, most of it historical places. We went to Christ Church, which the structure reflects original Dutch architecture and has hand-crafted benches, jointless ceiling skylights, copper replica of the bible, headstone written in Armenian language and replica of “The Last Supper”. Other place that we went to is St Paul Hill, where we saw St. Paul Church which is part of the Malaccan Museums Complex. The St. Paul Church is easy to recognise because it has Statue of St Francis Xavier. St Francis Xavier was Roman Catholic missionary who spent several years in Melaka, serving the poor and sick and translate all simple prayers and instructions to Malay. The body of St. Francis Xavier was interred here temporarily before it was taken to Goa, India. We also passed through the Proclamation of Independence Memorial, didn’t have time to enter the museum.

St. Paul Church

Beside the historical places, we also went to Jonker Street and two modern shopping complexes, Mahkota Parade and Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall. Jonker Street (or Jalan Hang Jebat) is famous for its antique goods, foods and carnival-like atmosphere during weekend nights. We went there to taste the food and went shopping.... there is a lot of unique stuff there, and the price is still reasonable. I bought a t-shirt there; the shop keeper said that they only made 1 t-shirt for 1 design and 1 colour. So, there would be no one that has the same t-shirt (in same design and colour) like I do. At Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall, we went shopping again. We bought several items in Padini Concept Store that sell all clothes, shoes, and goods from Padini Holdings brands, which are Padini, Seed, Vincci, PDI, Padini Authentics, P & Co, Miki Kids & Miki Maternity. Padini is a well-known Malaysia-origin brand. Another shopping mall that we went to was Mahkota Parade. We went there just to eat Nandos. One of my friends is really like to eat Nandos, she fall in love with its famous peri-peri chicken. So we went there to eat it. I order ¼ of chicken with very-hot peri-peri flavour. In my opinion, Nandos’s peri-peri chicken is too spicy and that’s all that I can taste. I cannot taste other flavour because it was too spicy. I think for the next time, I will choose mild-spicy flavour, so I can still taste other flavour.

I almost forgot, at night, we took river tour. It is almost the same with River Taxi in Singapore. The River Tour took about 45 minutes to travel 9 KM river. The scenery around the river is very nice, especially at night; all the lights make the scenery more special. During the river tour, we could see the Eye of Malaysia, Maritime Museum, water-wheel and other scenery. I really like the scenery and it made 45 minutes flies.

That is the story of my two-day trip to Melaka, Malaysia. I can wait for another trip ....

NB: All picture (except the rice ball) provided by Helda....

Pass with B+

Finally, the lecturer published the result for the DB class. I managed to pass with B+. Luckily…..yey…… Usually (about several years ago when I was doing my undergraduate and master program), I would be furious if I got grade lower than A. But now, I’m happy just to pass the course. Hmmm… does this mean that I’m lowering my own expectation? Or am I not as ambitious as I was before? Does it even matter?

As for my other courses, the results haven’t been published yet. I still have to wait for several more days. Hopefully, I can pass all my courses in this term with good score.

My last week in Term 2

Just finished my last exam for this term. I still have 1 more term paper and 1 more critic essay. The deadline is this Friday. I think I can finish it tomorrow. After that I’m free… yey……

But now, I am worry about my score, especially for DB course. I’m not sure whether I can pass that course. The DB lecturer already posted the score for other assignments beside the exam and the result was not too good. Hopefully I will get enough score at the exam so that I can still pass the course. I just hope for enough score to pass the minimum requirement. Hopefully… hopefully….. But if worse thing happen, hopefully I can accept that too…. Just hopping for the best things to come ..

My First Songkran Day in Singapore

Last Sunday, I joined Songkran Day celebration in UBT (Uttamayanmuni Buddhist Temple). Songkran is a Thai New Year which is celebrated every year from April 13 to April 15. Songkran was traditionally a time to visit and pay respects to elders, including family members, friends and neighbors. But in UBT, the main activities in Songkran are pray, give food to the monks and (the most exiting thing) throwing water. Throwing water has a meaning of its own not just a fun activity. Throwing water to each other believed as a way to give blessing. The water is considered as “blessed” water because it had been poured over the Buddhas for cleansing. In Thailand, throwing water is used to relieve the heat because April is the hottest month.

For me, without even know the meaning of Songkran at the first time, Songkran festival was really fun. First, we did several chant and gave food (or in my case money, because I didn’t bring any food. It was my last Singapore dollar :(( didn’t have money.. hiks.. ) to the monk. Then, after lunch, we followed the parade around the temple. Before the parade, one lady put a cold white powder in my face, so my face had two streaks in each cheek. The parade was lead by Thai music players and dancers, followed by person that brought money tree and the rest of parade participants. We walked and made a little movement like dance around the temple.

Musical Parade

Traditional Music

After the parade, we poured water to Buddha statues and the monks. The monks were sitting near the Buddha statues, so we can pour water on them. Then they can pour the water back to us. It was considered as blessing. There were a lot of people that waited in line to pour the water, and because at first I didn’t know what to do, I queued at almost in the end of the line. After that, we threw water at each other. Everyone is wet. No one is allowed to stay dry. If anyone still looked dry, people would throw water on him/her. Bhikku Keminda, an Indonesian monk in UBT, didn’t want to lose the chance to throw water on us. After the line was over, he got a bunch of water and threw it on us. Such a fun event.

Pouring Water

Me, Helda and Vivi

Even though I was wet and I felt dizzy (and a bit sick again :(( ) after that, I was really happy. It was really fun. Celebrating Songkran day in the UBT was really fun and I cant wait to celebrate Songkran again…..

Another Karaoke Journey ................

Yesterday, I went through another a bit crazy journey and full of challenge but we all felt happy :D. Even thought I was still sick, yes, I haven’t healed yet. Still have cough :(. Yesterday, I went to JB again .. for karaoke. :D But the journey was a bit crazy and adventurous. The journey started in Bugis at 9am. We supposed to meet at Bugis at 9am but because I had to find ATM to withdraw money, I arrived at 9.20. But, I was not the last person that arrived. My other friend (RK) arrived at 10 because he thought that we met at 10. (HD already called him the day before and told him to meet us at 9 but he simply forgot........... arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh).

After we all gathered at 10am, we went to buy something to eat first. So, we (me, RK and HD) went to Bugis Junction. I forgot to mention, there was only the three of us that went to JB for karaoke because the Karaoke room in JB only have 3 mic and all of us didn’t want to share the mic, so we decided not to ask other people to join us. So, the journey was only for three of us, two guys one girl. Back to Bugis Junction. We first decided to buy McChicken @ McD, but because it was still 10am McChicken had not been served yet. So, we bought BreadTalk instead.

Then, we went to the bus station to take bus to JB. But, not like what we expected, the queue in the bus station was very long. There are 3 kind of bus from Bugis bus station to JB, first SBS 170, Singapore JB Express (SJE) and CW 2. We thought we should just queue at the shortest one. So, we queued for SJE. But SJE busses were very few, arggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, so we had to wait a very long time to finally get a bus (about 1 hour). The time was showed around 11.30 when we finally got on the bus. So, for the next time, don’t take SJE.... just queue for CW 2. I think its better. This was the first challenge in this crazy adventure. The journey in bus took about 30 minutes.

We arrived at Woodland checkpoint around 12. The checkpoint was not crowded, so it only took a few minutes to pass the checkpoint. Then, we went downstairs to continue our journey to JB immigration using SJE. The queue was so long and disordered. Arghhhhhhh, Yes, this was the second challenge. People queued in any direction. It was not like a queue but it was more like a bunch of people push each other around. Because the queue was already in mess, we decided to follow the mess and just cut the lines :D .... we were not a very discipline people. After 15 to 25 minutes, we managed to get bus..... yey........

The third challenge was on the bus. The bus took almost 45 minutes to reach JB immigration. :( It was a very long journey because the traffic was very crowded and jammed everywhere. The bus was very hot too; I thought the AC was not working properly. So, it was like “sauna” in the bus. All sweating, we arrived at JB immigration checkpoint where another challenge took place. The condition there was not that good also. The queue was very long and also disordered. We took the shortest line as always, but it turned out that the line was merged with another line, so it was also a very long line... and it took us almost an hour to pass the checkpoint. :(.... all my cloth was wet and sticky because of sweat. :( When we finally got through the checkpoint it was already 2pm and we all starved.

We went to have lunch at City Square, only a few minutes walked from JB checkpoint. We ate Sudanese food and after that went around shopping a little bit. I bought a new pair of shoes and several t-shirts.

After we finished shopping, we want to go to another shopping mall, Pelangi Plaza, to karaoke. I didn’t realize it was raining heavily outside. We tried to find a taxi to go to Pelangi Plaza. In the taxi stand, there was no queuing; everyone was tried to in to the taxi first. It was a bit chaotic there. I realized that HD and RK would never get a taxi because they not used to do that. Especially if they have to grab a taxi from other women. So, I had to find taxi for us. I tried not to go too far and too front from the taxi stand shelter because it was still raining. But if I not went to the front, I would not got a taxi. It was such a heavy job. Before all my cloth got wet, I finally managed to grab a taxi for us and up we went to Pelangi.

We arrived at Pelangi at 5.30. We went directly to Red Box, karaoke place. After asked the receptionist, we had to wait about one hour to get karaoke room. I went to the toilet to change my t-shirt. Did you know that to go to the toilet we had to pay 20 cent per person? In JB most of the place is like that. We had to pay to go to the toilet.

To spend one hour, we went around the Pelangi Plaza. But there were not a lot of things to see in there. At 6.30 we came back to Red Box and after a bit negotiation on the price and member card, we were ready to karaoke. We managed to get 1 student price and member card. We can use the member card next time to get a 1 free entree. We also had a dinner buffet. It was already included in the karaoke price. The food in the dinner buffet was delicious. I ate tepanyaki, the soup, the ice cream (even thought I was still cough :P), the fruit etc..... we spent more than 3 hour there. Even thought I still cough, I can sang ..... yey....

After karaoke, we came to the last challenge. The last challenge was how to get back to Singapore. It was already late... around 10.30 when we arrived at JB immigration checkpoint. Luckily, the queue in JB immigration was very short. But, that was not the problem here. The problem was how to get back to Singapore. We didn’t know which bus was still operated. The queue for the bus was also very long. So, we queued in two different lines. I queued in smrt 950 bus and RK queued in CW 2 bus, while HD tried to find some information about the buses. HD talked to several bus officers there to find out which buses still operated. They said that CW drivers and officers were no longer there so it was very likely that there were no more CW operated. Then, HD tried to look around and tried to find the shortest and the fastest bus that can take us back to Singapore while I and RK stayed at the queue. HD finally found SJE (Singapore JB Express) bus that already ready to go to Singapore and the queue was short. He called us to go to the queue and we all finally managed to get in to the bus, even thought there was no more seat, so we had to stand ..... but we were on our own way to go home to Singapore ... yey ..................

The bus stopped in Singapore checkpoint at almost 11.30pm. We started another queue in the Singapore Checkpoint. Because I cannot scan my passport like HD and RK, so I had to go in separated queue. As usual, I chose the shortest queue, but again, it was not a best one. My queue was moving very slow. The immigration officer was working very slowly. She only finished checking one person while the other officer in the other line finished checking five people. So, it was a very long queue.

At the time I passed the immigration it was already 12am. After immigration, we needed to find SJE bus again to continue our journey to Bugis. Luckily, there was one SJE bus waiting to go to Bugis. So we run the stair and followed the queue for that bus. We got in the bus and started 30 minutes journey to Bugis. I tried to sleep for a while. We arrived at Bugis at around 12.40. Because we wanted to go to the toilet, we walked to Raffles Hospital. From the hospital, I took a taxi to go home while the others walked to their home. I arrived about 10 minutes later and felt very tired.

That was my journey that day. A crazy and challenging Journey................

My one week sick....

It started one week ago. In rainy Sunday afternoon. I went home from temple and lunch with a friend and get caught up in the rain. I went home with a bit wet cloth and wet hair. When I opened my room door, I saw something that I didn’t expected. I can’t go in to the room. So, I stayed in front the room and after that went to the toilet. It was really an unexpected thing. Because of it, I can’t directly took bath and hit the bed as I planned before. So, I managed to go inside my room and took my laptop and went to the study room. The AC in the study room was really cold and directly hit my head.


A day after that, I started to get a cold and fever..... after the ISM class, I went to see the Doctor. He gave me 3 kind of medicine, one is Decolgen for my cold, I think, one is some menthol for my sore throat and another one is cough syrup. I drank all of that obediently until the medicine is run out. But, after drank all the medicine, I had not recover from my illnesses. I still got cold and fever... hm... Maybe the medicine was not strong enough for me. So, yes.. I’m still sick, until now, when I wrote this.

Even thought I felt sick, I still had to finish one my term paper last Friday because the due date was on Friday midnight and on that Friday, I also had to give presentation for another term paper. At Thursday I also had to meet my supervisor to discuss my further research. So, it was a busy week. I don’t know was it because of the illness or because I was just too lazy, from Tuesday to Thursday, I could not write anything to finish my term paper. On Thursday, I only managed to finish my presentation for the day after. So, I thought I was in a real problem. On Friday, I presented. Even thought not went as well as I want it, but at very least I managed to present my term paper. Then, after the class, I had to rush to do my other term paper, which was due that night. So, I used about 7 hours (from 4pm to 11pm) to finish the term paper. It was not as good as I wanted, but I at least I finished it. Hopefully my prof would satisfy with the idea and the result in that term paper and give me a good score. Man, I really need a good score, because I a little bit mess up when I gave the presentation for this term paper. Why my life is become bits mess up lately? What happen to me??

Back to my sick week, at Friday also, Bhante Kheminda called me to ask me how my condition was. He already knew that I was sick. I said that I’m still sick and cannot go to the Friday meditation class. Well, despite of my illness, I was also had to finish my term paper. That is why I cannot attend the meditation class. Sorry Bhante, I was not in my best shape lately and thank you for all your advices. He told me to buy vitamin C, which I followed the day before.

Still on Friday, after finished my term paper, the time was already a few minutes passed 11 pm. Couple of friends already waited for me in the park to go somewhere and chat. Sorry friends, I cannot go anywhere that night. After I finished my term paper, I started to get fever again and my head started to spin. All I wanted to do is go home. So I excused myself and went home. In the way home, my other friend called me; he wanted to give me back my laptop which he borrowed from me. I met him that night; he bought me a something to eat. I really didn’t want to eat. All I want was sleep. I ate only a little and took the rest home. So that how my Friday ended. But before I went to sleep, I was worry very badly about my term paper. I was very worry that I could not get good score ..... I got so many things to worry about.

On Saturday, I slept almost the whole morning. I woke up at 12, had lunch, felt bored just stayed at home. Unfortunately, the internet was having a problem, so I cannot online. :( I really hate that.So, I spent the day by watching Japan dorama. I went out to buy things that I wanted to give to the temple for the next day. Because this Sunday was an offering day. And continue to watch movie until almost midnight. And then, I went to sleep.

Today, I woke up at 7 am and felt a bit fever and my coughing still continues. I decided not to go to the temple; because I was afraid I would make myself worse and made other people uncomfortable because of my coughing. I continued to sleep and woke up at 12. I bored again ... so, I decided to watch dorama again. At the same time, the internet was fixed. So I can online again. So I chatted with some of my friends and tried to stream a movie. At 4pm I felt dizzy and fever again. So, I went to take a nap. At 5pm, I woke up and felt it was a good time to take a bath, which I had not done for almost 2 days.... Yes, I’m very lazy to take a bath, especially when I’m sick. So I took bath and went to find dinner. I ate porridge for diner and decided to buy some medicine for my cold. Because my cold is not getting better. So I bought Panadol for Cold and Flu and took two pill at once and tried to sleep. I think the medicine was working. I was sweating. But, I cannot sleep. Maybe because I already have so much sleep that I cannot sleep again. So, I decided to write my sick story in my blog.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will feel better. I will go to Doctor again tomorrow. Hopefully, my sick day will be over tomorrow.

By the way, I didn’t tell my parents or my sisters that I am sick. My sister called me on Saturday, but I didn’t say anything about my sickness. I just don’t want to make them worry. Hopefully I did the good things......

Is it important to get married?

I keep thinking how to answer this question. In my opinion, married or not married is decision a person should make. It is not a right or wrong decision, just how you want to live you life. Married is not always the right answer for every problem. If you get a good partner and can endure life together then its is a good decision, if not.. You make your life a living hell.

Is it true that if you’re not married then your life is not perfect, especially for a woman? Some people believe that, even most of my families believe that. That’s why they persuade me to get married soon. But is it true? I think my life now is great. I have a good life, a good family, good friends, good education, a good scholarship, a good future, a good personality and so on. But is it not enough? Will married bring me a better life? Or worse? I feel my life is perfect right now. True, that I sometime need affection and feel kind of lonely. But is it means that I should get married? Do married people don’t feel lonely sometime?? And if I haven’t found someone that I really want to spend my life with, should I just choose any man that comes around? Will I be happy if I do that? Should I wait until the right man come or should I just settle with the man that I meet now?

Nice quote ..... got this from an email ..

Life is short
Break the rules
forgive quickly
kiss passionately, love truly
laugh constantly
And never stop smiling
no matter how strange life is
Life is not always the party we expected to be
but as long as we are here, we should smile and be grateful

A little time so much to do .....

Today, I was just finished my ISM term paper presentation. Not too good but not too bad also. I think its enough to pass the subject. Why now I can settle in “enough”?? before I always search for the best … hmm… its not a good thing. Why? Is it because I already lack of spirit? Lack of courage? Lack of determination? Is it?? Or is it I just tired to achieve something that doesn’t really matter?? Is it a bad thing to just pass the subject with “enough” grade?? Or should I aim for the best??

Should I study all the time and forget go have fun??

Another mistake for today :(

Actually it is not today mistake. But I just realize the mistake today. I just did 7 experiment with wrong data :(. I have to repeat it again. Each experiment takes 2 to 3 hour. So, I have to spend another 21 hour to do the experiment… hiks… hiks….
So stupid that I didn’t realize that the data is wrong :(

My Poor Presentation ….. Oh …..

Today is again a disaster happen. Because yesterday and a few days ago I was too lazy to do anything, I delay making my presentation. I had to do the presentation today, at 9am. So, because of the deadline (yet I still don’t pay much attention off or making a great effort on it), I woke up at 4am and start to construct my presentation (I hadn’t even finished reading the paper). I finished it at 7.20 and rushed to take a bath and went to school.

Luckily, I arrived before 9am. So, I still can do several preparations. And then, at 9am, I did the presentation. The presentation went well, I can not consider it good, I know that I can do much better if I’m not to lazy to make the presentation and rehearsal. I mentioned one fact wrongly. I’m still consider whether I will come clean about the mistake that I made or just pretend not to know that… damn…. Another doom day  because of my laziness. How can I remove my laziness?? How?? How??

Fight with MATLAB

This few days, I have been fighting with MATLAB for my research project. It turn out, that MATLAB not as horrible that I imagine, but worst…. =D ….
Luckily I only have to modify the existing MATLAB code to implement my ideas, so I don’t have to make it from stretch. I am already able to modify it and able to run it. I’m waiting for it to end running and then analyze the data.
I have to make a good progress and submit a paper this march. Time is running out….

In Searching of Soul mate

This post is kind of sentimental thing for me…. I’m in sentimental moment.. I want to cry … I feel sad… I miss something.. But I cant exactly describe that thing….

I had just watched Korean drama movie which title is Soul mate. It is a nice story about love and soul mate. The movie showed that sometime we come across our soul mate every time but we just didn’t realize it. We coincidently at the same place at the same time but just not realize it. Is it really true? Is soul mate and true love really true?

I always believe in true love and soul mate. But sometime I wonder when I will found it. I already 26 now, but I still haven’t found my true love and soul mate. Or have I found it and just give it up? I already gone through several relationships that is not turn out well. The last one is kind of painful, and most of it was my mistakes. I had been loved several times before, kind of deep love, but I blow it away. Do I will find that deep love again or I already lost my chance? Do I really want to find someone to love or do I just miss to be loved or do I just miss the love.. The feeling of being loved?

Right now, I keep wondering, when will I find love again? I never felt that my heart beat move fast… every time I meet a man my heart still beat the same way, not faster of slower. Is it meaning that I have not found my true love or soul mate? Or maybe I just not allowed my self to fall in love? I want to fall in love again.. I want to feel the love again.
I’m looking for someone… someone who is my true love and soul mate. I don’t want to be with some just because I fit his qualifications. It would be devastated. If I have a relationship with someone again, I want it because we loved each other, kind of true and deep love. I don’t want that he love me because I have good qualifications. I want he love me because who I am, not my qualifications. When will I found that man?

In the searching of soul mate, I remember yesterday class. The professor was talking about equilibrium. He said that in every market or game or condition, there is equilibrium. You just have to find it. And finding it will need a long time and also hard. Is it the same with true love and soul mate? There is exists one true love and one soul mate for everyone… we just have to find it. And find it is hard and need a long time. So is it true?? Will someday I finally found my true love and soul mate?

---- Old Memory ...... in February .................


February again. Then, it is almost 5 years ago, when I made my decision. My decision about him. It was kind of ridiculous decision, I made it because of anger and childish and my ego. I try not to regret my decision. But I had regretted it. About 3 years ago, I regret my decision and asked him to be with me again. But sadly he rejected it, because he already found someone else. Now, I don’t think that I regret it. Anything that happen in the past is stay in the past.

When I think about it again, maybe he was never meant to be with me. He was really a controlling man, for me just like a control freak, while I like my freedom. He said I didn’t love him as he loved me. But just because I act different from what he expected, it didn’t mean that I didn’t love him right? Maybe I did love him. as big as he loved me. But I just never let him know or my self know because of my ego. Yeah… I was really egocentric at that time. Maybe I still am. I still don’t know. Still not sure. If I can turn back the time, the result would be the same. But may be less painful. And just because I was the one who break the relationship, it didn’t mean that I was not hurt too.

Well, just forget about it. It just some memory… memory in February. I will keep that in my heart and remember it in a short time in February. Just like a reflection of what I did ….. after that ... well.. just think and reflect for a while and then be me again … the cheerful me .. :D

My new blog entry in 2009.

As usual, in the beginning of a year, I always make a New Year resolution. My last year resolutions is not completely fulfill .
Still have several resolutions that need to work with.

In the beginning of the year, I want to write down 2 things. First are my New Year resolutions…. Yipeee… and the second is my Lasik surgery experience.

My new year resolutions are listed below:

1. More diligent and serious to study my PhD. Want to finish my PhD as soon as possible.
2. Find a new love. The last time I had a relationship with someone was about 5 years ago. So its time for me to fall in love again ;)
3. More caring to my parents and family. They all my greatest support. I will always feel grateful to them.
4. Enjoying life. Even thought I will work hard to finish my PhD, I also want to enjoy the journey .. my journey of life.
5. More generous. I admit sometime I still stingy. Hopefully I can be more generous in this coming year
6. GO AROUND THE WORLD…….. my greatest dream of all………………..

That’s my resolutions. And another thing, I will join fitness (for pilates, yoga, and cardio dance). I really think I need to exercise more.

Now, lets go on to thing number 2.

I just had a Lasik surgery. At first, I would like to do the surgery in JB (Johor Bahru), Malaysia because it’s cheaper. I went to JB to do the pre-Lasik evaluation on 24 Dec 2008. After series of examinations (I had to be examined by 5 different devices and manual check of eyes power, the examination also made my eyes blurry), they said that my cornea thickness is not enough to do intralase Lasik, so they offer me to other procedure named LASEK. LASEK is similar to Lasik but instead of making flap, it use alcohol to cut your cornea a little bit. The LASEK recovery is much much longer then Lasik.

After lot of consideration, I decided to do another pre-Lasik examination in Singapore. Luckily both pre-Lasik examination (in Johor Bahru and Singapore) were free. I do the pre-Lasik examination in 30 Dec 2008. In Singapore, the doctor said he can do intralase Lasik and it is possible to do the surgery at that day too. So, after talking to the marketing staff in order to get a discount, I decided to have the surgery at that day (at 7.30 pm). I also called my friend to come and pick me up after the surgery because after the surgery I would feel blurry and teary.

So, I did the surgery on 30 Dec 2008. The surgery it self only took about 10-15 minutes for every eye. But before that, there were several preparations that need to be done. I changed cloth to hospital cloth, wore head cap and foot cap. Then, I went to operation room. In that room, the Doctor made a flap in my eyes and did the Lasik procedure. I didn’t lost conscious during the surgery. I knew what the doctor do to my eyes, even thought I didn’t feel pain. But when they fire the laser, I smelled that like something burning. Yes, my eyes burning because of the laser. :P

After the surgery, they asked me to take a little rest and cover my eyes with eyes lid and drop antibiotic eye drop every hours during the first day of the surgery. I rested a while, my eyes started to hurt a little. I felt very blurry and teary. I felt like all I want to do is crying. They told me to take the sleeping pill to help me sleep that night and the next morning the teary feeling would go. And I did what they told me to do and turn out its works. The next morning when I woke up, I didn’t feel teary again. But my eyes feel a little bit dry. So I had to drop several freshness eye drops.

I went to the doctor the next morning to do the first examination after the surgery. The doctor said the surgery was going well and my astigmatic is gone and my power is -0.25 (both left and right eyes). But that result would still be fluctuated in the next 2 weeks to 2 months. My next examination will be held on 16 Jan 2009. Until that time, I would have to use the antibiotic eye drops 4 times a day for 10 days and freshness eye drops when ever my eyes dry. And my eyes are a little bit red too. But the doctor said, the red will recover in the next 2 weeks.

So right now, I still use antibiotic and freshness eye drop from time to time. My eyes still red so I need to wear sun glasses. But hopefully in the next 2 weeks, I wont be needing those things ………………………..


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