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I'm back Back with a shorter hair Why? How? Well, my mom thought it was kinda long and I kinda agreed so I had it cut. Yeah, you heard right, my mom. No, unfortunately or perhaps fortunately I didn't go home. My mom and bro were in town this week. Only for a few days, so I had been spending my time with them. Why were they here? Well you'll know soon enough. By the way, I'm writing this on Saturday night, don't really know when I'll have the time to post it. Been very busy and quite stressed out with things Okay, back to mom. They arrived here on Sunday and was back home on Wednesday. So actually I've been back to reality since Thursday, but reality in my life these days proves to be a pain, I've been occupied with things. While I'm away, Spain and Italy was ousted in Euro 2004. That sucks! Raul!!! Then yesterday France lost to Greece. I was mostly asleep watching that one. What on earth or perhaps on Portugal is happening. Hiks Now, I kinda lost interest in Euro 2004 Okay, I'm digressing now. I was planning to tell you about my self-declared holiday. So here you go, it's gonna be a long post but hey it's my blog. I have the right to say what I want

Sunday, 20/06/04 - Animals, Animals, Animals

So mom and bro arrived on Sunday morning. I woke up early to pick them up, though mom said that I shouldn't do it if I was tired, but come on! Mom! She would only be here for a few days, so you kinda have to spent as much minutes as possible. I thought I was late but I was on time. We then checked in to the hotel, luckily we could get in straight away without having to wait. Then we're off for lunch and then off we go to the zoo. Why? Well I just thought that it would be interesting and I actually wanted to do the night safari again The zoo wasn't really my mom thing and I was right; we talked about how my dad loves to watch the animals shows on TV (mostly from discovery channel) and how he would be more interested in these things. I actually feel kinda sad how the animals are there in the zoo being watched as a spectacle and I really don't like it when people knock on their glasses. Come on! Imagine you being cooped up in there. We watched the sea lions show and after that we left the zoo. We took a little break while waiting for the night safari to open and when it did, man! The queue was freaking long, but we managed to get in. The first thing we did was taking the tram ride. Something that I don't really recommend to do first inside night safari, you should actually take the walk first because after the tram ride you'll usually be too lazy to walk the path. But we're all very tired and I can't possibly make my mom work out that much especially since she hadn't had a proper rest after her early flight. After the tram ride we watched the creature of the night show. One of the zoo keeper pretended to be part of the audience who lost his pet. He was very dramatic that my mom was feeling rather nervous about the whole thing. My guess was that the pet he was talking about was a snake, I was dead on right. So came a big snake and my mom got very nervous this time, especially when the person walked near us, but everything ended up cool After the show, we took one of the paths, only 1 because mom wanted to go home. She was really tired while I was actually hoping to be able to see fireflies But I didn't get to see any and so after the walk, we went back to the hotel and that was the end of day 1.

Monday, 21/06/04 - Fountain of fire?

The day started off with a little walk around Esplanade, then we went to the temple. There I had my first time of something that I don't even know what it is called It's the thing when you shake a bunch of sticks and 1 come out and you look what the message that the stick carries. Wow! My first time went fast, my brother was impressed. He was the one who told me how the thing goes. I didn't have any difficulty. I had exactly 1 stick coming up. First timer usually gets more than 1, but I had 1 and it only took a few seconds. However the message was rather ... well read it for yourself: A crane and phoenix look ugly when battered by the rain. The sparrow mocks them. But come the sun, and their plumage are radiant once more. Actually I kinda found it to be hopeful but the interpretation of the message was bad *sigH* No surprise, really. I know my life has been so messed up. So many things happening, but at least I managed to get away from one depressing situation. So let's just wait for the sun and those sparrows can just chirp away elsewhere After the temple we walked around Bugis, lunch, and then back to the hotel for a little rest. I was planning to take my mom and bro to Sentosa in the afternoon so that we wouldn't have to wait long for the musical fountain show. I wanted my mom to see this because she didn't get the chance to see it the last time she was around, which by the way almost a year ago. My bro went inside the underwater world and watched the dolphin show in the dolphin lagoon. My mom and I didn't accompany him because we did it the last time. The underwater world in Sentosa was very-very small. The last time I was in Indonesia my mom took me to the Seaworld in Jakarta because it's much bigger. It was very nice of her to think of that and I had a blast. My aunt was there too, it was nice of her to come along and give time for me I just love fishes and the ocean. Quite an irony for someone who doesn't know how to swim Anyway, after my bro had finished with the dolphins who by the way are cute and pink, we went to the fountain. Gosh, the show was going to start in 1 and half hour and there were already quite a number of people waiting. Actually I shouldn't be surprised because I was planning to do the same The musical fountain was amazing as usual. My mom found it to be very impressive. It has a different routine from the last time I saw it. I actually kinda like the old routine more but still this one was nice. One of the difference is that now they have fire being shot upwards. It was surprising and we could really feel the heat. Unexpected changes but in a way it was good. After that we went home, luckily we managed to get dinner. We passed by Padang on our way to the hotel and I could hear Linkin Park's music, I think it was for Faint. My guess was that they were having their sound check. My Goodness!!! How I really wanted to go there and peek. But I guess there's no way to do that with my mom around and nobody to stalk with. If only my cousin, Marlisa had been there, maybe I could have caught a glimpse of Mr.Hahn. Anyway, my mom thought I was already crazy enough for being so excited. I know, I am crazy.

Tuesday, 22/06/04 - And the reason my mom and bro were here was ...

In the morning, we started off with visiting my room. Didn't spend much time but mom managed to give much comment in our short stay in my place Then off we went to Orchard, walked around and saw things and had lunch. Then we went back to the hotel for the much needed rest for me and my bro, because ... The reason my mom and bro were here was because I wanted to watch Linkin Park Okay so here's the story. It all began when I saw the advertisement for their concert in Singapore in the paper. I don't really pay attention to advertisements but I don't know why I just read that one and the first thing that I did was tell the only guy in the room that I wanted to watch Linkin Park I think he was taken by surprise. But I really wanted to. I remember telling a friend of mine last time that I had really really really wanted to watch their concert in Kuala Lumpur last year. The next day, I was browsing the web for their tour schedules and the next thing I knew I was booking a flight home because apparently they had a concert in Jakarta too. I just thought if I could go home, I could easily find people to watch it with me, like Marlisa and my bro and my other cousins. I sent an sms to Marlisa telling her that I wanted to watch Linkin Park and she was so cool she didn't say I'm nuts but she said Go Ahead and I'm still young, I should try this kind of thing. I sent an sms to my bro asking if he would want to accompany me to watch the concert in Jakarta and he said okay. So the ticket was booked and all I had to do was pick them up. Then I told my mom about going home to watch the concert and she said that it would be better if I watch it here. So I tried looking for people to watch it with me here and it's hard. Linkin Park is quite an extreme taste. I asked a guy and he said that he wasn't really into Linkin Park. Then I asked another guy who I think would be genuinely be there for me in time of need and he said that the ticket was so expensive. Little did he know that I was ready to pay half the price for him That's how much I want it badly. In case you're wondering why I can't just go on my own. Well, it's a rock concert. I need people just in case I faint My mom was so cool, she kept on asking me how the thing with the concert thing and she helped me persuade my bro to agree to come here and she succeeded. My mom rocks! I love her. So that's how my mom and bro ended up in town this week.

To tell you the truth, Linkin Park - Meteora concert was my 2nd concert in my whole 22 years of life. It may sound pathetic but I know that there are people out there who claim to be decent, who have never been in a concert before. Well people have their own opinion on what is proper and not. Anyway, my first concert was believe it or not: Boyzone concert in Jakarta in 1997 (I think). My cousin, Marlisa, and I were so crazy about them at that time. So in the span of 7 years my taste of music have evolved so dramatically. What on earth happened? I may have truly changed. I like to blame it on Dessy Ristiana Winarsih. A friend in high school who seems to be in a mission to brainwash every boyband-liking girls out there to listen to something with more guts. She was promoting indie band, mostly British bands like: Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Jamiroquai, etc. I first knew Coldplay from her and that was when many people haven't found out who Coldplay were. Anyway, I think Dessy is still active in helping and promoting local indie bands. I guess she would be happy that I'm not so boyband-ish anymore. One other factors that got me into this kind of music were my projects in School of Computing. Because of my disorganized life, I worked more in the late hours of the night and the wee hour of the morning. Instead of resorting to coffee, I used loud music in my earphones to keep the adrenaline pumping and the eyelids open. Then there were also the so much anger and sadness that I was feeling a few months back that I needed loud music which mostly came from Linkin Park to drown all the other voices. It's like when Chester screams it's me who scream. I couldn't scream as good as he is, but the music helps. I guess I was just feeling too much anger. Funny, I remember back in the early days I actually thought Linkin Park was too loud. I remembered downloading Papercut and deleting it. I did this several times because I found Papercut to be somewhat too destructive but now the song stays What actually really helped to open the door of my heart to this kind of music was Boom from P.O.D. It was so loud and though initially I didn't like the song and the video but somehow the lyric It's that all you've got, I take your best shot just got into me and after that I was just looking for louder songs. By the way, believe it or not P.O.D is a Christian band, weird. I was talking to my cousin, Marlisa, this afternoon and she actually said Linkin Park was not really that loud and that's why they're good to hear. Wow! Not really that loud? Well, you tell them cousin Okay, I'm gonna give you my take on the concert soon, but just let me finish up with my mom's trip. They went home on Wednesday. Our last day was spent shopping a bit and just hung around. I miss my mom. I felt that I had tears in my eyes when we parted. She didn't see it, I tried my best to hold it. I don't know if my mom had tears too. I really wanted to cry. But being alone in the airport, crying my heart out would only bring problem to me not to mention embarrassment. It's feeling like that makes me wonder if being here is the right thing *sigH*

I LoVe Linkin Park!! The concert was awesome!!! It started out with queueing of course. We went down at around 7 pm because I felt that I just didn't have the energy to queue up earlier. The queue was damn long. I thought I was gonna faint but we didn't really take much time to get in, less than 30 mins. We got a spot somewhere in the middle from the stage, not really front, quite in the middle. The first guy I saw was actually the guy who was in the Singapore reality TV show, An Eye for a Guy. I couldn't remember his name but I didn't really care. I saw parents with kids in the concert. They're so cool. I respect those parents who support their kids this much, like my mom The concert started late (yeah of course) with an opening band from Korea whose name (if I'm not mistaken) is Pia. They're not bad, very Linkin Park-ish. After them, we had to wait again for Linkin Park and so they appeared after much waiting. My Goodness, I just jumped and jumped and jumped. All of the sudden I just felt strong, I was feeling I'd be okay, I was not going to faint They started off with Don't Stay, the same song that they used to open their concert in Jakarta. I couldn't remember the sequence of the songs, but I remembered there were: Papercut, Numb, Step Up, It's Going Down, In the End, Breaking the Habit, Faint, A Place for My Head, Lying From You, Somewhere I Belong, etc. I was happy when they played It's Going Down. That was my hint for you in my last post, the lyric really describes how Linkin Park music is. Mike Shinoda was so cool in this song. Breaking the Habit started off with Mike on the piano and Chester on vocal. Chester could really sing well (suprising for a rock star), though I found his voice is a bit "cempreng" (I can not find a word in English to describe this) but he's good. I think he's the soul of Linkin Park. He's just a firecracker, explosive, and I like him. I like him the second best after dear Joe Hahn. I like Mr.Hahn the most because I found him to be very talented and smart and the most good looking one in the band. He is smart, really!!! He looked very geeky in the concert with the glasses and the geeky hairstyle and he was quite chubby. I think of all the chubby guys out there, he's the one that I find to be the most interesting The concert ended with One Step Close. It ended up all too soon. I want to do it again and again and again. I love them. Linkin Park Rock!!!

:) eKa @ 2:03:00 PM • 0 comments

The Tired and Anxious Eka on Saturday

Hi ya there! I'm done and I'll be gone I finished what I supposed to. Thank God! And I will be gone my friends. This will only be a short post. I will not be around for a few days. I'm gonna be merry and try to add some meat in my sad body. Take care. God Bless and ... breathe ...
A hint for you:

It's going down
The rhythm projects 'round the next sound
Reflects the complex hybrid dialect now
Detects the mesh of many elements compressed down
The melting pot of a super-futuresque style
The combination of vocal caress
With lungs the gasp for breath
From emotional stress
With special effects
And a distorted collage
Carefully lodged between beats of rhythmic barrage

:) eKa @ 2:35:00 PM • 0 comments

The bored Eka on Monday

Bored and that's why I'm writing now. Hiks ... Okay I'm not going to dwell on what happened or didn't happen. Euro 2004 started on Saturday (12/06/04). Well, that was a disappointment. I didn't take a nap so I slept half-way watching the Portugal VS Greece match. I managed to watch the first goal and that was surprising. Stupid Portugal, how could they lose! Such a disappointment. A friend introduced me to this site where we can create our fantasy team consisting of players from countries participating in Euro 2004. Initially we were given some kind of "cash" to buy the players and the good ones are expensive and throughout Euro 2004, we can only make 40 transfers. If our players score, we'll earn point. If their countries win, we'll also earn point. If they got a red card or yellow card, then we'll get minus point. So the objective is to earn as much point as possible, competing with other people and their different teams. By Saturday night my team consisted of mostly Spanish players, because I was sure that they would win against Russia and they did I bought Valeron (I didn't really know why) but he was the one who scored! So I was pleased with that. I was quite upset with Portugal. Actually I had only 1 Portuguese player and that guy was Costinha and look what he did, he earned himself a yellow card. Stupid! Anyway, I was also pleased that France won against England A little disappointed that I couldn't watch the match. I think it was a good match. Anyway, this fantasy team thing is really interesting, but quite tense too. I just feel that I need to think so much just to figure out which players that I want in A good thing that I don't bet. I don't think I can handle losing

Watch Bend It Like Beckham yesterday. My Goodness! The coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), is super handsome!!! Hua... I want a guy like that Anyway, now really acknowledging that Kiera Knightley is beautiful, but very skinny.
*sigh* I'm so bored. Hmm...Can't wait for this weekend to come but I still have tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, and saturday to go through Hey, that doesn't seem so long Take care people.

:) eKa @ 3:00:00 PM • 0 comments

I LOVE Harry Potter!!! Went to watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban yesterday with Vivy Was almost late so I swallowed down my dinner in about 5 minutes. That was pretty embarrassing actually, but the only guys I cared about at that time were Mr.Weasley and Mr.Potter so I just didn't really care I was so excited about watching the movie. There's a slight sadness though that I didn't get to watch this one with my bestfriends, just like what we did with the last 2. I was kinda hoping this could be our tradition *sigH*. This reminds me, yesterday night I actually dreamt that I watched a Linkin Park concert with my brother and cousin, Marlisa. Is that mean that I miss my cousin so? It's so weird. I could see Chester and Joe Hahn in my dream and I woke up with Figure.09 stuck in my head

Okay back to Potter. This is my take on the movie:

- Nice! As always. Even on the first scene it was already quite amusing when Harry blew up his aunt. I didn't expect that to be something really interesting but it was. So we had a really good start.

- The movie was very dark (so they say). Well, the story itself was getting darker and more serious, but overall the feel of the movie was very dark. With the previous director, Chris Columbus, at least the grass is still very green and the sky is still blue. But with the new director, Alfonso Cuaron, it was always cloudy. The whole scene just felt darker.

- The school layout changed a bit. I like the previous location of Hagrid's hut. This one just felt too dramatic.

- I like the previous Albus Dumbledore. This one talked more, so I don't know, I just didn't really feel the charisma, he's not cool enough.

- The hippogriff was slightly disappointing for me. Not scary enough and not big enough, but at least now it makes sense to me how Sirius could keep Buckbeak in his room.

- Everyone is all grown up. I should have written this as my first point. Having watch The Sorcerer's Stone on Sunday and Monday, it was truly very different to see all of them in Azkaban. My goodness! Harry is so big. Fred and George looked very British. But I still think that everyone are still okay for the part.

- Everyone is getting skinnier. Please, Neville Longbottom, Crabbe, and Goyle should not be that skinny. I think even Malfoy is getting skinnier.

- Where's my darling Captain Oliver Wood? Quidditch didn't really take much air-time this time around and my dear Oliver Wood was not in the movie

- Harry was not supposed to use magic during holiday, but the first scene we saw him using magic at the Dursley's house was when he was conjuring light from his wand. So the thing about using magic for blowing up his aunt was kinda wrong because he didn't use any incantation on her. I just thought the scene of him using his lighted wand to read was kinda wrong.

- Malfoy seemed to be such a chicken. I just think there should be more toughness in him.

Overall the movie is good. It has a good story. The book is much better of course because it was more complete. I still like Ron the best. He just had the best expression in his face. I didn't feel he had much screen time in this movie, which is quite sad. I think he actually should have more lines in the scene inside the shrieking shack. I don't know if this makes him a bad actor or a good actor, but I just wanted to laugh seeing his expression, even in the part where he was dragged by Sirius down through the whimping willow. The thing about a Harry Potter movie is: the pace is quite fast from one part to another. So sometime the flow just didn't feel that smooth. Well there's so much thing in the book and to fit them all in a movie, you really have to move fast. I can't wait for the Goblet of Fire. It's gonna be so awesome. I was happy and amused with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It was truly not a disappointment.

:) eKa @ 9:05:00 AM • 0 comments

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