ENGLISHThis Friday has been really tiring. Well, last Thursday night I was afraid the same thing would happen again: I didn't get up as early as I planned. Why? Because on Friday morning I had an early exam, at 8 AM, which was Complex Function. It would be silly if I missed it because I got up late, haha... . Therefore, to avoid it to happen again, I set two alarms: my cellphone and my TV to ring at around 6.45 AM. Another problem came up as I had an insomnia on Thursday night, damnit! That's what made me even more paranoid, haha. However, I woke up at 6 AM, I DIDN'T NEED THE ALARMS Friday morning!!!It's kinda funny tho, two years ago and last year I was able to get up early at 7 AM to catch the live telecast of American Idol while both times I was actually gonna have final exam in the afternoon of those days. However, last Thursday, which was a holiday, I wasn't able to get up early!Anyway, so on Friday morning I had the exam. It went really well I guess. I only took 25 minutes to finish it! Hopefully the score is maximum, hehe. After that I had to wait until 10 AM to ask my final score (which apparently had already been processed) for Linear Control. I took the exam earlier this week. This one, I get an A with final score of 98, wahahaha....Friday afternoon, my friends and I sealed all the deal with the travel agent for our trip to Jakarta next Monday. After that, after dealing with all the stresses these last few weeks, we went karaokeing, haha. It had been a while tho since we last went karaokeing. Then, it was dinner time, I had been craving for seafood, especially oysters, LOL. So we had dinner at a warung seafood at DU. I was looking for plain fried oyster, but there was none. Okay, so we ordered butter sauced oyster and flour fried calamari, plus water spinach, haha. Then we went to a cafe, which was pretty comfortable and affordable until 8 PM, and went back home.That's pretty much my Friday this week....
::: oyster and calamari I had this Friday
BAHASA INDONESIAJumat ini benar2 melelahkan. Yah, Kamis malam aku takut hal yang sama akan terjadi lagi: aku gak bangun pagi sesuai rencana. Mengapa? Karena di Jumat pagi aku akan mengikuti ujian pagi hari, jam 8 pagi, yaitu ujian Fungsi Kompleks. Kan konyol aja gitu kalo aku melewatkannya karena nggak bangun, haha... . Makanya untuk mencegah itu terjadi, aku memasang dua alarm: hapeku dan TV-ku untuk berdering sekitar jam 6.45 pagi. Masalahnya lagi, Kamis malam aku malah terkena insomnia, sial!! Itulah yang membuat aku makin parno, haha. Namun, akhirnya aku bangun jam 6 pagi, dan AKU TIDAK MEMBUTUHKAN ALARM untuk bangun Jumat paginya!!Lucu juga sih, dua tahun lalu dan tahun lalu aku bisa lho bangun jam 7 pagi untuk nonton telecast langsung American Idol padahal di kedua waktu itu aku akan menghadapi ujian akhir siangnya. Namun, Kamis kemarin, yang merupakan tanggal merah, malah aku gabisa bangun pagi!Ngomong2, jadinya Jumat pagi aku ikut ujiannya. Rasanya berjalan lancar sih. Bahkan cuma membutuhkan waktu 25 menit untuk menyelesaikannya! Mudah2an sih nilainya maksimum juga, hehe. Setelahnya aku harus menunggu sampe jam 10 pagi tuh untuk tanya nilai akhir (yang ternyata telah diolah) untuk Kontrol Linear. Aku ngambil ujiannya awal minggu ini. Untuk yang satu ini, aku dapet A dengan nilai final 98, wahahaha...Jumat siang, aku dan temen2ku memastikan deal dengan agen travel tentang perjalanan kita ke Jakarta Senin depan. Setelahnya, habis bergelut dengan stress yang banyak terjadi akhir2 ini, kita karaokean deh, haha. Sudah lumayan lama juga sejak terakhir kita karaoekan. Setelahnya adalah waktu makan malam, aku lagi pengen bangen seafood neh tadi, terutama kerang, LOL. Makanya kita trus makan malam di DU di sebuah warung seafood. Sebenernya aku nyari kerang goreng biasa tapi ternyata nggak ada. Ya udah deh akhirnya pesan kerang goreng saus mentega dan cumi goreng tepung serta kangkung tentu saja, haha. Kemudian kita ke sebuah kafe yang tempatnya ternyata nyaman juga dan harganya terjangkau tuh sampai jam 8 malam. Setelahnya balik deh.Kurang lebih itulah hari Jumatku minggu ini....
Kris AllenENGLISHContinuing my tradition of dedicating an entry to congratulate the winner of American Idol each year, like four years ago for Carrie Underwood, three years ago for Taylor Hicks, two years ago for Jordin Sparks, and last year for David Cook, this time I'm gonna dedicate this entry for the winner of American Idol 2009: Kris Allen!!Kris Allen has been the dark horse this season, performing in the shadow of Adam Lambert (runner up) and Danny Gokey (third place). Fourteen weeks ago when I first saw him on the second group of top 36's performance, I had a feeling he could do well and last long in the competition, but NOT winning the show. At that time, Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert were still too 'dominating', haha....However, as the show rolled, his performances were peaking. Some of his performances were in the same league with Adam's and Danny's, sometimes even outperformed theirs, in my opinion. Well, the strengths of Kris Allen were his artistry and his humbleness. True that his voice isn't as big as Adam's or Danny's, but his artistry could make every performance touching and interesting. That's why I think he is strong in his own way. His humbleness is the strength and charisma. Adam Lambert is also very strong, no doubt about it, but not in the same way as Kris is. Both should be the winners (because of the differences) but only one can be. That's why this year it's interesting to see who the winner is.Actually this morning I planned to watch the result show LIVE, just like last year and two years ago. However, I didn't get up early as I planned, damnit!! haha...Anyway, congratulations Kris Allen for winning this season after nearly 100 million votes, another record!! Congratulations also for Adam Lambert. I'm sure they both will success, of course in their own ways, hehe...BAHASA INDONESIAMelanjutkan tradisi mempersembahkan sebuah posting untuk menyelamati pemenang American Idol setiap tahun, seperti empat tahun lalu untuk Carrie Underwood, tiga tahun lalu untuk Taylor Hicks, dua tahun lalu untuk Jordin Sparks, dan tahun lalu untuk David Cook, kali ini aku akan menyelamati pemenang American Idol 2009: Kris Allen!!Kris Allen benar2 kuda hitam musim ini, tampil dalam bayang-bayang Adam Lambert (runner up) dan Danny Gokey (posisi ketiga). Empat belas minggu yang lalu ketika aku pertama melihatnya di performance top 36 grup 2, aku ada feeling dia akan bertahan lama di kompetisi ini, tapi TIDAK memenangkan show-nya. Waktu itu sih, Danny Gokey dan Adam Lambert masih mendominasi, haha...Namun, dengan mengalirnya pertunjukkan, penampilannya dia terus meningkat. Beberapa penampilannya jadi selevel dengan penampilannya Adam dan Danny, bahkan kadang menurutku lebih bagus dari mereka lho. Hmm, kekuatannya Kris Allen ada pada keartisannya dan kerendah-hatiannya. Benar bahwa suaranya tidak setinggi atau sebesar Adam dan Danny, tapi keartisannya mampu membuat tiap penampilan menyentuh dan menarik. Makanya aku rasa dia itu kuat dengan caranya sendiri. Kerendah-hatiannya adalah kekuatan sekaligus karismanya. Adam Lambert juga kuat tuh, nggak ada sanggahan, tetapi dengan cara yang berbeda dengan Kris. Keduanya harusnya menang sih (karena perbedaan itu) tetapi ya memang cuma harus ada 1 sih yang menang. Makanya menarik untuk melihat siapa yang menang tahun ini.Sebenernya pagi ini aku berencana nonton finalnya LANGSUNG lagi, kaya tahun lalu dan dua tahun lalu. Sayang, aku gak bangun pagi kaya yang direncanakan, sial!! haha...Ngomong2, selamat untuk Kris Allen yang sudah memenangkan season ini setelah hampir 100 juta suara yang masuk, rekor lagi tuh!! Selamat juga untuk Adam Lambert. Yakin deh mereka berdua akan sukses, dengan cara mereka masing-masing, hehe...
Adam Lambert
ENGLISHYeah, today is supposed to be the day when I celebrate the end of the final exam weeks. According to the schedule, my last exam should be today. Well, it's not that the exam today was canceled. It's because of my participation on a competition last week forced me to miss two exams those days. Therefore I gotta take the exams later. I actually planned to take those two exams this week, on Monday and Friday so that I will have no burden on my shoulders next Monday when I go to Jakarta, haha... . However, because of some stuffs, I couldn't take one of them on Monday and had to wait for more time. Instead, I could take it next Wednesday. Still, I could take the Friday test.Anyway, this week is kinda exciting since the final of American Idol is this week. I just watched it this evening and I think it was confusing, haha... . Both Adam and Kris performed well, especially on their first performances. However, on the first performances (their favorite performance), I like Kris's more. I dunno why but I just think Adam performed it better on the top 8 week. This week he kinda lost the 'magical' thing in it. The rest two performances (each) were okay. It's too bad that Kris's picked a too high key. Had he chosed lower key, I think he would have outperformed Adam since the song suits his voice more, hmmm... . Who do I think will win? No Idea since both have been great the whole season. It could be Adam, it could be Kris. Anyway, maybe it's fun to see Kris wins since he is the underdog this season, LOL.
::: Pasupati Bridge. Picture was taken when I was trapped on a traffic jam and it was raining outside, LOL
::: Hok Ben
::: bakso I had last week
::: tasteless chicken with french fries I had this Monday.BAHASA INDONESIAYa, seharusnya hari ini menjadi hari dimana aku merayakan berakhirnya minggu ujian akhir. Berdasarkan jadwal, ujian yang terakhir sih seharusnya hari ini. Yah, bukannya ujian hari ini dibatalkan atau bagaimana, cuma saja karena partisipasiku di kompetisi minggu lalu memaksaku untuk melewatkan dua ujian hari-hari itu. Makanya aku harus ngambil susulan kemudian. Sebenarnya aku berencana mengambil keduanya di hari Senin dan Jumat minggu ini sehingga aku bisa tidak ada beban Senin depan ketika aku pergi ke Jakarta, haha... . Namun, karena satu dua hal, aku nggak bisa mengambil salah satunya Senin kemarin dan harus menunggu lagi. Akhirnya baru bisa ngambil hari Rabu depan sih. Namun yang satunya lagi masih bisa diambil di hari Jumat besok.Ngomong2, minggu ini lumayan menarik karena final American Idol ditayangkan minggu ini. Aku baru saja menontonnya sore tadi dan menurutku membingungkan neh, haha... . Adam dan Kris dua-duanya bagus juga, terutama di penampilan pertama mereka. Yah, dari penampilan pertamanya (penampilan favorit mereka), aku lebih suka penampilannya Kris sih. Mungkin karena aku merasa penampilan Adam dengan lagu itu waktu 8 besar lebih baik dari itu. Minggu ini dia semacam kaya kehilangan kesan 'majikal' dari penampilannya. Kedua penampilan (masing-masing) selanjutnya biasa saja tuh. Sayang aja di penampilan terakhir Kris memilih kunci terlalu tinggi. Andaikata dia menurunkan kuncinya, mungkin dia sudah mengalahkan Adam tuh karena lagunya sebenarnya lebih cocok dengan suaranya daripada Adam, hmmm... . Siapa yang aku rasa akan menang? Gatau juga, bisa Adam, bisa Kris. Ngomong2, mungkin menarik juga yah melihat Kris yang underdog musim ini bisa menang, LOL.
ENGLISHWell, this Monday has been exciting. This is because finally I can watch a new long-awaited movie, Angels and Demons. Well, I have read this novel before. I read it this time, about 3.5 years ago. Well, I didn't write the details there, but I gotta tell you, I LOVE it!! It's the best Dan Brown's novel out of all four I have read. I even like it a lot better than The DaVinci Code. Well, I personally think The DaVinci Code is more popular because it attracts more controversy than Angels and Demons. However, considering the story, I think Angels and Demons is more interesting and exciting.So, back to the movie I watched. The movie was played each hour at Blitz Megaplex, so my friends and I bought tickets for the 5 PM show since we gotta pay for our trip to Jakarta next week first, hehe. Anyway, at 4.30 PM we arrived back at PVJ and went to the cinema. Then, of course we watched the 138 minutes movie (wow, it's a great time-length, haha).Well, the movie was SUPERB for me!! I have read the book so I think I'm kinda more critical. Usually when we have read the book and watch a movie based on it, we will be more critical and be easier to get disappointed. For example, three years ago when I watched The DaVinci Code's Film. Well, in my link, I wrote it was good while I actually was a bit disappointed with the movie. However, this time, it's NOT the case for me!! I LOVE the movie!! Kudos to the director! If I wrote The DaVinci Code was good, Angels and Demons was AWESOME!!Well, of course to deal with the time constraint, the producer gotta cut some parts of the novel. The producer smartly cut the 'unnecessary' details from the novel so the story is still connected one part to another, not causing confusion just like what happened on The DaVinci Code, especially for those who haven't read the novel. Some controversial details were also cut off from the movie but not affecting the outcome of the movie. For example, the fact that the carmelengo was the son of the pope, etc. Even, some parts were edited (different from the novel as I recall) like the origin of carmelengo. In the novel, he was from Italy while on the movie, he was from Northern Ireland (probably to accomodate with Ewan McGregor who portrayed him). All of these are still understandable and the most important thing is that the movie is still great!!If I gotta rate it, I'm gonna rate it 4.5 out of 5!! Great!!Now, I'm waiting for Star Trek to premier in Indonesia next June, haha...
::: Angels and Demon's promotional poster.
::: Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon and Ayelet Zurer as Vittoria Vetra on Angels and Demons.
::: Ewan McGregor as Carmelengo Patrick McKenna (Carlo Ventresca in the novel).BAHASA INDONESIAYah, Senin ini menyenangkan nih. Ini karena hari ini aku bisa menonton film yang sudah lama ditunggu-tunggu, Angels and Demons. Yah, aku sudah membaca novelnya sebelumnya. Aku membacanya pada waktu ini, sekitar 3,5 tahun yang lalu. Hmm, aku tidak menulis detailnya di link itu, tetapi harus aku katakan, aku SUKA BANGET!! Novel ini adalah novel Dan Brown terbaik dari semua empat novelnya yang sudah aku baca. Aku juga jauh lebih menyukainya daripada The DaVinci Code. Hmm, aku pribadi sih mengira kalau The DaVinci Code lebih populer karena lebih kontroversial daripada Angels and Demons. Namun, kalo melihat ceritanya, rasanya Angels and Demons lebih menarik dan lebih seru.Nah, balik ke film yang aku tonton. Filmnya dimainkan setiap jam di Blitz Megaplex, makanya aku dan temenku membeli tiket jam 5 sore soalnya kita mesti mengurus pembayaran untuk perjalanan ke Jakarta minggu depan, hehe. Trus jam 4.30 sore kita tiba di PVJ dan pergi ke bioskopnya. Trus, tentu saja langsung nonton film berdurasi 138 menit itu (wow, panjang waktu yang memuaskan juga).Yah, filmnya KEREN BANGET untuk aku!! Aku sudah membaca novelnya lho makanya aku rasa aku lumayan kritis juga. Biasanya kan kalo kita sudah membaca bukunya kemudian menonton film yang berdasarkan buku itu, kita akan menjadi lebih kritis dan lebih mudah kecewa kan. Misalnya saja, tiga tahun yang lalu ketika aku nonton The DaVinci Code. Di link itu, aku menulisnya filmnya bagus walau sebenarnya aku agak kecewa sih sama filmnya. Namun, kali ini TIDAK begitu!! Aku SUKA BANGET sama filmnya!! Hebat deh sutradaranya! Kalau aku menulis The DaVinci Code bagus, berarti Angels and Demons SANGAT BAGUS!!Yah, tentu saja untuk menyesuaikan dengan keterbatasan waktu, produser harus memotong beberapa bagian dari novel. Secara cerdas produsernya memotong beberapa detail 'kurang penting' dari novelnya sehingga ceritanya masih nyambung satu bagian ke bagian lain dan tidak menimbulkan kebingungan di penonton, terutama yang belum pernah membaca novelnya. Tidak seperti di The DaVinci Code tuh. Beberapa detail kontroversial juga rasanya dihapus yah tetapi masih tidak mempengaruhi hasil dari filmnya. Misalnya, fakta bahwa carmelengo sebenarnya adalah anak dari paus, dll. Bahkan, beberapa bagian juga diedit (berbeda dari novelnya seingetku) misalnya asal carmelengo. Di novel kan dia berasal dari Italia sementara di film berasal dari Irlandia Utara (mungkin untuk ngepasin sama Ewan McGregor kali yah). Semua ini masih bisa dimaklumi dan yang penting filmnya bagus banget!!Kalau aku harus menilainya, aku kasih nilai 4,5 dari 5 deh!! Hebat!!Sekarang, aku menunggu Star Trek neh untuk mulai main di Indonesia Juni nanti, haha...
note : this entry will only be written in EnglishWithin these last several months, one new blast and sensation arisen in this virtual world, which is Facebook. This networking site is really sensational that many people join it and are addicted to it. Well, I had already signed up on this site even before it became a blast in Indonesia, which was at this time, haha.Facebook is really amazing, now I barely open the older networking site, Friendster. Probably I open it less than once or twice a month, each less than five minutes, haha. I'm not gonna discuss why Facebook is so popular or so in, there have been so many articles out there discussing that. I just want to write that it is so sensational that now so many people 'focus' on it and, may I say, "dump" some other sites, probably including blogging. Again, I'm not gonna write about why people do that, I'm just about to write my PERSONAL view about this: Facebook vs My Blog.For me, Facebook and blogging are not substitute products. For me, they are more like complementary products. Why do I think this way? This is because basically I think these two sites offer two different things to me. That also means they provide and satisfy different needs to me. Facebook focuses more on the networking and the fun things like some games and quizes. My blog for me is a recorder of my daily life. I write anything about my daily life, currect thoughts (like this one), or anything else I want here in my blog.I dunno, probably Facebook also offers a blogging application which supposedly can also satisfy the needs I satisfy on blogging. However, for me this blog is still irreplacable. I have been blogging with this blog since April 2005. My life from that date to now have been recorded here, so I think there is a connection between me and my blog. One simple example is shown on the first paragraph of this entry. I can easily link one event in the past (as long as it happened during the time period). This is kinda fun, rite? This feature won't be found if I start a new blog, except probably the new server provides import feature from blogger. However, I'm just too lazy to move to another server since I am now comfortable with blogger.Therefore, eventho statistical data I get from Google Analytics shows that there has been a decline on the number of visitors, I will always blog here. :) Anyway, the decline can be caused of many things tho, haha....
ENGLISHWell, this Thursday I had my first exam on this final exam weeks. Well, this one was actually supposed to be the third one but since my participation on a competition earlier this week, I had to miss the first two. Anyway, this morning I had Partial Differential Equation exam. Well, there were five questions, so many for this subject!! I barely didn't have enough time to finish it tho, but lucky I did in last minutes, haha... .Tomorrow I also am gonna have another exam, Abstract Algebra. Wish Me Luck!! hahaAnyway, watching the top three of American Idol this season, one thing really excites me!! My prediction I made this time is correct! Danny Gokey is voted off this week, leaving us with the battle between Kris Allen and Adam Lambert on the finale! Hmmm!! Interesting. Well, despite that, Danny Gokey really was the weakest this week, out of the three with Adam Lambert being the strongest. I really like Kris Allen's second performance and I think that performance sailed him thru this week, hmmm... . Many people think it's gonnabe an easy guess next week with this composition, Adam WILL win, that's what they think. However, I still think there's a pretty good chance for Kris to at least give a good 'fight'. The difference between his votes and Adam's this week was just over 1 million out of the astonishing 88 million votes, that's just around 1%, kinda tight, hmmm...
::: top 4
::: top 3
::: top 2BAHASA INDONESIAHmm, Kamis ini aku ada ujian pertama di minggu ujian akhirku ini. Yah, yang tadi diujiankan seharusnya menjadi ujian ketigaku sih tetapi karena partisipasiku di kompetisi awal minggu ini, aku harus melewatkan dua ujian pertama. Ngomong2, pagi ini ujian Persamaan Diferensial Parsial. Ada lima buah soal tuh, dan banyak juga loh untuk mata kuliah ini!! Nyaris aja aku nggak selesai mengerjakannya tetapi untungnya aku berhasil menyelesaikannya di menit-menit terakhir, haha... . Besok aku akan ujian lagi nih, Struktur Aljabar, doakan saya yah!!hahaNgomong2, nonton tiga besar American Idol musim ini, satu hal bener2 bikin aku senang!! Prediksi yang aku buat kali ini benar! Danny Gokey tersisih di minggu tiga besar ini, sehingga kita akan memiliki final antara Kris Allen vs Adam Lambert musim ini! Hmmm!! Menarik. Hmm, terlepas dari itu, memang koq menurutku Danny Gokey yang paling lemah minggu ini, dengan Adam Lambert yang terbaik. Aku bener2 suka penampilan kedua Kris Allen dan rasanya penampilan itulah yang mengantarkan dia lolos, hmmm... . Banyak orang berpikir akan mudah untuk menebak siapa pemenang minggu depan, Adam AKAN menang, itu kata mereka. Namun, aku rasa Kris masih punya peluang bagus lho setidaknya dengan memberi 'perlawanan'. Perbedaan suara di antara keduanya hanyalah 1 juta suara lebih dikit dari jumlah yang mencengangkan: 88 juta suara. Artinya perbedaannya hanya sekitar 1% kan, ketat tuh, hmmm...
ENGLISHWell, one thing really has been real funny today. After "complaining" about what happened yesterday here, one thing the real opposite happened today!! Perhaps God listened to my prayer yesterday, haha. Hmmm...Here is the story. This afternoon when I was in the internet cafe, the service center called me that my laptop is FIXED!! Whaattt??? Just about 24 hours earlier they told me they needed more time, Wednesday would be the earliest (which then I set in my mind that it would be as early as Thursday), and anything else which of course I complaint to them. But then, today they told me it's done!! Hmmm!! Perfect!!I was so excited (I think it was clear from my voice tho, LOL) and asked them to make the price offering. Well, the price was also "not bad" (I'm not saying it was not expensive), at least a lot cheaper than when I had to pay this time last year. Plus, it was slightly cheaper than their initial guessed-price offering. Well, opening the link above, I really need to put one lesson I wrote there in my head: NEVER use your laptop, especially with internet cable plugged, during hard, big, stormy rain, haha...So, here I am now, surfing the net with my fixed and perfectly working laptop, huahaha... . Of course this is the first entry I post with it.BAHASA INDONESIAHmm, satu hal yang sangat lucu terjadi hari ini. Setelah "komplain" tentang apa yang terjadi kemarin disini, satu hal yang benar-benar berlawanan terjadi loh hari ini!! Rasanya Tuhan mendengar doaku kemarin, haha. Hmmm...Begini ceritanya. Sore tadi ketika aku di warnet, pusat servisnya menelepon aku mengatakan bahwa laptopku sudah BENER!! Apaaaa?? Sekitar 24 jam sebelumnya padahal mereka bilang ke aku kalo mereka butuh waktu lebih lah, Rabu paling awal (yang kemudian aku tanamkan di otakku kalo hari Kamis deh baru bisa dapat), dan lain lain yang tentu saja aku keluhkan ke mereka juga. Namun kemudian, hari ini mereka bilang sudah selesai!! Hmmm!! Sempurna!!Aku bersemangat sekali (rasanya sih terdengar dari suaraku mungkin yah, LOL) dan meminta mereka membuat penawaran harga. Hmm, harganya juga "tidak buruk" (aku tidak mengatakan biayanya tidak mahal lho ya), setidaknya jauh lebih murah daripada yang harus aku bayar pada waktu ini tahun lalu. Ditambah lagi, harganya sedikit lebih murah dari penawaran awal tebakan mereka. Hmm, membuka link di atas, aku rasa aku bener-bener harus menanamkan satu hal di kepalaku: JANGAN PERNAH pake laptop, terutama ketika kabel internet terpasang, ketika hujan deras dan berbadai, haha...Jadi, disinilah aku sekarang, internetan dengan laptopku yang sudah diperbaiki dan bekerja dengan sempurna, huahaha... . Tentu saja ini adalah posting pertama dengannya.
::: oyster and calamari I had this Friday
