A melody from the past

Maybe Ive forgotten the name and the address
Of everyone Ive ever known
Its nothing I regret
Save it for another day
Its the school exam and the kids have run away

I would like a place I could call my own
Have a conversation on the telephone
Wake up every day that would be a start
I would not complain of my wounded heart

I was upset you see
Almost all the time
You used to be a stranger
Now you are mine

I wouldnt even trust you
Ive not got much to give
Were dealing in the limits
And we dont know who with
You may think that Im out of hand
That Im naive, Ill understand
On this occasion, its not true
Look at me, Im not you

I would like a place I could call my own
Have a conversation on the telephone
Wake up every day that would be a start
I would not complain of my wounded heart

I was a short fuse
Burning all the time
You were a complete stranger
Now you are mine

I would like a place I could call my own
Have a conversation on the telephone
Wake up every day that would be a start
I would not complain about my wounded heart

Just wait till tomorrow
I guess thats what they all say
Just before they fall apart

[Regret : New Order]

Had my computer fixed last month ... that means ... I can accessed my MP3 again! Yippee to that! Regret from New Order was one of the songs from my current playlist. I miss those days where I stayed awake cruisin the Net and spend my time downloading MP3 ... believe me its not as dull as it sounded! Now all I can get is MTV and Channel V ... no more MP3 downloading access cause internet in Indo is so unbeliveably slow.

A transit in Jugiong

Have you ever felt that you suddenly out of breath because of an abrupt unfamiliar feeling that crept inside your heart? Your eyes started to stare at an empty space by instinct, the corners of your eyes started to trace that empty space from left to right and vice versa. Still … all you can found is emptiness with a tinge of coldness. There is/are something out there that frightened you but you don’t know what; it is unseen by your eyes but your instinct tell you the opposite and you know that you can trust it like you always do in years.

You felt that it is the beginning of something unknown. You look back and try to find the solace in your friends’ eyes. But anxiety and doubt are all that you can found; although he have gone through this kind of things so many times. Then and there you realize that you’re instinct was right because you have seen that look in his eyes before. Never had he explained to you what it is - but you knew that the cold feelings that you had whenever he had that look had sumtin to do with it.

Dreading for the unknown you ask the companion of your friend although you knew it wouldn’t get rid of whatever it is. Jokes that use to summons hysterical laughter suddenly turned sour, but you still try to offer a slight smile out of your lips and try not to look to your front because what is unknown has creeping more and more inside your heart.

You told your friend to go in reverse but there’s no way else then to do a u-turn. Still you insist, despite all the obvious impossibility because you knew … you just knew. But what is impossible is still impossible. As he does the u-turn you felt helpless and frightened like a little child, you closed your eyes hoping that when you opened them you will wake up in your bed and this is all only a nightmare.

But its not … and it made you startled for the rest of the nite…

End Note

I suddenly remember this experience from my road trip 3 years ago with my friends; Mr. Ice cream cone, Idio and Beruang Cupu”. Who would knew that a trip that started with sumtin so horrific could turned into one of the most memorable and unforgettable moment of my life? Never had I ever experienced moments like those again in my life…

BTW this all happened in a town called Jugiong which located on the Hume Highway, NSW. Out of curiosity, years later I searched the net for some info on the town and it turned out that the city does have some history ...

Never a dull moment

Beside the helps from my MIL and SIL, I would say the next great help during this hari raya would come from my MAC Studio Fix powder foundation. Since the day my maid gone to her hometown for mudik lebaran, the house chores plus the never ending bottle washing and sterilizing had dominated my days. You never know that bottle washing could be so tiring … yes it could be especially if you done it at 3 o’clock in the morning. This plus the lack of sleep, of course, has made me lookin like a walking zombie due to my unbelievably dull face and not to mention the come back of the panda eyes and dark circles.

Phew … thank god to the miraculous Studio Fix that I bought during the hari raya trip to PS, I can switch my self esteem button back on. It delivers what it promises; a powder and foundation that will provide you with good coverage yet easy to apply. This is totally what I need, an express solution to my problem … all I need to cover up my dull face is a layer of this powder and you will not found any trace of tiredness and the lack of sleep from my face.

Not to mention the weather was extremely hot during the hari raya week! I keep on blotting my face every 10 min or so … bear in mind I DO NOT have an oily face! I was extremely paranoid when I first used this powder, I was afraid that I’m goin to look like a clown with an uneven thick and patchy powder on her face. Thankfully… clown? I am not! The powder stays matte through the whole damn humid day …

Thank god for the invention of foundation and powder!

Jazz it up

"Grew up with a small town Mentality
Yeah, it’s a universal frame of mind
I was trying to make the changes
But I couldn’t see (oh, why are we so blind
Couldn’t see above the bottom line

Searching for common ground
Used to bring me down
I had better ways to spend my days
Then I lost you in the crowd
I was so full of doubt
But that’s not the way I feel today"

[Love in a Peaceful : WorldLevel 42]

I do not like Britney Spears and her kind … I am not pop … although I do sometimes indulge on my own guilty pleasure but I wouldn’t share those with you. It is my deepest darkest secret that I would carry to my grave. Therefore I jazz when I fed her … it’s a start.

The very first month

Everyone said to have a v goodnight sleep during my pregnancy because people said once the baby is there, the possibilities is v little that I will have a good sleep. I nod and forget … until the day I came home from the hospital. The sleepless night begun … scared that I might not get to her in time if I put her too far on her bed (which only 15 steps from my bed) I placed her on the rocking bed beside my bed where she’s only an arm length away from me.

The most valuable advice that I get during my first week of being a mom is that I should get some sleep as well when the baby is sleeping (thanks to my MIL). But placing her beside me turned out to have its own consequences. I couldn’t get the sleep that I needed (badly!) because whenever she snorts, moans or make a mere move I would open my eyes widely and start to check on her anxiously. Sometimes I feel too afraid to even close my eyes – what if … she’s hungry and needed milk, she pee or poo, she puke … and the list goes on. If she started to cry frantically I would place her beside me and R on our bed. But … as the weeks goes … I started to get used to of Raysa’s routine. I managed to get 1 or 2 hours nap in between her sleeps.

Yes being a parent is as exhausting and challenging as what other people said. But on the other hand it is exhilarating and exciting … seeing her smile is the best ecstasy that one could have. So in order to indulge the exhilarating and exciting side more than the exhaustion and challenge I would not passed on any help that I could have. In the morning, I would send her to my Mom’s room so I could have my nap. In the afternoon, when my Dad came home, he would carry her so I could have a bit of a rest or eat my dinner in peace.

In a month she has grown by 1 kg and 5 cm, she’s now weighted 3.45 kg and 50 cm long. She can now laugh with us whenever we’re smiling at her and get mad whenever we’re making a joke out of her. She started to make that “ooh” and “aah” and even “arghhhh”. She can grip my finger tightly whenever I placed it on her hands. She started to lift her head (abit) and move from one side of the pillow to the other. She will reject the offering of a bottle if she doesn’t like it by slapping the bottle and pushing it out of her moth. She kicked v hard and strong. She bites her lower lips and munches it. She put her thumb (and occasionally her whole fingers) on her mouth. And she started to grown out of her new born clothes.

I couldn’t believe that she’s now 1 month old … time flies …

The day I gave birth

Bloated, tired and havent got a decent sleep in a month … but … I feel v content. Why? Because now each and every single day I could see my gift from god, to me it is the divine answer from him and the true proof of (one of) his many miracles … imagine what else he could have done for us?

Finally, after 9 v long months on the morning of the 6th September I gave birth to a baby girl (as expected) at RSPI Operation Room (not the maternity ward). Why not the maternity ward? Because instead of having a normal labour I was having a c-section. From 1 and a half month before the due date, me and R already discussed the possibility of a c-section with the doctor. We were scouring our option with the delivery method, trying to have the best possible option for the what if? I suggest the 6th of September for the surgery date. Not until 2 weeks before the operation we book the room and fill in all the forms needed … yes, eventually c-section was chosen because according to all the what if question it felt like the best possible option.

I couldn’t say that I was in my best condition on the day of the surgery, I was extremely tired because I couldn’t have a good night sleep for almost 2 weeks because the baby was kicking frantically, keeping me awake for the rest of the night. But you could say I was v relaxed … the weekend before the surgery me and R went for lunch and dinner out plus a movie as well … it released all the tension from work and the up-coming surgery.

When I came to the maternity ward for my before-the-operation check up, it was pretty empty. I was held up for several minutes there because there’s a sign of contraction so they have to consult with the doctor first before returning me to my room. Thank god it was a false alarm.

The next morning, I was wheeled down to the OR just few minutes before subuh and still pretty much asleep. The anesthesiologist was a v sweet lady, she’s not that old but looked like she’s experienced a lot. A guy in a scrub hold my hand tight as she administered the epidural on my back, I felt a jolt of pain as the needle hit my back – I was always afraid of the needle BTW. I was trembling so much afterward, no I don’t believe it was because I was nervous – the OR was always so damn cold and the effect of the epidural make me tremble even worst. The nurse finally put another blanket to cover my body but frankly … it didn’t help much … but thank you for the effort though! Several minutes later I could hear the anesthesiologist announced the arrival of the doctor who will be assisting the operation … after that … I was deeply asleep. I didn’t remember anything from the operation.

Eventually it was exactly 05:41 AM, after 10 minutes of slicing and digging up my stomach the doctors finally deliver my baby girl to the world. Since I was extremely tired I was totally unconscious (shame on me!) on the operation table - where according to other people an epidural anesthetics were supposedly a local one – the nurse have to wake me up when she was taken out of my stomach. Dazed and confused, I saw her carried to my side, I was moved … I kissed her on the forehead and thank god for the chance he’s giving me – being a mother.

Her name is Raysa … a leader …

Baby Raysa, 3 days old

The real thing

Lately, I've been glued to the reality show on TV … the shows that I watched were the one showed on MTV/Channel V. Don’t really like those on Indonesian TV where they exploit giving out easy money to the needy or the sort of show like Playboy Kabel/H2C and their like. Neither those stupid American dream show like Joe Millionaire, Race to the Altar, The Scholar, The Apprentice, etc.

If I can have favorites among the reality TV show they would be America’s Next Top Model and The Hills. Nothing special about these two shows, America’s Next Top Model which as quoted from their site, follows group of young women as they try to prove they have what it takes to make it in the high-stress, high-stakes world of modeling. The show is frontier by Victoria’s Secret model Tyra Banks. According to R the show is about generating a Tyra Bank little mini-me. However shallow the show might looked like, am definitely hooked! Currently Channel V is running their 5^th Season, which became more and more intense as lesser people left in the house, I think this week was their 6^th cut. The juicy part is, they show all the catfight/backstabbing/gossiping/model stupidity on the show. Its ridiculously entertaining…

The Hills on the other hand just a plain reality TV show with no cut or elimination. Its just like a typical drama series like The OC/One Tree Hill/Life As We Know It, except this one is the real thing! The story revolves around 2 housemates livin in LA - Lauren & Heidi. There are 2 other casts, but by looking at the shows they are what the drama series called supporting role – Audrina & Whitney. I love Lauren, she works as intern in Teen Vogue surrounded with nice clothes while juggling with her college and LA social life. What I particularly love about her is the determination of doing her college as good as she can be although she has many things to do with her job. Still … she has an extraordinary typical LA social life. Whereas Heidi is very different from her, I see her as rather shallow. She thought that life doesn’t start at the bottom; you just end up at the top without any effort at all. As soon as she thought she got her dream job, she just quit her college. I remember one time she just skip class because she couldn’t find the room and could not be bothered showing up late and she ended up playing solitaire on her laptop … how convenient?

Two other show that might worth checking is Laguna Beach which claimed to be the real Orange County, well its kinda like The OC in some ways. Another one would be 8^th & Ocean that tells about the life of models in Miami (if I remember it correctly).

Guacamole & Salsa Dip

After being a pair of lazybummers all day, doing nothing but lying in bed and sleeping all day, Me & R decided to have dinner out. It’s up to me to decide the restaurant and I picked Mexican! No chance of going to Amigos in Kemang cause there’s this Kemang Festival going on rite now and that area must be damn crowded. Plus I’m kind of tired with Amigos food. The final decision was to go to Chili’s located in Sarinah Thamrin.

Getting there was a big fuss, we had to get gasoline first and the traffic in Pos Pengumben was a killer – like any other weekend traffic there. Secondly the roundabout in Sudirman was a mineland, you never know with police officers there, they can just stop you for no reason if you’re in a bad luck. And I made a wrong decision by telling R to do a U-turn in patung kuda instead of the usual harmoni U-turn. But we managed to arrive there safely … yippee

Ordered a chicken fajitas nachos for a starter and in the middle of waiting for our starter to arrive we ordered nachos big mouth burger. I was looking around the interior of the restaurant while waiting for our food, R was commenting on how dodgy they design it, especially the big size cooking pot as a lamp? The restaurant has this yellow ambience with a very colorful decoration.

Finally after waiting for almost 15-20 min the fajitas nachos arrive. They arrange the fajitas nachos triangle in a circle with lettuce & diced tomato showered in the middle with a scoop of sour cream and guacamole. The fajitas nachos is a triangle tortilla with chicken breast strip covered with jack cheese and mozzarella cheese finished with 1 slice of jalapeno. So far I can say this is the best nachos variation I ever tried, not comparable to the one I ate in Amigos or Planet Hollywood. Sizewise, each nachos come in a larger size than the one in PH and I think they have around 15 triangle in 1 serving whereas the PH one only have 6 pieces of triangle, although this one is slightly more ex.

Finished with the nachos but the burger has not yet arrived. Gosh imagined if we decided to order after we finished the starter, R said maybe the order will come tomorrow. 10 minutes later and 1 refill of ice tea and coke, the big mouth burger finally come into view. The burger was huge (literally huge!), served open top, because there are nachos slices covered with jack cheese on top of the burger beef. On the top side of the bread they smeared it with sour cream, diced tomato, jalapeno and a scoop of guacamole. The side dish that came with the burger was French fries. I love having French fries in a Mexican restaurant, cause you can dip it in guacamole+salsa sauce+sour cream … yumm yumm! Regardless the fact that Me & R share the burger, at the end of the meal we can barely move, because we’re so stuffed. Desserts looked utterly delicious, but we can’t handle anymore food so we skip desserts like usual!

The only complaint I have for this restaurant is they charge for every single dip you asked. The dip alone come to about Rp 30.000 in the end ... plus 15.5% PPN and service charge, so that's like Rp 60.000 for nonsense!

I think my baby inside was happy; she cannot stop moving ever since the beginning of the meal. She constantly moves until about 2 o’clock in the morning. Having too much energy from a nice good food.

Happy Bun for Sat Lunch

Sat morning, as usual spent at the hospital for my weekly doctor visit. Update on my preggy: the baby is as active as ever, constantly moving & twirling inside my stomach with a good steady heartbeat - which according to my Doc's sounds more like a boy heartbeat rather than a girl. Doctor's prediction from the size of her head, she weighted at about 2.8 - 3 Kilos. Her umbilical cord now looping twice around her body, thank god we already scheduled for a C-Section for next week. Nothing serious resulting from this though, the Doc half jokingly said that it’s a good sign that means the baby girl is going to be a beautiful baby and might perhaps became the future Putri Indonesia – there’s a myth if you were born with umbilical cord wrap around your body it means you’re going to grow as a beautiful lady, Amin!

Sleepy and starving, Me & R head for Senayan City for lunch afterwards. We were actually looking for Duck King cause I’m craving for La Mian noodle, but unfortunately they’re not open for business yet! So we settled in with Nan Xiang instead. It’s not exactly a new restaurant, they have an outlet in Hilton Apartment for quite sometime and my sister in law did a launching of her book there last year. The food they served on the buffet during the event was very nice, they had tasty Chinese fried rice, salted squid and braised veggies. So I’m quite optimistic about the restaurant.

The size of their outlet in Senayan City was quite small though, but the interior is good, sharp and bright with mirror on both side of the wall to give the impression that the restaurant is larger. I ordered La Mian with sliced beef whereas R ordered La Mian with minced beef and mushroom sauce, with extra deep fried mantau and chicken & prawn bun. La Mian is very yummy, the soup is very tasty and the beef is very mouthwatering. R minced beef and mushroom sauce look very yummy as well, the soup come in separate bowl though because the La Mian was covered with thick minced and mushroom sauce. This food is totally refreshing! Not much to comment on the deep fried mantau, needless to say it’s a mantau!

The chicken & prawn bun on the other hand is very yummy. You suppose to bite a little bit of its side and then inserted the sauce inside your bite hole along with a ginger. There’s a soup inside the bun that feel like a melting bliss on your tongue when you chew the bun. The sauce however has this funny smell, a typical rotten or fermentised chinese sauce smell with a very funny taste as well. Surprisingly, it works well with the bun.

Looking at the menu, there are many yummy dishes on board – but that day I was already aiming for La Mian. It will cost at about $15 to $20 to dine in for 2, depending on what you’re having. Seafood on the menu will definitely cost more! Btw, Lippobank card holder received 10% off discount for their bill - sweet!

A nice injection of a Jap food

Went to the hospital today for the weekly check up, the doctor was late so Me & R decided to go for lunch first while waiting for the doctor to arrive. We check out the restaurant raw along pertokoan PI in front of the hospital, there's this one particular Japanese restaurant that caught my eye, Kaja - The Real Japanese Dining. So we went inside to look at the menu ...

First impression, no Indonesian, only Japanese housewives inside ... so this restaurant must be pretty good. Second impression, nice ambience and decoration - sleek and stylish. And lastly ... Oyakodon on the menu? With Japanese chef? Yes yes ... I want some ... Im dying for a nice Japanese meal. So we were taken to our seat by the waitress.

When my Oyakodon rice bowl arrive, I am very pleased because it looks very yummy and not a slight of dissapointment coming from me. I love food with egg, that's why I really love Oyakodon but eversince I'm in Jakarta, I never find a nice decent one. It's a chicken shimmer in a broth with whisked egg and onion. The egg looks very yummy because its blended well with the chicken, all the yellow and white mixed together along with the onion. The rice bowl was sprinkled with red & julienned ginger pickle. When I had my first bite, the taste was as good as its presentation. The egg comes really soft with trickling broth and the chicken is so yummy. The Onion ... it doesnt leave any bad aftertaste and smell, I particularly dont like the smell of onion on my food during pregnancy. And the ginger pickle complete the taste. I am completely happy today, all because of a good nice lunch.

After the lunch ... went back to the hospital and waited for about another 1 and a half hour. Overall the baby condition is good, the herartbeat is excellent but mommy had a low blood pressure so my doc suggested me to eat more meat and lamb to increase the blood pressure. Plus the doc is givin me injection for today and the next 2 days. The dilema is they have to give the shot on my ass because they said it works more effectively. I have sore ass afterward and for the next 2 days.

My new MAC stash

Dad was back last nite, bringin me almost every single item on my list except for one eyeshadow which I can actually buy here. He also got me the Nordies palette that I want, it looks even more beautiful in reality both the packaging and the colors on the pan. The packaging reminds me of a church glass decoration though ... But when I went to my parents room to get my MAC stash, my mom was looking at the Nordies palette with birght stary eyes and askin me what it is ... it looks so lovely and she fell in love with it instantly. Am being a nice girl and not having the heart seeing how she stares at the thing, am letting go the palette to her ... and she was overjoyed...

Got other stuff as well from A Muse collection, they have lovely mineralize eyeshadow duo, so I got myself the light purple/darker purple and beige/olive green duo. The Jakarta counter will launched its full collection of A Muse on late of September, I'll definitely be there! The eyeshadow size is as big as MAC blush and in a dome shape. It have good color paid off and lots of people said that the staying power is good too.

Also got 1 eyeshadow from Technocolour collection in Jeweltone. Just the color that I've been lookin for, except that the Velvet finished do turned me off the first time cause I never own single Velvet eyeshadow before. Apparently, the color turn out to be pigmented and buildable as well. Not too hard to apply like lustre and they have this teeny tiny glitter that is not very obvious when you use it but do make your eyes sparkly. Well, I might be able to get some more nice colors from this collection when they hit town (hopefully!).

Other than that, I got myself 3 new fluidline in Macroviolet, Non-Conformist and Shade. Macroviolet is a very nice deep violet shade which is an alternative for black eyeliner (dont really adore black eyeliner btw!) whereas Non-Conformist is a stand out playful bright plum purple. I love Shade, been lemming for this for long, its a minted green and I can imagine myself wearing this with my vintage green flowy skirt .... humm ....

My MAC and My Dad

My dad went to KL last Sun via Changi. I always love Changi cause they have their own MAC DFS shop at T2. Whenever he fly via Changi I never forget to slip my shopping list or text him what I want to get from MAC. Although he always pretended to sleep and not to hear my request, but whenever he got back he never failed to bring me some little sweet things from the store. I love him dearly for this (and of course for other things as well).

This time I ask him to buy me this cute Nordstrom Anniversary LE Pallete from the Pattern Maker collection that sadly is not available here. The packaging is so cute, with 6 diff colors on it ranging from grey, pink, green to blue. The palete have the following colors, From L to R: Circlearite (Lustre), Pattern Pink (Frost), Star Violet (VP), Shimmermoss (VP), Smoked Ring (Veluxe) and Dark Spot (VP).

Monday Histeria Part II

Another episode with my #$!@% driver on bloody Mon! As the beginning of the week, Mon supposed to be peaceful, you dont pick a fight as early as Mon!

It all started this morning when my driver told me that my dad's car going to be painted, so it cannot be used today. I strictly instruct him if he needs a car don't use the red jazz, ask for my mom's car instead, period! I get off the car ... and began my Mon working ritual ...

Several hours latter got a call from R being confused that suddenly the red jazz is not there and no one ask for his approval to actually used the car. Checked with my maid she said that my driver took the car to pay tax for I don’t know what, ignoring my maid’s message to not use the car because R is going to use it. Without my maid’s notice he just go with the car … ignoring two very strict instruction.

And when I called him to tell him to go home ASAP he sounded more pissed than me. My oh my … I have lost all my patience with him … Plus he have the guts to argued back to that he’s not using the car for unclear purpose but he’s using it to pay the tax.

The point is he’s not supposed to take the car in the first place! Isn’t two prior notice is enough to make him understand this point? And it’s not that I’m telling him to go by foot, there is still motorbikes that can be used on my house … doh!

Maternity, Cleavage and Growing Up

Three things from the weekend;

On being pregnant
Wake up late at around 7.45 and have to go for Obs. Gyn. Consultation again on sat and the doc supposed to start at 7. Luckily when I called (like always) he’s late, and it’s already 8. Arrived at the hospital at 9ish and I’m no 14 on the waiting list and still 7 more patients to go. Only waited for about 1 hour plus this time, unlike last week where we waited for 3 hours (Arhg!). Baby is fine and still moving very actively, although mummy didn’t gain much this week (only 0.5 kilo) but little baby pretty much on track with weight. My doc is in a hurry, so I cannot see the baby for too long. Am pretty much in a good condition but the only problem is I cannot sleep well during the nite because my tummy getting really big and heavy and am having problem with back/spine/ribs/arms/legs ache. So I usually get up every hour or so because of one of the above problem plus the frequent visit to the toilet.

On revealing your cleavage
Went to a coffee shop on sat and saw this girl who came with a bule, whose wearing an outfit which displays 1. her breast cleavage and 2. her bum cleavage. Yes cleavage is sexy and flaunting it is never a crime as long as you do it in style. But too much is a big no-no! This girl has shown too much breast cleavage in the first place and on top of that she’s using a very low-cut hipster jeans that shows her bum cleavage as well … totally not cool! Sorry, but I seriously think I have to comment on this!

On growing up and being an adult
Met my junior high friend Carmel on MSN and started to chat with her. Back in the days my first question to her would be …. What’s the goss for today? Because in school she is best known as bigos aka biang gosip. But yesterday we were chatting about French food and exchanging recipe and cooking tips. At the end of the conversation we came to a conclusion that we’re aging and becoming old, because the topic of our conversation has shifted way too far since that junior high days … where have all the years gone to? We were half jokingly said that we’re turning into ibu” arisan … hope not!

Prosperity on diet

I thought this image was hilarious, especially after the celebration of the 39th birthday and the fact that we're in the midst of pre-summit where they convey the organization’s objective – which one of them happened to be prosperity - everywhere.

Birthday means holiday

Today is the birthday of the organization that I worked for, several activities have been planned around the member countries to celebrate it's 39th years of establishment. For me that means either a. roti canai or b. holiday and this year it's b!

Usually during the birthday celebration we have function at the office and the secretariat never fails (for the 2 years I've been here) to provide us roti canai from restoran penang. I don't mind having the same menu for the last 2 birthday functions (and other office functions...) because the roti canai is delicious and their prawn noodle is espescially yummy too...! But holiday... I cannot resist! Sorry guys but holiday is more preferred than roti canai or prawn noodle, however delicious they are.

I took Monday off as well, so that means I have 4 days off including the weekend. I used this to fix and arrange the baby's room. So far we've managed to assembled the baby box, baby taffle and wardrobe. Leaving my hubby a small space for his working desk around the baby's furniture. Am happy with the result ... next step I need to wash the baby's clothing to put in the wardrobe before her arrival ... so cute!

Lost in translation anyone?

For the last couple of days, I've been obsessed with this one web address that makes me clicking it over and over again. It's the saviour of my obsession of the world wide web! Although Internet has made it possible for you to get (almost) every information you need, but ... alas there's still that language barrier! Espescially all of those Korean/Japanese/Chinese site that never have english translation and always use their special characters ... they all make me mad!

Fear not ... now I found a superb solution for my web journey! Not an excellent translation but it will give you the flavour of the content of the site. For those who have the same problem with me the remedy for this problem would be translate.google.com ! Type in the site that you want to translate in the correct box, and choose the language that you want to translate from to English, click the button ... and voila you have the (funny) translation readily available for your eyes in an instant!

Although they only have few languages to translate from at the moment, but my 3 fave languages are there! Still the BETA version and for Chinese they only do simplified chinese, but am still happy. Now I can browse Korean/Japanese/Chinese site with no fear.

One less obstacle in life ...

BTW speaking of Google, the search engine has made it's way to the dictionary. If you said that you Google someone it means that you are searching for information about him/her off the web. Another new dictionary vocab would be Mouse Potato - as if in couch potato? It means someone that is stucked to his/her computer screen all day ...

The Pirates & Ikan Tude

Weekend was splendid... on Sat I went out with Mom and finally fulfilled my craving for a proper ikan tude. Not that I've never had one since the pregnancy, the street food near my office provide an ok rating of ikan tude. But the one in Restaurant Ikan Tude Manado in Jl. Blora is utterly delicious! This I can say because I was totally dissapointed with the ikan tude in Dabu Dabu - the sambal dabu & sambal itself are too sweet, and ikan tude in Beautika - too hot!

When the waitress first delivered our order I was taken aback by the serving size of the sambal dabu and the normal sambal, one whole meal plate! But the sambals were hipnotizing, we could not stop to reach for more eventhough we were sweating like hell and the hot flavour are really starting to bite the tongues. When we're finished, almost 2/3 of the sambals serving were gone... unbelivable!

After the chilli craze we went to Plaza Indonesia and Mom had a crazy episode of shopping in Zara and luckily I was saved by my big tummy. Nothing fit anyway and I thought it might be too long to actually wait for 6 months to wear sumtin I bought today. Nonetheless, C&K still makes me lemming for more shoes! I think I have an odd craving, shoes look more tempting than food during my pregnancy. So yeah people... I dont really have a food craving to die for. Partly because I knew most of my craving would be consisting of food that I used to love when I was in Melb. At the most, I can only get indomie rebus + telor and raspberry jam toast.

On Sun, me and hubby went to watch the Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest. As usual, Orlando Bloom was ... oh so charming! I love him as Legolas (luckily a trilogy, triple satisfaction!) and love him as Will Turner as well (yay my luck, another trilogy). Had dinner in Hanamasa where hubby went crazy and ate everything he can get his hands on! Me ... well since I cannot eat bbq, I'm stuck with the Shabu-shabu section!

When Everyone Goes Home

When I peek downstair this morning, there's something awfully strange about my house. I wonder what it is ... and then it struck me! It's so quiet, like what morning is during normal day.

It has been anything but normal for the last couple of days in my house due to the visit from my 2 aunts and 2 little nieces. They came on Sat last week with a bit of a surprise - being pulled over by the cops because of the incomplete car registry and taken to the police station on Pancoran, which cause a bit of panick around the house and members of the family. Thank god they got out alrite from the police station, it must be a miracle they came out at all! Since Sat, there have been children running around and screaming like crazy and all of this starts as early as 7-ish in the morning and can go on until 10 at nite. They'll jump around and make messes everywhere. My Mom's room looks like hell ... and she keeps yelling at my small nieces to get their hands off her make up.

And this morning ... there's that silentness again. They were gone last nite, off to Blitar with the car. It is sometimes frustating to hear the noise every single day for the last 6 days, but this morning it is also awfully strange that I don't hear the noise again.

A Hint of Jet-Lag

Its official, am having a so-called jet-lag for the last 2 days at work. Its not your normal jet-lag caused by the differences in timezone, but more of the differences in space - bedroom space vs office space.

I took Monday and Tuesday off this week, so that gives me 4 days off from work including weekend. My leave was dedicated solely to "baby shopping", as I realized that my tummy is getting bigger and biggger each and every single day, the baby shopping has to be done ASAP! At the 7th months of my pregnancy, I felt that it's becoming harder to move freely as I felt my back spine is not very cooperative and my stomach is getting heavier, hence the leave! Now or never!

Why Monday? Because weekend was full of families, teenagers and shopaholics - and I dont want to deal with this, oh well I know on Monday there's still gonna be people around the shopping centre but it's not going to be as much as what it was like during weekend. So I went to ITC M2 on Monday and just bought everything that I could get my hands on from the Baby Shopping List.

All these little things on the store makes me crazy and confuse, they have soooo many choices and all of them are cute! Even those little milk bottles come in different shape and sizes with lots of cutie prints on them. But Mom insisted that I bought the one without prints, because she said the quality of the material is not as good as the plain one. Oh that is so not cool! I was actually eyeing on the classic pooh one ... anyway I dont really think the baby would realize the difference yet, it's solely my personal satisfaction! But I did get the strollers in Burberry's checkered look-a-like pattern (which I dearly love!). I also bought this really cute bouncy chair as well, but the one I bought doesn't come with the toys but its in the same color.

The next day I went for a 3d Ultrasound and it's really amazing how I can see the baby's face very very clearly! The baby was holding her head (it's a she btw!) and rubbing her forehead during the entire procedure. But the amniotic fluid does make the pictures abit blurry and sometimes it scares me if I don't remember that she's still is covered with fluid because it makes her face looks wavy and not smooth. I was also able to see her attached to the cord, it's really amazing! The baby is now weight at about 1.6 kg whereas now I am 12 kg from my initial weight. So the question is where did the rest of the 10 kilos went to? Ok I know there's still that couple of grams of amniotic fluid, cord, etc ... but I dont think it actually weighted more than 3 right? Maybe I should eat less, because even now I feel that the stomach is really pressing my diaphgram (or whatever it is down there) that sometimes it hurts really bad after I ate. I should maybe eat in less quantity but more frequently.

After the ultrasound, I went to PIM II and meet my Mom and Aunt there and bought several other baby stuff. Am particularly happy on my buying of Sesame Street print baby bedding, because I remember vividly that I love love love Sesame Street when I was a baby. Cookie Monster was the character I love the most, so I check for his existence on the bedding items before I bought it, and yeap he's there ... so off I go to the cashier. Ok maybe its a little bit odd, he was after all the monster character on the series, but I think his blue color is the reason why I loved him the most. I still kept my Cookie Monster doll at home and will soon put it on the baby's room.

Now, it's Thursday sitting on my office desk experiencing jet-lag from the 2 days leave. I feel very sleepy and drowsy throughout yesterday and today! But my Inbox keeps popping up with it's new mail message notification and that for me means work!