#731 - Three Years = Fast

ENGLISH

Well, three years have been so fast. Now, I have finished six semesters in my university, and (hopefully) only one more to go before graduating.

Today, some (because I know some other haven't) twelfth grade senior high school students got their final exam results (my brother was one of them). It has also been really fast!! I know I got my high school result this time three years ago. Somehow I still remember what happened that day. The link actually made my memory became more vivid. I still remember the "drama", me congratulating a friend for passing (he was unsure and unconfident before the final exam), etc.

Time really flies. Looking back like this can be fun in some ways, but I also have to stare at the future, right? hehe

BAHASA INDONESIA

Hmm, tiga tahun telah berlalu dengan cepat. Sekarang aku sudah menyelesaikan enam semester di kampus dan (mudah-mudahan) tinggal satu lagi nih sebelum lulus.

Hari ini, sebagian (karena aku tahu ada sebagian lain yang belum) siswa kelas dua belas SMA pada mendapatkan hasil ujian akhir mereka (adikku adalah salah satunya). Bener2 sudah cepat berlalu yah! Aku tahu aku mendapatkan hasil ujian akhir SMAku waktu ini tiga tahun yang lalu. Entah bagaimana aku masih mengingat apa yang terjadi hari itu. Malah link di atas membuat ingatanku terasa makin nyata. Aku masih ingat |drama|-nya, diriku menyelamati seorang teman karena bisa lulus (dia tidak yakin dan tidak PD sebelum ujian), dll.

Waktu benar2 cepat berlalu. Melihat ke belakang kaya gini bisa mengasyikkan memang pada satu sisi, tapi aku juga harus menatap masa depan, ya kan? hehe

#730 - Wednesday and Thursday

ENGLISH

Nothing really special happened these last two days. Yesterday I hanged out with a friend. He offered me an MLM business opportunity. Well, I have never been interesting with this kind of business so I had to refuse it.

Today was no different. I was still able to maintain my spirit to go to the gym everyday (and today is the fourth back to back day, haha). One different thing I feel after doing this routine is that I feel more healthy than before. It's a good thing, right? Yea, of course we are tired after working out, it's normal, but the healthy feeling we have after that is really precious ;)

This evening my family and I had dinner at Sawa Resto. It's a western resto serving (mainly) steaks. I ordered a grade 5 wagyu steak beef (which is really expensive if we just look at the price, not comparing it with the quality). Yea, it was tasty for me and it cost: Rp 259,000.- plus 10% tax and 5% service fee.

::: my meal yesterday at Kona. I didn't eat the rice, just the beef slices and vegies.

::: stuffed-crust chicken favorite pizza.

::: bakso

::: a Rp 259,000.- grade 5 wagyu American beef steak with black pepper sauce.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Nggak ada yang spesial yang terjadi belakangan ini. Kemarin aku jalan2 sama seorang teman. Dia menawari aku sebuah kesempatan bisnis MLM. Yah, karena memang pada dasarnya aku nggak suka sama jenis bisnis ini, makanya aku menolaknya.

Hari ini nggak jauh berbeda. Aku masih bisa mempertahankan semangat untuk fitness setiap hari nih (dan hari ini adalah hari keempat berturutan loh, haha). Satu hal yang memang aku rasakan berbeda setelah menjalankan rutinitas ini adalah setelah fitness badanku jadi terasa lebih sehat daripada sebelumnya. Bagus kan? Yea, tentu saja melelahkan setelah berolahraga, normal itu, tetapi perasaan sehat setelah melakukannya itu yang sangat berharga ;)

Malam tadi aku dan keluarga makan malam di Sawa Resto. Itu adalah rumah makan barat yang menyediakan (umumnya) steak. Aku pesan steak sapi wagyu grade 5 (yang kalau kita melihat harganya saja tanpa membandingkan dengan kualitasnya, akan nampak mahal). Yea, memang enak sih untuk aku dan harganya adalah: Rp 259.000,- ditambah pajak 10% dan biaya pelayanan 5%.

#729 - Gym, finally!!

ENGLISH

As you can read at my second to last previous entry, I had a plan to hit the gym this month. Well, I think working out is important for me now. The time is perfect: I'm now in a long holiday, so, working out can be one regular activity in this holiday. Beside, it's good for my health.

Yesterday, this plan started to be executed!! YEAHH!!! Taking the first step is always the hardest thing and I already did that for this activity. Good!! I plan to go to they gym as frequent as possible. Since now I still has the passion and urge (the laziness is not in my dictionary for me these days), I must take this chance! (I hope I can go to the gym at least 5/7, 7/7 will be better! :D)

Anyway, nothing else than that was really interesting. It's just that this afternoon I bought a t-shirt for working out. I bought an adid*s one. Actually it's designed for tennis but I think it's fine, haha. Actually I wanted another model, the one Verdasco wore during the first half of this season (look at the picture), but it was sold out. There was only 1 item, it was white, and too small for me, damnit!! Therefore I bought another model (picture below)

::: Soto Kudus

::: Nasi Pindang Kudus

::: swikee kuah I had Sunday morning.

::: Popeye Yamin. Yes, this picture is not edited (beside the tag). The noodle was GREEN!! Because it was made of spinach, but it didn't taste like spinach at all tho.

::: soto sawah

::: Fernando Verdasco at Australian Open. I actually (still) want the t-shirt he wore here, haha... . Picture taken from here.

::: I bought this one, because the t-shirt above was sold out. Picture taken from here.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Seperti yang bisa dibaca pada posting kedua terakhir sebelum ini, aku ada rencana untk pergi ke gym bulan ini. Hmm, menurutku sih fitness adalah hal yang penting untukku sekarang. Di samping itu, waktunya juga tepat banget: Aku lagi berada pada libur panjang, maka fitness bisa menjadi satu aktivitas reguler di liburan ini. Di samping itu bagus untuk kesehatan juga.

Kemarin, rencana ini akhirnya mulai dijalankan juga!! YEAHH!! Melangkah pertama kali adalah yang paling sulit dilakukan dan itu sudah terlewati untuk aktivitas ini. Baguslah!! Aku berencana fitnes sesering mungkin ah. Mumpung sekarang sedang ada semangat dan niat (kemalasan tidak ada dalam kamusku saat ini), makanya harus dimanfaatkan kan! (mudah2an sih bisa setidaknya 5/7 ato tiap hari deh kalo bisa! :D)

Ngomong2, nggak ada yang spesial selain itu yang terjadi sih. Cuma siang tadi aku beli t-shirt untuk fitnes aja. Aku beli yang adid*s. Sebenernya didisain untuk tenis tapi biarlah, rasanya gapapa, haha. Sebenernya aku maunya model lain, yaitu yang dipakai Fernando Verdasco sepanjang awal musim tahun ini (lihat gamabr di atas), cuma ternyata sudah habis. Hanya tersisa 1 barang aja, yang warnanya putih dan kekecilan untuk aku, sial!! Makanya aku beli yang model lain deh (liat gambar juga).

#728 - 2009 Roland Garros

ENGLISH

Just a couple of hours ago, finally the second grandslam of the year, The French Open a.k.a Roland Garros, just finished.

This year, it has kinda been interesting actually, eventhough some results didn't go the way I wanted them to be. The first interesting thing is that Rafael Nadal had his first lost in the tournament, after 31 winning streaks. Yeah, he had NEVER lost in the Roland Garros before (he even won this grandslam in his first appearance and never lost since then, until last week). However, his streak was broken by 23rd seeded Swede, Robin Soderling, in the fourth round. Soderling eventually made it to the final, the best of his career so far.

Well, the lost of Nadal actually gave Federer a better chance to win Roland Garros for the first time. I'm sure most of us know that Roger Federer is one of the best tennis players in the world lately. He has won all three other grandslams (even more than once each), but he has never conquered the clay court grandslam, Roland Garros. His pursues were stopped by Nadal, the king of clay, several times. Therefore, with Nadal out of competition, on paper, Federer should win this title this year.

Yeah, Federer did it. Eventually he beat Soderling in straight sets, 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-4. Eventhough Federer won the title, he will still be world no. 2 for now. However, there's still a pretty good chance for him to reclaim world no.1 title. Anyway, by winning Roland Garros, Federer just became the sixth male tennis player ever to claim all four grandslam singles titles. Congratulations Federer!!

While Soderling, eventhough losing to Federer in the final, will jump to world no. 12, his highest ranking ever, this Monday. Still, for me, he needs to prove himself, especially his consistency, on other tournaments.

In the women singles, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Dinara Safina in straight sets, claiming her second grandslam title after 2004 US Open. This match proves that Dinara Safina still needs to prove herself to be world no. 1 (she is world no. 1 right now but has never won a grandslam singles title). She actually played really well and convincing, especially on the first rounds up to fourth rounds, only losing five games in total. In the QF, she lost 1 set against Victoria Azarenka but still managed to win. In the SF, she beat Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets. However, in the final, she seemed to be really nervous. It was her third grandslam finals, and also her third lost. She lost against Ana Ivanovic in French Open last year and Serena Williams in Australian Open this year, both also in straight sets.

I actually wish the women final would have been between Dinara Safina vs Serena Williams, especially after Serena made this comment. The match would have been interesting (tho I would still be rooting for Serena eventhough based on statistics, Safina had performed better on clay this season, haha). However, Serena lost to eventual winner, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the QF.

Clay season has ended, grass season is coming, Wimbledon is three weeks ahead. Aha!!

::: Roland Garros.

::: Court Philippe Chatrier (center court) at Roland Garros.

::: Svetlana Kuznetsova and her Suzanne Lenglen trophy, and runner up, Dinara Safina.

::: Roger Federer and his trophy.

::: Roger Federer and Robin Soderling

notes : all players' photos are taken from Roland Garros' official website.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Beberapa jam yang lalu, akhirnya grandslam tahun ini, The French Open atau Perancis Terbuka a.k.a Roland Garros, selesai.

Tahun ini, sebenarnya turnamennya agak menarik, walau beberapa hasil tidak berjalan sesuaiu harapanku. Hal menarik pertama adalah Rafael Nadal mengalami kekalahan pertamanya di turnamen ini, setelah 31 kemenangan beruntun. Ya, dia TIDAK PERNAH kalah di Roland Garros sebelumnya (dia bahkan memenangi grandslam ini di penampilan pertamanya di situ, dan tidak pernah kalah sejak itu, sampai minggu lalu). Namun, kemenangan beruntun itu dihentikan oleh unggulan ke-23, orang Swedia, Robin Soderling, di babak keempat. Soderling akhirnya masuk ke final, hasil terbaik di karirnya sejauh ini.

Kekalahan Nadal ini sebenarnya memberi Federer suatu kesempatan yang lebih baik untuk memenangkan Roland Garros untuk pertama kalinya. Aku yakin kebanyakan dari kita setidaknya pasti pernah dengar kalau Roger Federer adalah salah satu pemain tenis terbaik di dunia akhir-akhir ini. Dia telah memenangkan ketiga grandslam lainnya (bahkan masing-masing lebih dari sekali) tetapi tidak pernah menaklukan grandslam lapangan tanah liat, Roland Garros. Pengejaran akan titelnya beberapa kali dihentikan oleh Nadal, raja lapangan tanah liat. Oleh karenanya, dengan keluarnya Nadal dari kompetisi, Federer seharusnya memenagi titel itu tahun ini.

Benar saja, Federer memenanginya. Akhirnya dia mengalahkan Robin Soderling dengan straight sets, 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-4. Walau Federer memenangkan titel ini, dia akan tetap menjadi petenis nomor 2 dunia saat ini. Namun, masih ada kesempatan bagi dia untuk kembali merebut peringkat nomor 1 dunia koq. Ngomong2, dengan memenangi Roland Garros, Federer menjadi petenis pria keenam yang pernah memenangi semua empat titel grandslam. Selamat Federer!!

Sementara itu, Soderling, walau kalah dari Federer di final, akan meloncat ke posisi nomor 12 dunia, peringkat tertingginya, Senin ini. Tetap saja, untuk aku, dia perlu membuktikan dirinya lagi, terutama konsistensinya, melalui turnamen-turnamen lain.

Di tunggal putri, Svetlana Kuznetsova mengalahkan Dinara Safina melalui straight sets, mengklaim gelar grandslam keduanya, setelah US Open 2004. Pertandingan itu menunjukkan bahwa Dinara Safina masih perlu membuktikan dirinya sebagai petenis nomor 1 dunia (sekarang dia berperingkat 1 dunia tetapi belum pernah memenangi gelar tunggal grandslam). Dia sebenarnya bermain dengan baik dan meyakinkan, terutama dari babak pertama hingga babak keempar, hanya dengan kehilangan lima games total. Di QF ia kehilangan satu set dari Victoria Azarenka tetapi masih bisa memenangi pertandingan. Di SF, ia mengalahkan Dominika Cibulkova dalam straight sets. Namun, di final, ia sepertinya sangat gugup. Itu adalah final grandslam ketiganya, dan kekalahan ketiganya pula. Dia kalah dari Ana Ivanovic di French Open tahun lalu dan Serena Williams di Australian Open tahun ini, keduanya juga dalam straight sets.

Aku sebenarnya berharap final putri adalah antara Dinara Safina vs Serena Williams, terutama setelah Serena membuat komentar ini. Pertandingannya akan menjadi sangat menarik (walau aku masih akan mendukung Serena sih, walau menurut statistik, Safina tampil lebih baik di tanah liat tahun ini, haha). Namun, Serena kalah dari pemenangnya (pada akhirnya), Svetlana Kuznetsova, di QF.

Musim tanah liat sudah selesai, musim rumput akhirnya datang. Wimbledon main tiga minggu lagi. Aha!!

#727 - This Friday

ENGLISH

Actually today I had a plan to go to the gym. It has really been a while since I worked out, damnit!! I think I really need it to be more healthy! However, because of some stuffs, I canceled it today and plan to do it starting Sunday or Monday!! Well, this plan has to be executed!! hahaha

Btw, today I'm not feeling really well. Perhaps I'm catching a flu since now I have the symptoms (coughing). I have done preventive steps tho, so hopefully it's not getting any worse.

Well, nothing much really special happened this day tho. It's just interesting to see Dinara Safina vs Svetlana Kuznetsova in Women's Singles French Open this year. In the men's singles, 23rd seeded Robin Soderling made it to the final! He will face either Roger Federer or Juan Martin del Potro whose match is being played right now.

::: Iga Goreng (Fried Ribs) I had this evening

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sebenarnya hari ini aku ada rencana untuk ke gym. Yah, udah lama banget sejak aku terakhir berolahraga nih, sial!! Aku rasa aku memang membutuhkannya sekarang supaya lebih sehat lagi! Namun, karena satu dua hal, aku membatalkannya hari ini dan berencana baru kesana Minggu atau Senin!! Hmm, rencana ini harus benar2 dieksekusi!! hahaha

Btw, hari ini aku koq gak gitu fit yah. Rasanya udah mulai sedikit flu (batuk2). Aku sudah melakukan tindakan preventif sih, jadi mudah2an tidak menjadi semakin parah dah.

Lainnya tidak ada yang spesial yang terjadi akhir2 ini. Cuma menarik nih melihat Dinara Safina vs Svetlana Kuznetsova di Singles Wanita di French Open tahun ini. Di singles pria, unggulan ke-23 Robin Soderling masuk final loh! Dia akan melawan antara Roger Federer atau Juan Martin del Potro yang pertandingannya sedang dimainkan kini.

#726 - Early Week

ENGLISH

So, last Tuesday I went to Solo. Our trip was pretty much the same with this one. Therefore, because now I'm too lazy to write about it in detail, just open the link, LOL.

Beside my trip to Solo yesterday, there's nothing pretty much interesting happened these days. It's just that this afternoon I bought Singapore - Penang tickets. I bought Tiger Airways for the trip. Yes, so for my trip to Singapore next July, we will also go to Penang for two days, hehe... :)

::: bakso

::: chicken katsudon I had yesterday afternoon at Solo Grand Mall

::: one spot at Solo Square

::: beef monster katsu

::: soto kadipiro I had this afternoon

BAHASA INDONESIA

Jadi, Selasa kemarin aku pergi ke Solo. Perjalanan ke Solo kali ini sih tidak terlalu berbeda dengan perjalanan waktu ini. Makanya, karena sekarang aku sedang malas menulisnya dalam detail, jika tertarik buka link-nya saja deh, LOL.

Di samping perjalananku ke Solo kemarin, tidak ada banyak hal yang menarik yang terjadi belakangan ini. Hanya saja siang tadi aku beli tiket Singapore - Penang. Tadi aku beli dari maskapai Tiger Airways untuk perjalanan itu. Ya, untuk perjalanan ke Singapore Juli nanti aku juga akan berkunjung ke Penang selama dua hari, hehe... :)

#725 - Back to Jogja

ENGLISH

Yeah, last Saturday I went back to Yogyakarta. This time, I drove my car to get back here since it is a pretty long holiday. Actually my plan was to leave Bandung as early as possible, at 9 or 10 AM would be the best. It was because I was looking for daylight so that we would drive mostly during day time. However, because some stuffs, we left Bandung at 12.45 PM.

Nothing much to say about the trip. I just noticed that Indonesia now adopts a new street numbering system from abroad (The USA as I know). Now, we have street numbers (I'm not gonna say highway number since technically, it's not a highway) on main streets connecting main cities. Bandung - Yogyakarta street is now street number 3. I also noticed some other street numbers like street number 8 and street number 10, all connecting Purwokerto with street number 3, haha... .

At 9.45 PM we arrived at my home. So, it was a 9 hours drive, haha... . After that, we ate bakso nearby, which is really tasty :D

Anyway, now I'm really excited. This afternoon, I bought A*rAsia's Yogyakarta - Singapore vv tickets for my family and me, haha. It was an economy promo fare so we only paid Rp 518,000.- per pax, vv. Well, it's not the cheapest fare A*rAsia sells for this route tho since the cheapest would be the one with zero base fare. However, with base fare of Rp 79,000.oo, it's the cheapest now, haha. So, we're going to Singapore this July, it's still a long time in the future tho, which gives us flexibility of our destination. I mean, we are probably not gonna stay in Singapore the whole time, hehe. There's still time to survey reachable areas from Singapore, hehe. Anyway, my last time visit to Singapore was 5.5 years ago, so long!

::: our meal at TaWan last Friday

::: ayam goreng Suniaraja I had Saturday afternoon

::: ayam goreng Mergosari I had Saturday afternoon, at 4 PM, after Banjar

::: bakso nearby

::: soto kridosono I had Sunday morning

BAHASA INDONESIA

Yeah, Sabtu kemarin aku balik ke Yogyakarta. Kali ini, aku nyetir mobil untuk balik karena liburan kali ini adalah liburan yang lumayan lama. Sebenarnya rencanaku adalah untuk meninggalkan Bandung sepagi mungkin, dengan paling baik ya jam 9 atau jam 10 pagi. Ini karena aku mencari waktu siang selama mungkin jadi nyetirnya tuh pas belum gelap. Namun, karena beberapa hal, kita baru meninggalkan Bandung jam 12.45 siang.

Nggak ada banyak hal yang dapat ditulis tentang perjalanan. Aku cuma menyadari bahwa Indonesia kini mengadopsi sistem penomoran jalan dari luar negri (setauku sih dari Amerika). Sekarang, kita memiliki sistem penomoran (aku nggak akan nulis penomoran jalan tol karena memang bukan jalan tol) di jalan utama yang menghubungkan kota-kota utama. Misalnya, sekarang jalan utama Yogyakarta - Bandung adalah jalan nomor 3. Aku juga menyadari ada nomer jalan seperti jalan nomor 8 dan 10, keduanya menghubungkan Purwokerto dengan jalan nomor 3, haha... .

Jam 9.45 malam kita tiba di rumah. Jadi, kemarin adalah perjalanan selama 9 jam, haha... . Habis itu, kita makan bakso deket rumah, enak lho :D

Ngomong2, sekarang seneng banget nih. Siang tadu, aku beli tiket A*rAsia Yogyakarta - Singapore pp untuk aku sekeluarga, haha. Harganya yang ekonomi promo jadi seorang cuma bayar Rp 518.000,- pp. Bukan yang paling murah karena A*rAsia menjual paling murah tuh dengan harga dasar nol rupiah, nah yang ini dengan harga dasar Rp 79.000,oo. Cuma dengan harga dasar segitu, yang sekarang ini memang yang paling murah yang tersedia, haha. Jadi, kami akan ke Singapore Juli nanti, masih lama sih, yang memberikan kami fleksibilitas. Yang aku maksud dengan fleksibilitas adalah mungkin kita gak akan cuma di Singapore aja, hehe. Masih ada waktu survey untuk cari area-area yang bisa dijangkau. Ngomong2, terakhir kali aku ke Singapore adalah 5,5 tahun yang lalu! Lama yah...