EXAMS!!!

Haven't been updating this blog of mine for so long. I would't say "I was busy with uni life" as it'd be a lie! Well, there's a partial truth in it, though.

My life in university is somewhat less interesting as compared to my JC life. Perhaps it's interesting but in a way I'm unable to appreciate it. But overall, uni life is good.

Exams are coming soon. By soon I mean in 4 hours. Yes, here I am blogging in the midst of freaking out for my exams. Haha.. As I am a FAN of the other person, I shall list down what I did during my reading week like he did.

1. I stuDIED for more than 2 hours per day. Although mostly summarizing notes while playing Restaurant City.
2. Did 3 past year papers. 1 each for my 2 chemistry modules and 1 Japanese module.
3. I did the papers more than 2 hours! am I doomed? well, I hope you guys know the reasons
4. Played DotA, Restaurant City and kept opening Facebook
5. Watched meteor (supposedly) shower
6. Shifted my CCA stuff to the new storage room :D
7. Ate too much

Well, I'm not confident and prepared enough for this upcoming exams. Hopefully I receive a divine intervention during my exam later. *crossing fingers* I'm not aiming to get into Dean's List like the other guy but a good CAP would be enough i.e. a CAP that allow me to get a scholarship. Haha..

Well, off I go to memorize the wavelength of a few Electromagnetic Radiation

Unfair, I think

THE result is out and I don’t get in. Well, it’s kinda expected as I “miss” the interview. I don’t know who or what to blame. Or perhaps it’s just a part of my series of unfortunate events. But one thing for sure, the selection panel is a bitch.

I know that my chance to get in is already quite slim since I don’t take a particular subject at higher level but THEY make it WORSE by sending an email for interview THE DAY BEFORE the actual interview. I’ve let them know that I don’t currently reside at THAT country but still they send me the notice late. I’ve tried looking up air-tickets to go to THAT country just to have that freaking interview the next day but it’s to no avail. I let them know that I can’t make it and ask them whether there’s another way to have the interview such as phone interview. Their reply: “We don’t conduct telephone interview and we will consider your application based on your submission.” By that moment I know that I’ll be rejected.

I’m licking my wounds now… I feel like withdrawing my studies there since I don’t get the major that I want. But it’s too late now…. The universities in my home country have closed their admissions.

I don’t know how to view this situation. Is it God’s plan for me to take chemistry? or is it His challenge for me to withdraw and enrol NEXT YEAR in my home country while suffer from a lil bit of “humiliation” as I’d be a “junior” to my younger brother?

Fare Thee Well: May You Rest In Peace, Arditya

This post is dedicated to Arditya Hardaya

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I got a call from my friend this morning. He told me that Arditya had passed away. Honestly I was in disbelieve for a moment. But as soon as my mom confirmed the news, I felt uneasy at that instant. All the memories that I had with him suddenly flashed in front of me.

I had known Ardit for a long time, since Primary school. He was a good person. I vividly remembered the times when we did a school report together and practised for poetry reading competition in primary school. Even in secondary school, we were still quite close for quite some times. I frequently went to his house after school and he taught me how to use the computer and MIRC. We shared stories. We laughed. We had fun and even got teased around together. I had to say that it was one of the most fun times.

Now that I’d grown up, looking back to the past made me regretted taking those stupid actions. I ruined our friendship over trivial matters, an OP belt and new Reebok shoes. Perhaps my then unrealistic ideals and immature way of thinking were to be blame. I regretted to start the cold war just because he showed me a less-favourable side of him. The thing that I most regretted about was that I didn’t approve his FB friend request to show him that I was over that stupid cold war. I let my past self take control of me whenever he was the subject. Now I fully understand why people keep saying “regret always comes late” and I learn it the hardest possible way.

I still couldn’t believe that he’d passed away before I could tell him that the cold war was over long time ago and I was so sorry that I started it. Just a few days ago my friend told me that he was at the same plane with Cinta Laura. Just a few weeks ago my friend dared me to go to a pub to drink together with him. Just a few years ago we were still close friends….

Perhaps some of you don’t believe that I was THAT close with Ardit despite the cold war we had. Well, Ardit and I were like Edie Britt and Susan Mayer. We seemed to clash in all sort of things but we once thought that we were gonna be close friends. Though it didn’t really happen, perhaps it would in our next lives. May he rest in peace and may our paths cross again in the next lives…..

Proposal: Travelling Plan

A friend of mine texted me: “I’ve got a proposal for you. Will you agree?” I was puzzled. Which proposal was he talking about? A moment later, he called.

He proposed to open a joint saving for our group for travelling purposes. Interesting idea…. FYI, my friends and I had planned to travel together a few times but there were always financial problem. So to eliminate the financial factor, this joint saving might be right thing to do.

After a long talk,  we decided to save around Rp 200.000,- or roughly around US$20 each month for two to three years.  In 2 years, we’d have around 5 millions rupiahs or US$480. Not much but I think it should be enough for a return air ticket from Singapore to Thailand or China and a few-day stay in a cheap hotel. Well, we wouldn’t be able to go to Japan like we’d planned a few years ago but at least we’d be travelling together. That’s the most important thing.

Can’t wait for the sort-of-well-planned travelling!!!

time flies fast and without knowing it, tomorrow is THE day

BALI BALI BALI

Hello!!!! I finally have the chance to update my blog. It’s been weeks since the last time I blogged properly. I’ve been too tired to blog as I’ve been touring around Bali with my friends. It’s quite funny to admit but I think that trip is my first trip around Bali that I can remember. The last time I tour around Bali is when I was a little boy. Although I live in Bali for 20 years, I rarely tour around. Perhaps I’ve never had the right company. Quite pathetic, eh? I live in one of the most amazing islands and yet, I rarely go out to explore it.

Anyway, last week, my friends came over to Bali and I had a promised to fulfil to guide them around Bali. Well, I wasn’t a good “tour guide” as my knowledge of places of interests was quite limited. Lucky us, the driver was experienced in bringing tourists to places I’d heard of but vaguely recalled being there. The trip was fun and enriching (at least for me).

Day 1

Day 1 wasn’t that interesting for me. I thought the guys had to be tired after a 1.5-hour flight and a relaxed day 1 would be appropriate, so we mainly roamed around Kuta. We took a stroll the beach until we reached Discovery Shopping Mall a.k.a. Centro, a seaside Mall. I left the group at night and they continued roaming around Kuta in search of “buda” or “bule muda”.

Day 2

I wanted to bring them to Ubud, Kintamani and Tanah Lot but the plan was changed last minute. After they had “Babi Guling” for lunch at “Handayani”, we headed to Ubud. We made a few stops to visit a silver jewellery factory and Sukawati Art Market. Ubud’s well-known for its wood carvings and scenery but my friends were asleep during the ride and didn’t really want to visit an art market anymore so I had no choice but to direct them to Monkey Forest. The monkeys were so cute especially the baby monkeys. There was monkey trying to open a bottle of mineral water! What a priceless sight! I wanted to  bring them to Kintamani afterwards but somehow we changed direction to Uluwatu, another place that filled with monkeys. We didn’t watch the “Kecak Dance” as the tickets were quite expensive and we had to catch sunset at Jimbaran. However, we were unable to catch the sunset at Jimbaran as we were too busy taking photos at Uluwatu. But seeing a sunset in Uluwatu wasn’t that bad either. The view was STUNNING! Oh, words of warning: the monkeys in Uluwatu are cunning and aggressive, they tend to steal small items such as sunglasses. The monkeys snatched my friend’s sunglasses. We had sumptuous dinner at Menega Cafe, Jimbaran. I loved the barbequed clams and prawns! The price was quite affordable, 35k rupiahs for 1 kg of clams!

Day 3

I didn’t go out with them as I had some university matter to do. They went to Bedugul, Pura Ulun Danu at Beratan Lake and Tanah Lot to see sunset.

Day 4

RAFTING DAY!!! We went for rafting at Ayung River. It was a 2.5-hour ride. We were exhausted at the end but it was worth it!

Day 5

We were supposed to go parasailing at Benoa that day but we were told that the water level wasn’t high enough and it might not be safe to go parasailing. We were disappointed but then decided to go DIVING!!! Although it meant we had to spend more, it was worth it! At first, it was quite difficult to breath ONLY through our mouths but after a while we got used to it.  The underwater view was AMAZING!! The fish, coral, starfish and other sea creatures were beautiful!! I’d like to dive again. :) Afterwards, we went to Nusa Dua just to see the beach and took some sand. The journey continued to Joger, a t-shirts shop. The t-shirts were not ordinary t-shirts, they got funny words on it but in Indonesian. The shop was DAMN FREAKIN HEAVILY CROWDED!! There were few tour groups that scheduled to visit that shop at the time we arrived there. We even had to wait for about half an hour just to pay the items we picked.

Day 6

It was their last day in Bali. We went to Taman Ayun, Kintamani and Tampak Siring. We had the famous crispy ducks for lunch. At Kintamani, we were swarmed by those souvenir sellers and tattoo artists. It took us about 15 mins to shoo them away. On the way to Tampak Siring, we stopped at a coffee plantation as the driver suggested. It turned out that they planted cocoa and other plants too. We were warmly welcomed and the plantation people let us try their products; chocolate, coffee-chocolate, black coffee, ginger drink, and lemon tea. I loved the coffee-chocolate and lemon tea!!! In the end my friends bought some of the products and some bought “Kopi Luwak” or civet coffee. It was quite expensive, 100k rupiahs per 100 grams. I even got a bag of coffee-chocolate for free because I “brought” them many generous customers. However, I gave the freebie to my friends as they were the ones who bought a lot of stuff there. I’m a nice person, aren’t I? =P

 

After guiding them around Bali, I thought to myself that becoming a guide isn’t a bad idea. It might not be a job that’s gonna earn me lots of money but it’s quite fun! Perhaps I’ll be a part-time tour guide in the future. Hahaha..

Facebook Thingy

You were born on 2nd day of February, Thursday.

Your Life : You have great common sense but usually fail to follow through. This might happens because you are too busy with your mission and shut yourself from the outside world. You are clever and profound so there's a slight chance for self-control problem.

Your Love : Your love progress slowly, and quietly. You seem to be contented with your unrequited love. Your are a romantic and loyal lover.

Results!!

The texture is SLIGHTLY better and the taste is somewhat the same but less sweet. I prefer the one that the dough sits for only about 2 hours. Oh, I edited the recipe on the previous post as egg-milk mixture makes the top shiny but creates a kind of hard layer. I think the recipe is decent but still far from perfect. I still need to play around with the ratio of the ingredients and the topping. Oh, the kare-pan didn’t come out so well but it was edible.

Sitting the dough

Nice shiny top but it’s kinda hard =(

Cracks on the top layer of the bread X(