Numero Uno

Dearly beloved,

11:30 pm right now and I feel kinda tired actually but I feel I may not have much free time to spare so might as well I clear out as many things as I can. I am hungry by the way.

Today I finally paid up the remaining amount for my trip to ... ITALY!!! Si, si, finalmente andrò in Italia!!! I know the news doesn't come as a surprise for many of you. I just want to make the official announcement :P I've also collected all my documents for the trip. I'm so relieved and a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Departing date is in 2 weeks. It's been a struggle to reach this point. Seriously. I'm such an easily stressed out person and so all the waiting and the processes were just killing me! Getting the visa was the tough one. Indonesians are so unfortunate to be needing visa to go anywhere. I can rant and rant about how stressful it was but I have no energy to do so now and it's pointless. I got it and so I should just be thankful. After the visa, was the waiting for all my bookings to be confirmed and darn it took 1 week plus but again everything is done now. Now I just have to settle on my own itinerary. I have to say excitement level is rising.

I was telling Casryn yesterday that somehow I wasn't feeling really excited now. I guess it's because of a combination of all the stress in preparing this trip and also the tasks that fall into my hand right now (oh, what a dread real life is!). But excitement level is really rising now. Finally told Carl about it this week. It's kinda funny that she's not the first person to know, but seriously I wasn't planning on telling anyone until I got everything confirmed. Reason being (after I analyzed it) is because I think everyone just get too excited and they would close to screaming saying "OH MY GOD ... Eka!!!". That much emotion is kinda too much for me to handle :P Yeah, finally ... finally, I am doing this. I am doing something that I said I will do. I'm myself still in a state of disbelief sometime.

Anywho, Carl as expected is also excited as well. I kinda can imagine her big grin and perhaps her "oh my God" scream when she read my mail :P She's truly an inspiring person for me. Highly successful, highly down to earth, and basically just an amazing woman. I believe in signs in life and I believe God sat me or her next to each other in our first Italian class in beginner level are for things like right now. She has always been supportive of me and perhaps sad and worry to see me so sad. The nice her wrote a paragraph about me on her blog when she found out I am finally going to Italy. Some of the lines were very touching, she wrote Life is short and she is so young and talented!. I am truly touched!!! She told me to also kiss the ground and suck it all in :P She also wrote me this long email of things to see and do in the 3 cities I will be visiting, Rome (Roma), Florence (Firenze), and Venice (Venezia). She's totally in loved with the country that the email is seriously dripping with her passion and love for Italia. I feel like printing it as my guide :P

Anyway, 2 weeks to go. So many things to do. My brain is all over the place but I am getting excited. This trip may seem so sudden and surprising for many people but this is something that I have been wanting to do since 3 years ago. If there's anything to trigger it, is perhaps the fact that I've spent 5 years of my life in the same place and the idea of spending another year of my life just as it has been for the past 5 years, just kills me. Note that I use the words "my life". Some people don't get when I say I have life issue. My life is not about the place where I spend most of my time in. Many people think that's the problem. It is not. It is about being 27 and feeling that I have wasted the last few years of my life, it's about where I want to be, not just physically but mentally in the years to come or to be blunt I just want to die knowing that I have done something big in my life. The last few years, I just feel I haven't done anything :(

Currently, going to Italy and doing a trip alone (I didn't mention I'm going alone! I am) is number one on my life list and I am thankful that I'm really doing this. Well, perhaps not really alone because I will have God with me. So sorry for sounding like an evangelical christian here but seriously though, I will not be able to do this without God and I am sure He will be by my side throughout. Well that kinda makes this trip a spiritual one for me :P Anyways, I really feel that God has really given His blessing for me to do this. The first sign was my mom and dad actually said, "okay"!!!. 3 years ago my mother thought I was nuts (the alone part was the issue) but this time around they seriously said okay. Their blessing meant a lot for me and in fact it started the whole process. I thought mom wouldn't agree that my initial plan was to just get everything confirmed and tell them 1 week before I go. However, somehow I changed my mind and I called them to tell them I wanted to go to Italy alone. Their permission was what got the whole process started. Mom was very supportive in the whole process especially in the difficult times and I really love her so.

On other news. Watched the Vesak choir concert by Vivy's Buddhist choir group this evening. I kinda forgot about it and in the end I decided to go alone. It was nice and I like some of the original songs. One song, entitled The Incredible You is kinda inspiring for me.

Other news. Il Gatto has finalized his next move. I felt so relieved for him. However the shaker of this week or perhaps last weekend is the fact that Gascoigne is leaving us. I am so really really really sad. When he told me, I was kinda not so heartbroken however when I think about it more, I just got really really sad. He and il Gatto are leaving me and it's just heartbreaking. When il Gatto told me months ago that he was leaving, I told him I hope I wouldn't cry on his last day. When Gascoigne told me he's calling it quit, I felt like crying there and then. The idea of losing them at the same time just sucks!!! Then again, maybe it's pms. As much as I am sad, I couldn't bring myself to tell Gascoigne to stay. After all, I believe some decision especially such as this one should be made by you and you alone *sigh* Well at least I won't be around on his last day. So no teary goodbyes to be had. I don't know how my life will be after my Italian trip. Right now it seems like it's gonna be so empty, however my Italian trip may just change my whole mind set or perhaps things will just be great?

Buonanotte tutti!

:) eKa @ 12:29:00 PM • 0 comments

of The-Fail-Singapore-Flyer Attempt and Angels & Demons

Woke up early today. Well not so early, but early like 8 something. The plan was to meet up with NanSee and redeem our supposedly free ride at the Singapore flyer because we are Singtel users. After this and that, we met up at 10:30 and somehow I agreed to have breakfast first instead of going to the flyer first. In the end we arrived there and disappointingly found out that all the free ride for today (supposedly 500 of them) had been fully redeemed. Yes, it is a real bummer!!! However, I did take some pictures around there. Not many and not exactly fantastic.





After which, we proceeded to watch Angels & Demons at Vivo city. I was very interested in watching the movie. However it wasn't really that amazing. Perhaps it's a good thing that I haven't read the book because I have a feeling I would have been more disappointed in watching the movie. Still, I do find the Vatican side of the movie to be very interesting and I cannot wait for my time to go and see the Vatican. NanSee was a bit clueless about the Catholic church, so she didn't understand some of the part. I found it extremely interesting how big the faith that some people have. The cardinals and the people in the Vatican seemed to have a lot of conviction in what they are doing.

In terms of the actors, I feel that Tom Hanks is really a totally likable person. Ewan McGregor was pretty cool in the movie. However the plot and the ending doesn't really give much sense or proper reasoning on why his character did what he did. I read the wikipedia summary before coming into the movie and found out that one very interesting part of the ending was omitted. So for people who read the book, again this one might be quite a disappointment. After movie, we had our lunch. NanSee was feeling Japanese and we ended up at Shin Kushiya and it was a really nice surprise for me because I found the food to be really nice. Kinda pricey because I found the serving to be rather too little. People who knows me get stunned that I can eat a lot and so if I have to complain it would be because the price doesn't really match the serving. NanSee told me to take pictures of the food. I am not one who do this and found myself having to be reminded to do so because I just wanted to dig in when the food arrived :P So this is my first time taking pictures of food, again the pictures may not be fantastic.

Our drinks. At S$6 each, they are kinda expensive, no?

NanSee's lightly poached egg in bonito stock. Man, it's so tempting for me. But I had to refrain because I had 2 eggs for breakfast. She said it was kinda cold. I don't know if it was meant to be that way.

These ones are grilled shitake mushrooms with minced chicken and quail eggs. The eggs were for me and yes, I love eggs way too much that I cannot just walk away :P The mushroom and chicken was so nice that we ordered another one :D and I could eat more actually.

My soft-shell crab and NanSee's tori karaage. I didn't use the sauce that was given to me. NanSee on the other hand took the whole thing. She said it was really nice. I really enjoyed lunch today :) and it made me happy!


Lastly, it's the rice.

Somehow I managed to tempt NanSee for dessert at Bakerzia. Well, I'm not much of a matcha ice cream fan so I wasn't feeling the desserts at Shin Kushiya. Anyways, NanSee was tempted after I described the molten chocolate cake in Bakerzia. At an average of S$9 per dessert, Bakerzia is another pricey place but I am kinda loving their molten chocolate cake a whole lot. However though, in the end Nansee chose the chocolate souffle. Here it is, it came with vanilla ice cream.

I chose the molten chocolate cake. I just love the fruits that came with it! Note to self: stop spending money on these kinda indulgence until I have enough money to spend! How can you resist though? Isn't it beautiful :P


Anyway, it's kinda nice to be spending time with NanSee today since it's been awhile since I met her and update her about my life, especially since I have news to share. I'm not making any official announcement yet because things are still not confirmed yet :( However as Casryn reminded me, the hardest part is over so I can start getting excited. Even without me giving official statement, news did get out. Well, the flying nun kinda didn't know it was a hush-hush, so she just happily expressed her happiness for me in my facebook wall and it did kinda cause a bit of a hype. I have to say though, people do get really excited when I told them what I'm doing and I have to say perhaps because of this reason, I've been hiding what I'm planning. Their burst of emotion are kinda too distracting for me and I couldn't be too emotional (be it too sad or too happy) throughout the process because I still have other things to deal with in my world. So I entrusted my emotion and thoughts to only a few people like my mom, Rista, Vivy, and Casyrn and they all have been extremely great and supportive. When things are more settled, I will officially share the good news peeps, so stay tuned :)

:) eKa @ 8:22:00 PM • 0 comments

09.05.09

Hello guys! The number for today's date is kinda nice.

The plan for today was to watch Star Trek but in the end I didn't. It's because I missed the correct timing and in the end was too lazy to wait for the next available one. Kinda really want to watch it though and so little time!!!

Woke up rather late today. I shouldn't indulge much in sleeping in. I missed the morning sun! However I really couldn't resist the temptation of sleeping in a bit more. Had my first taste of Friday's engagement yesterday evening. Kinda got the taste of the rhythm of what my Fridays will be like. From now on, I have to dash out by 05:30 pm (earlier would be better). Quickly grab some bread to eat, take 2 trains, and then quickly eat the bread. Focus and work hard for 3 hours and then finally get back to my room. Based on yesterday's experience, it will be around 10:30 pm that I finally touch down in my room. Long Fridays from now on.

So how was it yesterday? Well, on one part, I wondered why on earth did I put myself into this? Why??? After the whole thing, I wasn't really inspired. I'm confused. I don't think I got anything yesterday and yet as much as I feel to fail this is gonna be effortless, I still want to fight. I feel I am the type of person who will do something until its completion is in acceptable standard (by my standard). I hope I really can hang on because I cannot take failure. Yesterday, I did make a friend though. The more I think about it, the more I think fate was in play. She's an Indonesian from Medan and she's kinda quite bubbly and quite encouraging. Some of the rests seem to be quite fun too. I look forward to get to know them.

Anyway, I realize how I miss my Italian classes!!! *sob sob* I miss meeting my Italian teachers (any of them). I miss having classes with my classmates, except for R. It was really a good ride back then, a really interesting one *sigh*

On other news, this week Dewi told me that she and boyfriend are opening up a small cafe. Rista had her first bungee jump in New Zealand. Vivy experience her first full week working like the commoners, with normal office hours (speaking of which, this effectively stops our occasional lunches *sigh*). I'm pretty sure many other leaps happened to other people and yet I found myself living another week totally feeling that I am wasting away *sigh* Today I made it to the temple and found myself dumbstruck because it was so crowded and then I realized that it's Vesak day, or Waisak in Indonesian. Anyway, I prayed so that I can fulfill my responsibility well and I asked for guidance and focus in completing what I am supposed to do and I really hope so. Somehow writing about that got me feeling quite depressed. Aaarrghhh. Gonna watch tv now, ciao peeps!

:) eKa @ 5:38:00 PM • 0 comments

Wolverine

Went to watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine with Vivy today. I guess this movie marks the beginning of the summer block busters which I will be watching a lot in weeks to come.

Wolverine was not bad. It entertained me more than I expected to. You see, actually I wasn't interested much in the movie. I watched it for the sake of watching it because this is definitely one of those movies which are gonna be the talk of the world. I feel the mutants in the movie are like every boy's dream even though I'm a girl. It's just some of the things that the mutants can do are so freaking cool. Who wouldn't want to be as big as Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber. Seriously though, they were so bulky! Too bulky for me actually. Anyway, the stunts that the mutant did were just amazing, the leap, the power. I felt there were some silly parts but overall they were cool and it's enviable. I'm gonna be like Ms. J and go completely gugu gaga over Daniel Henney. I found him to be surprisingly looking so Asian in this movie, while when he's in the Korean drama from which I got to know him, he doesn't really look so Asian. So overall, it's not so bad. It didn't necessarily blow me away but still it was quite entertaining.

Gonna spend the rest of today watching TV. I feel kinda depressed that the weekend gonna ends soon, this is despite we're having a long weekend this week *sigh* Me and Vivy couldn't finish our lunch today that we had to doggy bag some of our food and yet I found my stomach to be quite empty now. I don't really feel like writing much today though there are perhaps things to say. I guess I don't feel like sharing much. Have a good one peeps!

:) eKa @ 8:19:00 PM • 0 comments

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