#835 - Over The Week

ENGLISH

Well, another week has passed. There were several things which happened this week.

1. I just realized that the validity of my driving license is going to come to an end this September. Thus, I have to renew it in the very near future before I go to the Netherlands. Ugh, so many agenda.


2. I got a surprise present this week. The present is a pocket camera, the gadget I have been wanting for a long time! :-D It is a new Canon Cyber-Shot DSC-W380. Thank you so much to my parents' friends who gave me this camera!! :-) Anyway, I think I am going to learn how to use this camera on my next trip to China.


3. Speaking of my trip to China, tomorrow is the departure day! I am catching the first Garuda's flight out of Yogyakarta to Jakarta and transiting in Jakarta for about 1 hour. My connecting flight to Guang Zhou is scheduled to depart at 8.45 AM. I hope the time is more than enough to go pass the fiscal and immigration desk. Amen!


4. There is an interesting character in this season of "Penghuni Terakhir". This character, which is Erick, knows how to "play the game viciously and coldly". I think this is very interesting because I don't think I have seen this type of character in any other local reality show! What I don't like about this character is that I think he is somehow artificial. He "plays" this evil, cruel, and dictating character while I don't think he IS that character. Well, all I want so say is that "knowing how to play the game" doesn't always translate to an "evil" character ;-)


5. Speaking of "Penghuni Terakhir", I think I found some "scenarios" in it, and it was pushed by the producer. For example, last week there was a scene showing that one contestant climbed the big wall to pick a jackfruit in the neighbor's yard. Some time later, still in the middle of the night, a woman (who claimed to be that neighbor), accompanied with her security guard, came to the house and she was furious. She blamed the producer for letting someone strange entering her house (she had CCTV cameras installed all around her house). Well, the angry neighbor was a "making-sense" thing, but not her appearance. If you want to know, I think there were three odd things about this neighbor:
   


• If she was that angry, how could the team convinced her to put a mic on her outfit? I am sure that she pinned a mic on her outfit as we could hear what she said clearly. If this was not "written", I can imagine this odd conversation:
  
  Angry Neighbor (AN) to the PeTir's Team (PT): "Hey, there was a strange guy entering my home from yours in the middle of the night stealing my jackfruit!! How could you let that happen?" (furious voice)
  PT : "Oh, wait Ma'am, let me pin this mic first so what you say can be recorded and aired in a national television."
  AN : "Oh, okay."
  
  The PT then pinned a mic on AN's outfit. Then, AN continued her furious protest. Weird, uh?


• For a neighbor whose house had just been "intruded" by a strange guy stealing a jackfruit and she was complaining to her neighbor about it in the middle of the night, she dressed a bit too "fancy" for that. She wore a make-up, she got her hair done, she wore a fancy black dress, she brought a fancy handbag, and she wore high-heels. It seemed like she was going to a mall, but it was in the middle of the night. Conclude yourself


• I don't think anyone can enter the quarantine house freely. If the woman was really the neighbor and she forced to enter the house creating a conflict in the middle of the night, I think her face should have been blurred unless she agreed that she let that scene with her face to be aired. Watching many episodes of The Amazing Race and The Amazing Race Asia, some local people's faces were blurred because they didn't sign the so-called contract to "air" the scene with their "full" faces. So, based on this, I concluded that she let ANTV to air the scene with her "full" face. If she was willing to "cooperate" with ANTV on this one, the possibility of a "scenario" over that is possible, rite?

Okay, that's enough for now :-)


6. Anyway, mixed news about one thing are confusing, hahaha

::: Some meals I had at Qua Li.

::: Chicken Cordon Bleu I had yesterday

BAHASA INDONESIA

Lagi, satu minggu sudah berlalu. Ada beberapa hal yang terjadi minggu ini.

1. Aku baru sadar kalau ternyata masa berlaku SIM-ku akan habis September ini. Makanya, aku harus memperpanjangnya segera nih sebelum berangkat ke Belanda nanti. Wah, banyak juga agendaku.


2. Aku dapat hadiah kejutan minggu ini. Hadiahnya adalah kamera saku, alat elektronik yang sudah aku ingini sekian lama! :-D Kameranya adalah Canon Cyber-Shot DSC-W380 yang baru. Terima kasih banyak untuk temen2nya ortuku yang sudah memberiku kamera ini!! :-) Btw, kayanya aku akan berlatih menggunakan kamera ini di perjalananku ke Cina besok ini deh.


3. Ngomong2 tentang perjalananku ke Cina, besok adalah hari keberangkatan nih! Aku akan naik penerbangan Garuda pertama dari Yogyakarta menuju Jakarta dan kemudian akan transit selama sekitar 1 jam di Jakarta. Penerbangan sambunganku menuju Guang Zhou dijadwalkan berangkat jam 8.45 pagi. Mudah2an waktu transit itu lebih dari cukup lah ya untuk melewati antrian meja fiskal dan imigrasi. Amin!


4. Ada karakter yang menarik di musim "Penghuni Terakhir" kali ini. Karakter ini, yaitu Erick, tahu bagaimana "bermain dengan kejam dan dingin". Aku rasa ini sangat menarik karena rasanya aku belum pernah deh melihat karakter semacam ini di reality show produksi lokal! Yang nggak aku suka dari karakter ini adalah aku rasa ia agak dibuat-buat. Ia "memainkan" karakter yang jahat, kejam, dan diktator padahal aku rasa aslinya dia sih BUKAN karakter seperti itu. Yah, yang mau aku katakan adalah "mengetahui bagaimana memainkan permainan" tidak selalu berarti karakter yang "jahat" kan ;-)


5. Ngomong2 tentang "Penghuni Terakhir", rasanya aku mencium bau "skenario" di dalamnya deh, dan skenario ini agak dipaksakan oleh produsernya. Misalnya, minggu lalu ada adegan dimana seorang penghuni memanjat tempok besar untuk memetik buah nangka yang ada di halaman tetangga. Beberapa waktu kemudian, masih di tengah malam gitu, seorang wanita (yang menyatakan dirinya sebagai tetangga itu), ditemani seorang satpamnya, datang ke rumah PeTir dan ia marah2. Ia menyalahkan produser karena membiarkan seorang asing memasuki rumahnya (ia memasang kamera CCTV di rumahnya). Yah, tetangga yang marah adalah hal yang "masuk akal" koq, cuma penampilan si wanita ini koq engga ya. Setidaknya, aku rasa ada tiga hal janggal dari tetangga ini:


• Kalau ia memang marah, koq bisa ya timnya meyakinkannya untuk memasang mic di pakaiannya? Aku cukup yakin kalau ia memasang mic di bajunya karena apa yang ia katakan bisa terdengar dengan jelas. Kalau memang tidak "diskenario", aku membayangkan terjadinya percakapan aneh berikut ini:
  
  Tetangga Marah (TM) ke Tim PeTir (TP): "Hey, ada orang asing yang masuk ke rumahku dari rumahmu di tengah malam untuk nyolong nangka!! Koq bisa kalian membiarkan itu terjadi? (suara marah)
  TP : "Oh, tunggu Bu, biarkan saya memasang mic ini di baju Ibu dulu jadi apa yang Ibu katakan bisa terekam dan ditayangkan di televisi nasional."
  TM : "Oh, baiklah."
  
  Kemudian TP menyematkan mic di bajunya TM. Kemudian TM baru melanjutkan marah2nya. Aneh nggak?


• Untuk ukuran seorang tetangga yang rumahnya baru saja "disantroni" seorang pria asing yang mencuri sebuah nangka dan si tetangga ini kemudian komplain ke tetangganya tentang itu di tengah malam, ia berpenampilan terlalu "keren" deh. Ia pakai make-up, ia juga sudah menata rambutnya, ia memakai gaun hitam yang bagus, ia membawa tas wanita yang kelihatan ok, dan juga ia memakai sepatu hak tinggi. Dengan penampilan seperti itu, lebih cocok kalau dia jalan2 ke mall deh, tapi koq di tengah malam yah. Simpulkan deh.


• Aku merasa koq tidak semua orang akan dibiarkan masuk ke rumah karantina PeTir dengan bebas. Kalau wanita itu memang tetangganya dan ia memaksa masuk ke rumah dan mencipatkan konflik di tengah malam, aku rasa wajahnya seharusnya di-blur kecuali ia setuju untuk membiarkan adegan dengan wajahnya untuk ditayangkan. Nonton banyak episode dari The Amazing Race dan The Amazing Race Asia, beberapa wajah orang lokal di-blur karena mereka tidak menanda-tangani kontrak untuk "menayangkan" adegan dengan wajah "utuh" mereka. Jadi, berdasarkan ini, aku rasa tetangga ini memang membiarkan ANTV menayangkan adegan dengan wajah "utuh"-nya. Kalau ia mau "bekerja-sama" dengan ANTV dalam hal ini, kemungkinan adanya "skenario" juga ada kan?

Udah ah segini dulu aja :-)


6. Ngomong2, berita yang bermacam-macam tentang satu hal itu membuat bingung yah, hahaha

#834 - (My Preparation to) The Netherlands

ENGLISH

So, it is already confirmed that I am going to continue my study at the Netherlands, thanks to this great news several months ago. Of course I have to prepare many things for my departure to Europe.

Guarantee Payment

You might recall that last month, I wrote that I faced two big problems. One of them was related to My Vacation. The other one was this so-called Guarantee Payment. I used to think that the Guarantee Payment was the sum of one year tuition fee and (pre-determined) living cost for 12 months, thus, it was covered by the scholarship. But then, apparently there was another part of the Guarantee Payment which I did not realize about, it was the Visa and accommodation arrangements fee, plus health-insurance. Well, apparently this part of the Guarantee Payment used to be included in the "living cost for 12 months" but now it is in an independent account. Well, it's still the same anyway. It's just that now we have to pay "in advance" and we will not have to "pay" for it once we are in the Netherlands while the old system made us to "pay" for it in each of our months in the Netherlands.

Anyway, it became a problem because I knew this information just two days before my vacation started! My vacation would take one week and it would end on Friday, so basically I wouldn't be able to work on it until Monday the 21st unless I worked on it before my departure to Singapore. Thinking that the 21st seemed to be too close to the deadline, I decided to work on it on Thursday, one day before my departure, haha. Yeah, it was so sudden plus I also had that "Krabi hotel problem" in my mind, so it was a bit frustrating for me at that time. But I managed to solve those problems just in time, thanks God.

Visa

Of course this is one of the most basic thing to prepare. After paying the Guarantee Payment, my Visa was processed. They told me the process would likely take up to four weeks. But in my case, it took only about ten days, mwahahahaha.... . Then, I called the Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta and they confirmed that my MVV Visa had been ready. It had already been a MVV-D Visa which will allow me to enter the Netherlands multiple times for three months since the effective date of the visa. YEAH!! Anyway, there was also more good news. They said that I didn't have to go to Jakarta to take this visa as the Embassy has a contact person in Yogyakarta. I only need to contact him, pay for about Rp 425,000.-, and taa daa, it's done :-D Of course this way, it would take more time but I could save more money, rite? (Otherwise I would have had to pay for my Jogja - Jakarta vv flight, all the transportation fees in Jakarta, etc). So, yesterday my passport with the visa in it arrived at my home, yeah!!

Flight

My university, TU Delft, offers a unique service for international students : "International Students Pick Up" at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. So, we will be picked up at the airport and we will all be transported to our accommodation there, and this is for free!! How great is that?? But to use this service, we have to arrive between 19 and 21 August. So, I did some research for all flights to the Netherlands which arrive at these dates.

My survey led me to our national carrier, Garuda Indonesia, as Garuda offered the cheapest ticket to get there. I called Garuda and the only flight (with still available economy class seat(s)) was the flight on 18 August 2010 (it arrives on 19 August). All economy class seats for flights on 19 and 20 August had been sold out, only executive class seats available (crazy!). Plus, luckily, apparently I got the lowest fare for this flight on 18 August. Okay, I booked this flight.

Then, more good news kept coming. Because of my purpose of my travel to the Netherlands, which is to study, I get a 20% Discount and automatic qualification for an extra 10 kg of baggage!! The discount and extra baggage was also applicable for my Jogja - Jakarta flight!! Cool!! So, I bought the ticket.

Yeah, I am moving to the Netherlands on Wednesday, 18 August 2010. I am catching Garuda Indonesia's flight, with this route: Jogjakarta - Jakarta - (via Dubai) - Amsterdam.

Accommodation

Of course there is no way I can look for my accommodation myself as I now live about 10,000+ km away from there. Luckily, there is a company which offers accommodation for upcoming international students. Of course I accepted the offer as it is the most convenient way! I read there have been some complaints to this company from current international students there, but hey, what is the other option I have? Looking for the accommodation by myself? I think it is a big NO as now I am not in the place where I can easily reach the Netherlands, right?

About three weeks ago I got a list of my possible accommodations there. I did a quick skim and picked one (yeah, I had to made my choice quickly as the list was also open for many other international students. It worked under the first-come-first-served basis). Two weeks ago I got a confirmation that it had been booked for me. Yeah!!

Dutch Language

My course will be held in English, so it is not gonnabe much a problem. However, I also think that it is important for me to "know" the local language, which is the Dutch Language (Nederlands). That's why I have enrolled Dutch Language Class these past two months. Now I think I know the very basic of the language. I am still far from being fluent, but at least my knowledge of this language is not zero :-)


I think those are the basic preparations I need to make. Of course I will still have to prepare for many more things in more details, but I think the most basic preparations have been done :-) Wish Me Luck



BAHASA INDONESIA

Ya, jadi memang sudah dikonfirmasi kalau aku akan melanjutkan kuliahku di Belanda, terima kasih kepada berita hebat ini beberapa bulan yang lalu. Tentu saja dong aku harus mempersiapkan banyak hal untuk keberangkatanku ke Eropa.

Guarantee Payment

Mungkin masih pada ingat kalau bulan lalu, aku menulis bahwa aku menghadapi dua masalah besar. Salah satunya berkaitan dengan Liburanku. Satunya lagi berkaitan dengan apa yang disebut Guarantee Payment. Nah, aku dulu mengira kalau Guarantee Payment ini adalah jumlah dari uang kuliah selama setahun ditambah biaya hidup (yang nilainya sudah ditentukan) selama 12 bulan, artinya nilai ini ter-cover oleh beasiswa. Tapi ternyata, ada satu bagian lain dari Guarantee Payment yang sebelumnya tidak aku sadari, yaitu bagian biaya pengurusan Visa dan akomodasi, plus asuransi kesehatan. Yah, ternyata dulu sih bagian ini dari Guarantee Payment termasuk dalam "biaya hidup untuk 12 bulan" tapi kini dijadikan satu akun tersendiri. Yah, sebenarnya masih sama aja sih ya. Kalau sekarang kan harus "bayar di depan" dan nanti kalau sudah di Belanda nggak harus bayar lagi sementara sistem yang dulu kan membuat kita harus "membayarnya" setelah kita di Belanda.

Btw, itu menjadi masalah karena aku mendapat informasi ini hanya dua hari sebelum liburanku mulai! Liburanku kan akan memakan waktu seminggu tuh dan akan berakhir pada hari Jumat. Artinya aku nggak akan bisa mengurusnya sampai paling tidak hari Senin tanggal 21 kecuali aku mau mengurusnya sebelum keberangkatanku ke Singapura. Ya sudah deh, karena berpikir tanggal 21 itu agak terlalu mepet sama batas akhirnya, aku urus semuanya pada hari Kamis, sehari sebelum berangkat liburan, haha. Ya, memang mendadak juga tuh ditambah lagi "masalah hotel Krabi" kan sedang membayangiku, jadi ya akan bikin furstrasi aja waktu itu. Tapi kemudian aku berhasil menyelesaikan masalahnya tepat waktu, terima kasih Tuhan.

Visa

Tentu saja ini adalah salah satu hal paling dasar yang harus dipersiapkan. Setelah membayar Guarantee Payment, visaku mulai diproses. Katanya sih prosesnya bisa memakan waktu sampai empat minggu. Cuma dalam kasusku, cuma butuh waktu sepuluhan hari loh, mwahahaha.... . Trus, aku menghubungi kedutaan Belanda di Jakarta dan mereka mengonfirmasi bahwa memang Visa MVV-ku sudah siap. Visanya sudah bertipe MVV-D sehingga visa ini otomatis memungkinkan aku untuk masuk ke Belanda banyak kali selama masa waktu tiga bulan sejak berlakunya Visa. YEAH!! Ngomong2, ada berita baik lain yang datang. Katanya aku tidak harus pergi ke Jakarta untuk mengambilnya karena Kedutaan memiliki perwakilan di Yogyakarta. Jadi, aku hanya perlu menghubunginya, membayar sekitar Rp 425.000,0, dan taa daa, jad deh :-D Tentu saja cara ini memakan waktu lebih lama tetapi aku bisa hemat uang kan? (Kalo engga aku kan harus beli tiket pesawat Jogja - Jakarta pp, trus bayar semua biaya transportasi di Jakarta, dll). Nah, kemarin akhirnya pasporku dengan visanya sudah tiba di rumah, yeah!!

Penerbangan

Universitasku disana, TU Delft, menawarkan fasilitas yang unik untuk mahasiswa internasional: "Penjemputan Mahasiswa Internasional" di Bandara Schiphol, Amsterdam. Nah, kami akan dijemput di bandara dan akan diantar langsung menuju tempat tinggal kami disana, dan ini gratis loh!! Enak kan?? Tapi untuk bisa menggunakan fasilitas ini, kami harus tiba di antara tanggal 19 sampai 21 Agustus. Ya sudah, aku melakukan pencarian tiket pesawat yang tiba disana di antara tanggal2 itu.

Survey-ku mengantarkanku ke maskapai nasional kita, Garuda Indonesia, karena Garuda menawarkan harga tiket termurah untuk kesana. Aku menelepon Garuda dan satu-satunya penerbangan (dengan kursi kelas ekonomi masih tersedia) adalah penerbangan tanggal 18 Agustus 2010 (sampai di Belanda tanggal 19 Agustus). Semua kursi ekonomi untuk penerbangan tanggal 19 dan 20 Agustus sudah habis, tinggal tersisa kursi kelas eksekutif aja (gile!). Ditambah lagi, untungnya aku masih bisa mendapat tiket dengan harga terendah untuk penerbangan tanggal 18 Agustus ini. Oke, aku kemudian memesannya.

Lalu, berita baik terus saja datang. Karena tujuan perjalananku ke Belanda, yaitu untuk belajar, aku mendapat diskon 20% loh dan otomatis bisa mendapatkan bagasi ekstra 10 kg!! Diskon dan bagasi ekstranya juga berlaku untuk penerbangan Jogja - Jakartaku!! Keren!! Jadi, aku beli deh tiketnya.

Ya, aku akan pindah ke Belanda di hari Rabu, tanggal 18 Agustus 2010. Nanti akan naik penerbangannya Garuda Indonesia, dengan rute: Jogjakarta - Jakarta - (via Dubai) - Amsterdam.

Akomodasi

Tentu saja dong nggak mungkin aku mau mencari sendiri akomodasiku nanti soalnya sekarang aku kan sedang berada sekitar 10.000+ km dari sana. Untungnya, ada perusahaan yang menawarkan akomodasi bagi mahasiswa internasional yang mau datang. Ya tentu saja aku terima tawarannya karena ini cara paling mudah kan! Aku memang membaca beberapa komplain mahasiswa internasional disana terhadap perusahaan ini, tapi pilihan lain apa nih yang kupunya? Mencari tempat tinggal sendiri? Rasanya sih nggak mungkin banget ya untuk sekarang soalnya aku berada di lokasi yang tidak mudah untuk pergi ke Belanda, ya kan?

Sekitar tiga minggu yang lalu, aku mendapatkan daftar mengenai tempat-tempat akomodasi yang mungkin cocok buatku disana. Aku melakukan pembacaan cepa dan memilih satu (ya, aku harus membuat pilihan segera karena daftarnya kan juga terbuka bagi banyak mahasiswa internasional lainnya. Sistem bekerja dengan aturan siapa cepat dia dapat). Dua minggu lalu aku mendapat konfirmasi kalau tempat itu sudah dipesan atas namaku. Yeah!!

Bahasa Belanda

Kuliahku akan diadakan dalam bahasa Inggris, jadi ya memang tidak akan terlalu menjadi masalah. Cuma, aku rasa penting juga untukku untuk "mengenal" bahasa lokal, yaitu bahasa Belanda (Nederlands). Makanya dua bulan terakhir ini aku sudah ikutan les bahasa Belanda. Sekarang rasanya sih aku sudah tahu deh yang dasar2nya. Cuma memang masih jauh lah sampai bisa dikatakan lancar/fasih. Yah, setidaknya kan sekarang pengetahuanku akan bahasa Belanda ini nggak nol-nol amat gitu :-)


Aku rasa, itulah hal-hal dasar persiapanku yang aku lakukan. Tentu masih banyak hal yang perlu dipersiapkan yang lebih men-detail, cuma aku rasa sih yang paling dasar sudah siap :-) Doakan aku yah

#833 - A Lot of Things

ENGLISH

A lot of things have happened in the past few days.

New Laptop

My laptop is now four year old. I bought this laptop this time when I was preparing myself to move to Bandung. Whoaaa, time flies really quick!! Well, of course there were several technical problems I had during these four years, but this laptop has worked really well for me all these years. It helped me to get everything I achieved during my undergraduate study. But now, I think it is time for me to find a new "partner" as I am preparing myself for the next stage of my life : Europe.

So, I read an advertisement in the newspaper last week saying that there would be another National Computer Festival held in Indonesia that week. This is a great news as usually the price offered in the exhibition is all competitive. So, I decided to go to the exhibition on day one. After searching around and considering some facts I got about my campus in the Netherlands, I came up with a decision to purchase a DELL laptop. The price was so competitive, it was even much cheaper than the hp laptop I bought four years ago. Well, looking at its features, I think it is good enough to support my study (hopefully). Last Sunday, I finalized the deal and brought my new laptop home :-)

It doesn't mean that my "old" laptop is done and retired. My brother will "take over" it and will function it as his "supporting" laptop for his undergraduate study.

D*mn Flu

Well, I was sick last weekend. Somehow I caught a flu and it was a bit worse than I expected. It was not that I had to take a full-day bed-rest, but I just got a bit dizzy and found myself hard to concentrate a bit. But now I am fine, it's just that this cold is a bit annoying, haha.

China, Here I Come

This is such a sudden plan. Somehow, last week, I got a news that I should accompany my mom to go to China next week. Well, of course I am in!! It is gonnabe exciting, right? I think I'll keep the details for later. But now I already have a confirmed flight ticket to get there. I am catching Garuda Indonesia (yea, Garuda offered cheaper flight tickets (beside I will also get points for my GFF Account), even cheaper than AirAsia in my case) to go to Guang Zhou next Sunday. I am coming back to Indonesia ten days later and I will be staying for one night in Jakarta because my flight will land in Indonesia in the evening.

"Renewed" Birth Certificate

Apparently, the "new" Indonesian birth certificate is already in two languages, Bahasa Indonesia and also English! Cool, rite? Anyway, as part of my preparation before going to the Netherlands, I need to get my birth certificate in English. There is another option actually, to get a sworn translator to translate it, copied it, and legalized the copies. However, it would cost a lot more time and money. So, I decided to go to the government's office where my birth certificate was issued, and asked to get it "renewed".

Well, the thought of "having to go to the government's office" is already kinda scary and trigger the aversion inside me. This is because I imagine that it will be such a long and difficult process, you know. But I have no other option to go, so I decided to go with it anyway. But then, what "welcomed" me was the opposite!! It was a quick and easy procedure I had to go and I only needed to pay Rp 15,000.-!! It is "clean"!! Well, I think the government has done their homeworks, hahaha... :-) This is a good thing to know, rite? Anyway, so after three days, I got my renewed birth certificate, and yeah, it's in both Bahasa Indonesia and English.

::: My new DELL laptop.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Banyak hal yang terjadi belakangan ini.

Laptop Baru

Laptopku yang sekarang umurnya sudah empat tahun. Aku membeli laptop ini pada waktu ini ketika aku sedang mempersiapkan diri untuk pindah ke Bandung. Whoaaa, waktu benar-benar cepat berlalu ya!! Yah, tentu saja ada beberapa masalah teknis yang muncul selama empat tahun ini, tapi bisa dibilang laptopku ini sudah bekerja dengan sangat baik loh selama ini. Ia membantuku mendapatkan segala hal yang aku capai selama masa kuliah sarjanaku. Tapi sekarang, rasanya waktunya sudah tiba bagiku untuk menemukan "partner" baru karena aku kan sedang mempersiapkan diriku untuk babak selanjutnya dalam hidupku : Eropa.

Jadi, kan aku membaca sebuah iklan di koran minggu lalu kalau akan diadakan Festival Komputer Nasional di Indonesia minggu itu. Ini berita baik karena biasanya harga yang ditawarkan kan kompetitif tuh. Jadi, aku memutuskan untuk pergi ke pameran itu di hari pertama. Setelah berkeliling sambil mencari dan mempertimbangkan beberapa fakta yang kudapat mengenai kampusku di Belanda nanti, aku memutuskan untuk membeli laptop merk DELL. Harganya juga kompetitif lho, jauh lebih murah daripada laptop merk hp yang kubeli empat tahun yang lalu. Yah, melihat fitur2nya sih, aku rasa seharusnya bagus lah untuk mendukung studiku (mudah2an). Makanya hari Minggu kemarin aku membelinya dan membawa laptop baru ke rumah :-)

Ini bukan berarti laptop lamaku sudah tamat dan pensiun. Adikku berencana "mengambil-alihnya" dan menjadikannya laptop pendukung untuk studi sarjananya.

Flu Sial*n

Akhir minggu lalu aku sakit. Entah bagaimana aku kena flu dan ternyata sakitnya agak lebih parah dari bayanganku. Nggak separah sampai aku harus istirahat tiduran seharian sih, cuma saja aku merasa sedikit pusing dan agak sulit berkonsentrasi. Tapi sekarang sudah nggak apa-apa sih, cuma pileknya nih yang masih sangat menyebalkan, haha.

Cina, Aku Datang

Ini adalah rencana yang benar-benar mendadak. Jadi minggu lalu aku mendapat kabar kalau aku bisa menemani mamaku pergi ke Cina minggu depan. Tentu saja dong aku mau!! Akan asyik kan? Aku rasa akan kutulis detailnya kemudian. Tapi yang jelas sekarang sih aku sudah mendapatkan tiket terkonfirmasi untuk perjalanan ini. Aku akan naik Garuda Indonesia (yup, Garuda menawarkan harga yang lebih murah loh (di samping aku juga akan dapat poin untuk GFF-ku), bahkan dalam kasusku bisa lebih murah daripada AirAsia) untuk pergi ke Guang Zhou hari Minggu besok. Aku akan balik ke Indonesia tanggal sepuluh hari kemudian dan akan menginap di Jakarta satu malam soalnya penerbangan baru sampai di Jakarta malam hari.

Akta Kelahiran "Terbarui"

Ternyata, akta kelahiran Indonesia yang "baru" itu sudah dalam dua bahasa loh, bahasa Indonesia dan juga bahasa Inggris! Keren kan? Nah, sebagai persiapanku sebelum pergi ke Belanda nanti, aku harus mempersiapkan akta lahir dalam bahasa Inggris. Ada opsi lain yang bisa kutempuh, yakni dengan menerjemahkannya melalui penerjemah tersumpah, kemudian mengopinya, trus kopiannya dilegalisir. Namun, itu kan memakan waktu dan biaya yang banyak kan. Makanya aku memutuskan untuk pergi ke kantor pemerintahan tempat aktaku dikeluarkan saja dan memintanya "diperbarui".

Yah, pikiran "harus pergi ke kantor pemerintahan" udah agak-agak menyeramkan dan memacu rasa enggan deh. Ya karena aku membayangkan prosesnya akan lama dan sulit, tahu lah. Tapi ya karena nggak ada pilihan lain, aku mesti menjalaninya kan. Eh ternyata, apa yang "menyambutku" adalah sesuatu yang bertentangan banget loh!! Ternyata prosesnya cepat dan prosedurnya mudah dan aku cuma harus bayar Rp 15.000,- saja!! Prosesnya benar2 "bersih"!!Yah, rasanya pemerintah disini sudah mengerjakan PR-nya deh, hahaha... :-) Hal yang baik untuk diketahui kan? Btw, setelah tiga hari, sekarang sih aku sudah mendapatkan akta lahirku yang terbarui, dan ya, memang dalam dua bahasa nih, bahasa Indonesia dan bahasa Inggris.

#832 - Mid Year 2010 Vacation : Singapore, Krabi, KL (Part 4)

ENGLISH

Previously on 2010 Mid Year Vacation : After spending one amazing day in Phi-Phi Islands, Zilko and his friends now must leave Krabi.

Day 5 (Tuesday, 15 June 2010)

Our flight to Kuala Lumpur would depart at about 2.10 PM this day. So, we actually still had about half-day in Krabi. However, the day before we already asked the restaurants in Ao Nang Beach about their hour of operation, and they all opened at 10 or 11 AM. Well, whatta time to open! :-( Practically there was nothing to see or enjoy in Ao Nang Beach that morning. So, we decided to really enjoy our rest and got up pretty late.

It turned out that we were lucky because that morning it was raining! Well, lucky the day before, the day where we had our tour, was very shiny. Anyway, after having breakfast and checked-out, we ordered a taxi to go to the airport. They said that the "taxi" had all been booked and the only available vehicle was "pick-up". D*mnit but we had no choice, rite? Okay, we agreed on it. But then it turned out that the "pick-up" was not a "pick-up" I imagined (I thought it was an old uncomfortable pick-up truck), it was A LOT more like a van, with a small open-area in the rear. Basically, I still think it WAS a taxi but operating with different vehicle, haha.

The scenery to the airport was beautiful. Anyway, so we arrived at the airport and checked-in. Btw, just when we arrived at the airport, my friend told me that his clothes were LEFT behind in our hotel!! $&%&#@*&!! Well, nothing else we could do, he just let them go. We then walked to the waiting area and finally at about 1.50 PM we were allowed to board our plane. It was AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AFQ in special "ZOOM" Livery flight no. AK 805. Then, we took off from runway 14 and headed to Kuala Lumpur. The weather was not really friendly as there was thick cloud in most part of our short trip to KL, in fact we also experienced a pretty harsh turbulence (well, it was a small turbulence though). At about 4.30 PM we landed at runway 34L of KLIA.

After taking my luggage, we then must find our way to the city of KL. During our (long) transit in KL two days earlier, we knew that there was a new alternative way to get to KL, which was by "KLIA Transit", a bus-train service which departed from KLIA's Budget Terminal to KL Sentral Railway Station downtown KL. It only cost 12.5 MYR per pax and we thought it was a competitive price compared to the 9 MYR fare for a bus to downtown KL. That's why we picked it.

So, we got into the bus-stop of Line 6 Bus and lucky enough, we still could catch the 5.25 PM bus (otherwise we would have had to wait for the 5.55 PM bus). The bus departed and brought us to Salak Tinggi Station. After waiting for about 5 minutes, the train came. It really looked like the "KLIA Express" train though :-) Anyway, at about 6.30 PM we arrived at KL Sentral Railway Station. Well, recalling my memory from my five and a half years ago, I knew that this station was not really far from the Monorail Station. So, we looked for it. After asking several people, we finally found the station (d*mn construction, we had to get around pretty far to get there, and bringing a luggage, surely it was not convenient). Anyway, we then realized that the bus service from Budget Terminal stopped at KL Sentral and it was SO MUCH CLOSER to the monorail station!! Haha, we should have taken the bus (but it might take longer to get to the city). Btw, why did I find the monorail not as cozy as five and a half years ago? Hmmmm...

Anyway, so we finally arrived at our hotel: Tune Hotels at Downtown KL. After putting our luggages in our room, we left the hotel and decided to look for dinner. We went to Bukit Bintang Street (as it was easy to reach there, we just needed to catch the monorail). Bukit Bintang was (still) VERY CROWDED. I liked the atmosphere, haha... :-) We had dinner at this chinese food stall. Then, we walked around the area.

At about 10 PM, we went back to our hotel.

Day 6 (Wednesday, 16 June 2010)

We had nothing much to do this day. D*mn, we should have spent 2 nights in KL tho, haha. Anyway, because of the not so convenient experience we had the day before plus because we had already saved some money, we decided to spoil ourselves by taking a taxi to get back to KLIA :-)

To make long story short, so finally we boarded our flight back to Singapore. It was AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AFS flight no. AK 707. We took off from runway 34R and we left Kuala Lumpur. About 50 minutes later, our flight landed at runway 20R of Singapore Changi Airport.

That day, we just went to Newton to have dinner. That was it. Singapore was boring for me :-)

Day 7 (Thursday, 17 June 2010)

Even though I found Singapore boring, at least there was still one exciting destination I could go to, The Universal Studios in Singapore. Thinking that there was no parameter to say a theme park was "full", we didn't get there as early as possible. We got there at about 10.30 AM :-) But then, a bad news came: the ticket had already been SOLD OUT until (the next) SUNDAY!! WTH!!! That was crazy and totally unexpected!! How do we say a theme park is "full"?? Strange, rite?? (come to think about it, there is one parameter I can think about to say a theme park is "full" though, it is related to queueing theory in mathematics). Well, we had no other option than leaving the park :-( (but at least I still managed to get a picture in front of the well-known "Universal Globe").

Then, I knew that there was also a well-known circus currently playing in Singapore, Voyage de La Vie. When we got to the counter, the tickets also had been sold out until July 2nd!! Arrrrgggghhhhh....

I guess we lost our Fortune Goddess that day, LOL. So, we just walked around Sentosa Island. I also played LUGE and SKYRIDE, my favorite ride in the island. (btw, there was a new track at LUGE :D). Bored, we then left Sentosa and went to Orchard Rd. Anyway, speaking about Orchard Road, I was lucky because the day before, the road was flooded!!!

That was it.

Day 8 (Friday, 18 June 2010)

Well, this day, I was scheduled to get back to Indonesia. I ordered a taxi to pick me up at about 8 AM (I brought two luggages). After checking in at the very-crowded AirAsia's Desk, I went to my gate.

At about 11.10 AM I boarded my plane back to Yogyakarta. It was Indonesia AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code PK-AXJ flight no. QZ 7139. We took off from runway 20R of Changi Airport. About 1 hour 40 minutes later, my flight landed at runway 09 of Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta. This marked the end of this Mid-Year Trip.

THE END


L : Keyboard in Thai. Lucky at least it still had Latin Letters :-)
R : A beautiful Scenery on our way to Krabi Airport.


L : International Waiting Lounge at Krabi Airport.
R : This is how it looked like outside our window during our Krabi - Kuala Lumpur flight.


L : AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AFQ in special livery just after landing at KLIA from Krabi as AK 805.
R : A railway network in Malaysia, as seen from Salak Tinggi Station.


L : The train of KLIA Transit.
R : KL Monorail at Medan Tuanku Railway Station.


L : Crowded Bukit Bintang Street.
R : Ais Kacang.


L : Busy Bukit Bintang Crossroad and Bukit Bintang Monorail Station.
R : Raja Chulan Monoral Station.


L : Highway to KLIA.
R : AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AFS was ready to fly to Singapore as AK 707.


L : Inside AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code 9M-AFS flight no. AK 707 to Singapore.
R : Our meals at Newton that day.


L : The well-known Universal Globe.
R : Hollywood Avenue at Universal Studio. I wasn't allowed to get in there :-(


Note : Weird enough, I ONLY took pictures with these two flags and both Netherlands and Spain made it to this year's World Cup Final!!


L : Siloso Beach.
R : One Spot at Siloso Beach.


L : The Southern Most Point of Continental Asia, at Sentosa Island.
R : Overlooking Palawan Beach at Sentosa Island.


L : A cute Poodle Cloud I saw.
R : Minced Meat Noodle at Orchard, tasty!! :-)


L : MRT's train in Singapore.
R : Qantas A380-800 reg code VH-QQC was ready to fly her part of the "Kangaroo Route", Singapore - Sydney.


L : Indonesia AirAsia's Airbus A320-216 reg code PK-AXJ which would bring me back to Yogyakarta as QZ 7139.
R : Two Layers. This is how it looked like during my trip back to Yogyakarta.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sebelumnya dalam 2010 Mid Year Vacation : Setelah melewati sehari yang mengagumkan di Kepulauan Phi-Phi, Zilko dan teman2nya kini harus meninggalkan Krabi.

Hari 5 (Selasa, 15 Juni 2010)

Penerbangan kami ke Kuala Lumpur baru akan terbang pada pukul 2.10 siang di hari ini. Jadi, sebenarnya kami masih memiliki waktu selama setengah-an hari di Krabi. Namun, sehari sebelumnya kami sudah tanya2 ke beberapa restoran di Pantai Ao Nang mengenai jam buka mereka, dan kebanyakan buka jam 10 atau 11 pagi. Duh, nanggung banget kan waktunya! :-( Jadinya sih bisa dikatakan nggak ada yang bisa dilihat atau dikunjungi lagi deh di Pantai Ao Nang pagi itu. Jadi, kami memutuskan untuk santai-santai aja dengan bangun agak siang dikit.

Ternyata kami beruntung loh, soalnya pagi itu hujan! Untungnya sehari sebelumnya, hari dimana kami ikutan tur itu, kan cerah banget. Ngomong2, setelah makan pagi dan check-out, kami memesan taksi untuk pergi ke bandara. Katanya sih "taksi"-nya sudah habis dan kendaraan yang ada cuma "pick-up" aja. Waduh, gimana nih tapi nggak ada pilihan lain kan? Ya udah deh kami setuju. Tapi ternyata kendaraan "pick-up"-nya ini tuh bukan kaya "pick-up" yang aku bayangkan loh (kan aku bayangin berupa kendaraan kaya truk tua gitu yang ga nyaman), ternyata SANGAT mirip mobil biasa, dengan sedikit bak terbuka di belakang. Ya menurutku sih kendaraan kaya gitu masih bisa disebut taksi lah cuma pake mobil yang lain aja, haha.

Pemandangan menuju bandara indah juga loh. Ngomong2, jadi akhirnya kami tiba di bandara dan check-in. Eh, waktu uda sampe bandara temenku bilang bajunya ketinggalan di hotel!! $&%&#@*&!! Ya uda mau gimana lagi, direlakan deh. Kemudian kami jalan ke area tunggu dan akhirnya sekitar jam 1.50an kami dipersilakan naik ke pesawat. Pesawatnya adalah AirAsia Airbus A320-216 kode refistrasi 9M-AFQ, dengan livery khusus ZOOM loh, dengan nomor penerbangan AK 805. Ya kemudian kami tinggal landas dari landasan pacu 14 dan bergerak menuju Kuala Lumpur. Cuacanya nggak begitu baik dan di sepanjang perjalanan menuju KL langit diselimuti awan tebal, kami juga mengalami turbulensi yang lumayan (tapi masih bisa dikatakan kecil sih). Sekitar jam 4.30 sore kami mendarat di landasan 34L KLIA.

Setelah ambil bagasiku, kami kemudian harus mencari cara untuk pergi ke kota Kuala Lumpur. Dalam transit (panjang) kami di KL dua hari sebelumnya, kami tahu bahwa ada alternatif baru untuk pergi ke KL, yakni dengan naik "KLIA Transit", layanan bus-kereta api yang berangkat dari Terminal Budget KLIA menuju Stasiun Kereta Api KL Sentral di tengah kota. Biayanya cuma 12,5 ringgit dan kami rasa harga segitu lumayan bagus lah kalau diadu dengan biaya naik bis yang 9 ringgit menuju tengah kota KL. Makanya kami memilihnya.

Jadi, kami langsung deh menuju halte bus Jalur 6 dan untungnya, masih keburu naik bus yang jam 5.25 sore (kalo engga kami harus nunggu bus yang jam 5.55 sore tuh). Busnya kemudian berangkat dan membawa kami ke Stasiun Salak Tinggi. Setelah nunggu sekitar 5 menit, keretanya datang. Keretanya keliatan kaya keretanya "KLIA Ekspres" tuh :-) Kemudian, jam 6.30 sore kami tiba di Stasiun Kereta Api KL Sentral. Yah, berdasarkan ingatanku lima setengah tahun sebelumnya, aku tahu bahwa stasiun ini terletak nggak jauh dari Stasiun Monorail. Jadi, kami mencarinya. Setelah bertanya ke beberapa orang, akhirnya ketemu juga tuh stasiun (pekerjaan konstruksi si*l, karenanya kami harus jalan memutar lumayan jauh deh dan sambil membawa tas troli tentu ini nggak nyaman). Ngomong2, kami kemudian menyadari kalo layanan bus dari Budget Terminal juga berhenti di Stasiun KL Sentral dan lokasi berhentinya malah LEBIH DEKAT ke Stasiun Monorail itu lho!! Haha, jadi emang harusnya kami naik bus nih (tapi mungkin akan membutuhkan waktu lebih lama untuk tiba di kota sih). Btw, kenapa ya aku koq merasa monorail-nya nggak senyaman lima setengah tahun yang lalu? Hmmmm...

Ngomong2, akhirnya kami tiba di hotel kami: Tune Hotels di Downtown KL. Setelah menaruh bawaan kami di kamar, kami meninggalkan hotel dan berniat cari makanan. Kami pergi ke Jalan Bukit Bintang (soalnya gampang kan pergi kesana, tinggal naik monorail aja, haha... :-) ). Bukit Bintang (masih) SANGAT RAMAI. Aku suka tuh atmosfernya, haha... :-) Kami makan malam di sebuah warung makan chinese food gitu. Trus, jalan2 aja deh di sekitar sana.

Sekitar jam 10 malam, kami kembali ke hotel.

Hari 6 (Rabu, 16 Juni 2010)

Nggak banyak yang dilakukan hari ini. Si*l, harusnya kami mengalokasikan 2 malam deh di KL, haha. Karena pengalaman ga gitu menyenangkan sehari sebelumnya dan karena kami sudah menghemat sedikit uang, sekali2 nggak masalah dong kalo memanjakan diri sendiri dengan naik taksi untuk kembali ke KLIA :-)

Untuk mempersingkat cerita, akhirnya kami menaiki pesawat kami untuk kembali ke Singapura. Pesawatnya adalah AirAsia Airbus A320-216 kode registrasi 9M-AFS dengan nomor penerbangan AK 707 tujuan Singapura. Kami lepas landas dari landasan pacu 34R dan meninggalkan Kuala Lumpur. Sekitar 50 menit setelahnya, pesawat kami mendarat di landasan pacu 20R di Bandara Changi Singapura.

Hari itu, kami cuma jalan ke Newton saja cari makan malam. Itu saja sih. Kan Singapura sudah terasa agak membosankan deh buatku :-)

Hari 7 (Kamis, 17 Juni 2010)

Walau aku merasa Singapura membosankan, setidaknya masih ada satu tujuan menarik yang bisa dikunjungi, The Universal Studios di Singapura. Berpikir bahwa tidak ada parameter yang bisa digunakan untuk mengatakan sebuah taman bermain itu "penuh", kami nggak bela2in datang awal deh. Kami santai2 aja dan tiba jam 10.30an pagi :-) Tapi kemudian ada kabar buruk: tiket masuknya sudah HABIS sampe hari MINGGU (besoknya)!! WTH!!! Gila banget kan dan sangat tak disangka-sangka!! Gimana sih kita mengatakan sebuah taman bermain itu "penuh"?? Aneh, kan?? (walau kalau dipikir2 lagi ada sih satu parameter yang menurutku bisa digunakan untuk mengatakan suatu taman bermain itu "penuh", dan ini berkaitan erat dengan Teori Antrian di matematika). Yah, nggak ada pilihan lain deh selain meninggalkan taman bermain itu :-( (tapi paling enggak sih masih bisa deh ngambil foto di depan "Globe Universal" yang terkenal itu).

Kemudian, aku tahu bahwa sedang ada sirkus terkenal yang main di Singapura, Voyage de La Vie. Ketika kami tiba di konternya, tiketnya juga sudah habis sampai tanggal 2 Juli!! Arrrrgggghhhhh....

Aku rasa kami kehilangan Dewi Fortuna deh pagi itu, LOL. Jadi ya kami jalan2 di sekitar pulau Sentosa aja. Aku main LUGE dan SKYRIDE, atraksi favoritku di pulau itu (btw, ada jalur baru loh di LUGE :D). Bosan, kami meninggalkan Sentosa dan jalan menuju Orchard. Btw, ngomong2 tentang Jalan Orchard, aku beruntung loh soalnya sehari sebelumnya jalan itu kan kebanjiran!!!

Itulah.

Hari 8 (Jumat, 18 Juni 2010)

Hari ini adalah jadwalku untuk balik ke Indonesia. Aku memesan taksi untuk menjeput jam 8 pagi (kan aku bawa 2 koper). Setelah check in di konter AirAsia yang ramai, aku jalan menuju gerbang keberangkatan.

Sekitar jam 11.10 kami dipersilakan naik pesawat tujuan Yogyakarta. Pesawatnya adalah Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-216 kode registrasi PK-AXJ nomor penerbangan QZ 7139. Kami tinggal landas dari landasan pacu 20R di Bandara Changi. Sekitar 1 jam 40 menit kemudian, penerbanganku mendarat di landasan pacu 09 di Bandara Internasional Adisucipto di Yogyakarta. Ini menandai akhir Perjalanan Tengah Tahun ini.

SELESAI

#831 - Recent Update

ENGLISH

It has been a while since I updated about my daily life, thanks to Mid Year 2010 Vacation Story, the World Cup "Incident", and Wimbledon. So, before continuing my vacation story, I'd like to write something about my daily life first, hehe :-)

1. Speaking about World Cup, I am really happy that finally my dream final comes true this year!! After failing to have a dream final at tennis lately, at least now I have one here. It is between Netherlands and Spain!! Well, in this edition of World Cup, I ONLY support these two teams and now both of them make it to the final! How great is that!!


2. Somehow, we are already in the month of July!! Wow, time really flies!! Usually, every July, Yogyakarta is so crowded with all the tourists from all over the country who are on their school-break vacation. But this is not the case this year. Sure, there are some traffic jams at some spots, but overall, it is still "handleable". I won't say this is a typical Yogyakarta during holiday season. I have a hypothesis that it might be because of the World Cup.


3. I went to Solo last Tuesday. Well, nothing really special I did there, I just helped my parent stocking our stores there.


4. Anyway, one of my (then) favorite local reality show, Penghuni Terakhir, is finally "reborn"! After about five years of hiatus, now it is back on TV. Well, it was premiered earlier this week but I haven't watched a single episode of it though. This is because mainly those episodes were only about the audition, which I always find not interesting. I think I will watch it regularly once the "main" round has started (which I suppose is today). Hopefully, the composition of character this season is diverse (not overlapping) as that will make the show A LOT more interesting. Not like the last season where there were just a bunch of "hoodlum"-characters in the show. Anyway, whatta time to be "reborn", just when I am leaving Indonesia in one month or so, it is premiere-ing, damn. I think I will need to find a streaming of it, haha.


5. Speaking of leaving Indonesia, I am preparing an exclusive entry about it. I will post it some time in the future :-)


6. I do believe in one thing now: "The Principle of Attraction". When you have a happy heart, everything is going to be working your way!! The contrary also works. When you have a bad mood, everything is not going to be working your way. This is like an endless circle though, since if something is wrong in our eyes and we get even a worse mood because of that, even more "bad" things will come to us. That's why it is very important to start a day with a happy heart :-D


7. Well, I know that I don't have much topic to write about right now, so just as usual, I would like to post some random pictures I took lately :-D

::: Soto Kridosono I had (almost) every Sunday at Yogyakarta.

::: One day, I was craving for this fried mussels. I dunno why :-D

::: Tenderloin Beef Steak at Sagan Ribs & Steak.

::: My Favorite Onion Fried Ribs at Sagan Ribs & Steak.

::: Sate Karang t Kotagede.

::: Pempek.

::: Salmon Steak.

::: Dori Fish Steak. It is tasty!!

::: Nasi Liwet I had in Solo when I went there last Tuesday.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sudah lumayan lama juga ya sejak aku menulis hal-hal sehari-hariku, terima kasih pada Mid Year 2010 Vacation Story, "Insiden" di Piala Dunia, dan Wimbledon. Jadi, sebelum melanjutkan cerita tentang liburanku, aku pengen menulis hal-hal sehari-hari dulu deh, hehe :-)

1. Ngomong2 tentang Piala Dunia, aku sangat senang nih karena final impianku terwujud di tahun ini!! Setelah gagal mendapatkan final impian di tenis akhir-akhir ini, sekarang aku mendapatkan satu neh di sepakbola. Final adalah antara Belanda dan Spanyol!! Yah, soalnya di edisi kali ini dari Piala Dunia aku kan cuma mendukung dua tim ini saja dan kini mereka masuk final! Keren banget kan!!


2. Tiba-tiba, kini koq sudah bulan Juli lagi ya!! Bener2 cepat nih waktu berlalu!! Biasanya, setiap Juli, kota Yogyakarta ramai dikunjungi turis dari seluruh penjuru negeri yang sedang menikmati liburan sekolah kan. Tapi, ini bukanlah yang terjadi tahun ini. Memang sih lalulintas agak ramai di beberapa tempat, tetapi secara keseluruhan sih masih bisa "dikendalikan". Menurutku ini bukanlah tipikal Yogyakarta saat liburan deh. Aku sih punya dugaan kalau ini ada hubungannya sama Piala Dunia.


3. Aku pergi ke Solo hari Selasa lalu. Nggak ada yang khusus yang kulakukan sih, aku cuma bantu ortu menyetok barang di toko disana.


4. Ngomong2, satu reality show lokal favoritku (dulu), Penghuni Terakhir, kini "lahir kembali"! Setelah nggak tayang selama sekitar lima tahun, sekarang kembali diproduksi nih. Yah, sebenarnya acaranya sudah mulai ditayangkan sejak awal minggu ini, cuma memang aku belum nonton satu episode pun sih. Ini soalnya sekarang kan masih episode2 audisi yang menurutku nggak penting dan nggak menarik. Aku rasa aku akan nonton dengan reguler deh setelah babak "utama" mulai main (yang aku duga sih hari ini). Mudah2an komposisi karakter penguninya musim ini tuh luas (nggak saling tumpang tindih) karena ini akan membuat acara ini jauh lebih menarik. Nggak kaya musim terakhirnya yang menurutku kebanyakan karakter sok-"preman"nya. Kan jadi bosan. Ngomong2, bener2 deh, kenapa "lahir kembali"nya baru sekarang. Ketika aku akan meninggalkan Indonesia dalam sekitar satu bulan, eh koq malah mulai ditayangin lagi. Kayanya aku harus cari streaming-nya deh nanti, haha.


5. Ngomong2 tentang meninggalkan Indonesia, aku akan menulis sebuah posting khusus tentangnya. Aku akan publikasikan nanti deh kapan2 :-)


6. Kini aku percaya pada satu hal: "Prinsip Tarik-Menarik". Ketika kita memiliki hati yang lagi senang, semua bisa terjadi sesuai kehendak kita lho!! Yang berlawanan juga berlaku. Ketika kita memiliki mood yang lagi jelek, seakan-akan semua hal itu bertentangan dengan kehendak kita. Ini jadi seperti lingkaran tak berujung sih, soalnya kan kalau sesuatu itu salah di mata kita, dan kita jadi makin memiliki mood yang lebih jelek karenanya, hal "jelek" lain akan malah terjadi juga. Makanya, penting deh memulai hari dengan hati yang senang :-D


7. Hmm, aku tahu aku lagi nggak ada banyak topik yang bisa kutulis sekarang, jadi kaya biasa, aku publikasikan beberapa foto yang aku ambil baru2 ini ya :-D