i ' v e f o u n d Y O U.

Friday, November 23, 2007

after assessment madness~ 6:12 AM

wow! it turns out i live to see the world after the assessments! miracles happen!!

haha--just kidding. miracles do happen, but don't consider this is one.

after an exhausting and sleepless week+3 days, the battle is finally over! whether victory is achieved, is not determined yet. but it's not important anyway now. what's important is that WE ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS! HURRAH!

i must sound so messed up @_____@ you know what's even more messed up? i had SEVEN WHOLE DAYS to prepare for the assessments! i had one week off school to do all my projects, yet i still had to stay up for nights to do them. walaoeee! it's not as if the projects are overloading--i mean they are a lot, but one week should've been enough, without having to sleep at 5 or 6am. crazeeeee.

heh. forget the assessments. let bygones be bygones! hahahahaha.

okae, so initially i had a lot of things to share in this entry. but i kinda forgot most of them by now, hahaha XD i wanted to blog before dinner, but then i got caught up reading someone else's blog and now it's 10.30 already, so, yeah, uhm.

well, holidays mean going home, going home means souvenirs, souvenirs mean SHOPPING!! yesterday jez, ika, and i went to ikea, again. it was really a spur-of-the-moment thing. i mentioned 'let's go ikea tomorrow', and then, they were, 'OKAY!', so we go! hahaha, i love impulsive decisions!

speaking about impulsive decisions, i am not the person who is most likely to make them, but they're great sometimes. usually, before i go shopping, i plan everything. where to go, what i want, how much should i spend, etc etc. i even RESEARCH books and games before i buy them! call me kiasu but i find that way very satisfying. ha.

well, not today though. TODAY IS THE DAY OF IMPULSIVE REIGN! ahahahahha! anyway, the first impulsive decision i made was that i wanted to go to bras basah and then bugis, alone. i may sound weird, but i enjoy going to bras basah by myself! i have time to browse as long as i want...and my friends know i take a LONG time for just browsing, especially in a bookstore!

then, the second impulsive decision came when i saw A BOOK FAIR in bras basah. book fair means cheap books. and hello, this is bras basah, where books are already cheap. so that means: EVEN CHEAPER BOOKS! i started digging at the first spot near the entrance, where they have books from $1. and they have good fiction books for $2!!!

needless to say, i spent hours there. i really didn't know that they were having a book fair, but i am SO GLAD i went there! after the book fair, i proceeded to my original destination, popular. AND AGAIN I WAS GREETED BY DISCOUNTS~ how could i resist?

so here are my finds, just for bragging rights.

should i bring all of them back to indonesia?? SO HAPPYYYYY!

the three books at the top row are the His Dark Materials trilogy. the first of the series has been made into a movie, The Golden Compass, premiering this december. i was planning (see, ever-so-thoughtful like me) to buy the series at kinokuniya ($40 a set), but then I FOUND THEM, AND FOR $2 EACH! at first i hesitated. i wanted a new set for myself. but decided against, hell, i could use the $34 to buy a lot of other things!

the purple book below ($4) is a compilation of four books, i forgot what they are... only that one of them is the da vinci code--i read that already though. beside the purple book is a book by eoin colfer ($2), i dunno what it's about, all i know that his other book Artemis Fowl was very cool! hahaha, am i BIASED or what?

the last one, Nineteen Minutes, is the newest book by jodi picoult. i finished reading her bestseller "My Sister's Keeper" a while ago, but i haven't written anything about it yet. this jodi picoult book i bought @ popular at the regular price but with a 20% discount, so it's only $11-something. i hope it's good!

WOW I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD GO HOME TODAY WITH 6 BOOKS! hahaha, imagine if i had bought that His Dark Materials trilogy yesterday for $40... and today i got these 6 books for only $20something! and still in good condition! if i hadn't restrained myself i would've bought even more books, really!

...

hmm. AM I JUST THE BIGGEST NERD EVER OR WHAT?? lolz. while other people brag about their FASHION shopping, i am so excited over books, of all things! haha, i don't care, i love being a geek! i have always been a book-lover, for as long as i can remember. not that i don't care about clothes--i'm still a girl, anyway!

from bras basah, carrying plastic bags of books in both of my hands, i moved on to bugis street. i wanted to buy that jelly peeptoe flats i've been dreaming of, only to decide otherwise after i tried them on, (another impulsive decision--to cancel a previously planned decision!) for some gut feeling. then i bought these two Little Miss t-shirts for $9 each--not for myself, mind you, but as souvenirs for my sister and cousin.

the naughty one looks so nasty, i just wanna slap that grin off her face!!

other than shopping, my latest craze has been GAMES!! now this is all jeslyn's fault--she got addicted to it first, then the bug spread on to me. she got this crack for gamehouse games, so that we can play the full version for free! aiyaaa, indonesians are still indonesians... piracy at heart, hahahaha!

anyway, i'm crazy about this game: CHOCOLATIER! the game is about travelling the world, collecting recipes, producing and selling chocolates. the chocolates look SOO inviting, i just wanna eat them all! and i can shop all over the world for sugar, cacao, cinnamon, etc etc. the night after the last assessment, i played this game until 3AM!

chocolatier: selling your chocolates! don't they look so nice??

but now the game's starting to get boring lor... nevermind, once i go back home, i'll raid mangga dua for MORE GAMES!! ahahahahhahah!

tomorrow zhu and i are going to SUNTEC! yay! walaoooe, i'm sooo vain, spending my last days in singapore shopping, hahaha. it's too bad that sandy can't come... i really hoped we could all go together T___T

wellerz, 's all from me! i think this entry is quite disorganized, cuz i kept getting interrupted in the middle of typing, hahaha. hey, who knows, maybe my next entry will be from dear hometown! hihihiy!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

book review: for one more day - mitch albom 7:40 AM

actually, i finished reading this book sometime ago, but i never got to write anything about it.

i first found out about mitch albom through all the good reviews about his previous book, Five People You Meet in Heaven, which i would not hesitate to recommend to all you guys.

well, luckily i was passing by the popular bookshop, cuz they had a 20% discount for selected titles, including this one! actually i didn't have much money to spend, but i just knew i had to buy it. i had to, i had to, i just had to!

hahaha, so on to the actual review. the story is about Charley Benetto, told in his narrative. charley was a broken man. since the day he lost his mother, he gradually lost everything else, until one day, he decided to end his life. for his last day on earth, he went back to Pepperville Beach, his hometown.

and there, he got a chance to meet a person whom he missed the most. he got a chance to spend one more day with her. if you got a chance to spend one more day with a person you lost, what would you do?

so the story unfolds through charley's retelling of that day, and his recollections about himself and his family as he was growing up. don't worry, i won't spoil it for you. all i can say is that even though it was set in the 50s era (and then it moved on until the 70s or so), i could totally relate to charley and his feelings.

and of course, i loved the characterization of the main character. he is not a hero, nor is he trying to be one. he's just a normal boy who always strived to please the person he looked up to, even if that meant hurting the person who loved him the most. he made mistakes, and he regretted them. he tried to follow his dreams, even though with little consideration of anything else. charley benetto is real, and very believeable.

i loved the characterization of charley's mother even more. posey benetto was not only a mother, she was a fighter. she is the type of figure who would do anything in the world for her children, even if it means sacrificing all of her. she would forgive whatever wrong they do to her. she fought for her children. she fought for herself, against all the prejudice the world had dropped on her. and she made sure all of those pressure against her would not harm her children, ever.

reading the book taught me a lesson of what could possibly be the greatest love of all (on earth, that is), the love of a mother to a child. how sincere and pure it is, and how lucky you are to experience that sort of affection.

then i began to wonder, what kind of mother would i be? lately i've been watching all the young parents that i often see on the streets, how happy and how stressed they are. but no matter what, i see that those parents--they do love their kids, even though they all have different ways of showing it. now, i know the world's not a perfect place and it's not always like that, and that is precisely why you should always be thankful because you have such great parents, who would give the world for you.

honestly, i myself haven't been a very good daughter. before i came here, i often took everything for granted, most likely my family. but when i live away from them, i realize what a big gap they left me. at home, whatever i needed, they would provide--if they think it's really what i need. they would take me wherever i need to go, be it book fairs, english competitions, shopping, etc, etc. now i have to go everywhere by myself.

not that i'm complaining. i try my best to be independent. and i know they support me all the way, if not, i wouldn't be here right now.

ahhh, we digressed.

anyway, all of you, if you got the time, READ THE BOOK!! it's a pretty short story, but it's worth every penny. i think you could finish it in one whole day--supposedly you don't stop to weep every now and then. this book is LOADED with emotions, and if you have any you will definitely drop at least a tear or two.

and i hope, when you finish the book, you will come to appreciate your parents more, and be thankful that you have them. they may not be perfect, but i'm sure they love you with all their hearts and always give you their best. and i hope that we will all, someday, become good and loving mommies and daddies ourselves!

Labels: books

the lala updates! 2:40 AM

hahaha, wow, it's been quite a time since i last updated the blog. sorry about that, since i was basically somewhere between laziness and upset-ness (due to my connection problems). but here i am to tell you, I LIVE ON! abwuahahahahah!

well, not many exciting things have happened lately... but that's because life here in singapore just feels DULL. everyday is schoolwork, schoolwork, schoolwork. there's nothing to keep your mind off school--since it's sooo overloading--except for occassional shopping. but just like my friend yulin said, "so long never go shopping... all my money gone to shopping at ARTFRIEND!" when she said that, i had to laugh, because of all the irony T___T

okay, so enough of the misery!

november 1st was my friend (and roomie, and schoolmate) ika's birthday! yaay, she turned 18!! back home, we usually plan surprises if one of us is having her birthday. but then, here, we have no crew--i only have jez... and myself. that's why i wasn't sure if we could give her a surprise. i wanted to, and jez really wanted to, because come on, you have to celebrate your birthday somehow!

so in the end, it was a last-minute decision. it was 5pm already, and i dragged jez out to TCC to buy ika a cake. we wanted to buy candles @ art friend, but IKA WAS INSIDE!! jez had already stepped in, so i pulled her out and then we dashed like mad, hahahaha.

after spending a lot for three slices of cake (since one whole cake would be too much) and walking a lot to find candles, we were finally ready. so we knocked the door to our room--ika was already inside--then when she opened, we half-screamed-half-sang HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAY!

well, it really was a surprise, true and true. ika said she really wasn't expecting anything because we were all so busy. of course we were busy. and we weren't expecting to give a surprise too! ahahaha!

ohhh, and lately i've been crushed and torn apart with my school works.

(1) for my photography, the teacher said that the pictures i took at fort canning was... well, the technique is there, lighting is there, but subject NOT THERE. in short, she told me to CHANGE LOCATION, which basically means all my 400+ photos were rejected *face drops* well. at least the problem isn't me =D

so in the end, i changed my location to arab street... which is a really good thing! i don't understand why jez hates the place so much.. it's a cool place to go photo-taking, so much cooler than fort canning DOHH!! siriusly, i personally think it's an interesting place. and i saw JALAN PISANG!! *oohlala oohlala* walaoeee, i sooo couldn't resist to take a picture with it, of course! luckily yesterday i had zhu with me so i had to ask her to take my picture! ahuwahawhawha... and today, when teacher saw my photo, she said i improved a lot *shiny eyes*. wahoow~! i sure hope i could score better in photo than last term...

jalan pisang! why is my face blur? i dunno leh =P shouldn't have used differential focus, ya?

(2) as for my 3D Studies... well, it was a major stab in the ego for me. for your information, i have a big problem with neatness and precision--i never get it completely right. and for 3D, we had to work in the workshop and use machinery and everything. and i SUCK at using the sawing machine (yes, saw, not sew), so all my cutting is like, SENGEK everywhere. and i mentioned about my broken project, right, that i tried to stick back together. well, when teacher saw my work (which i did for almost one whole day+night), you know what he said? "huh? DIE!"

and if teacher say die, it means die, geddit? so in short, i had to REDO EVERYTHING and supposedly i only had ONE WEEK--or THREE DAYS to work in the workshop, and all the work i've been doing for the past 3-4 weeks is wasted. whoa, that was one heavy blow, man. if i had no guts i could've broken down and cried right there, but i told myself to be strong, for God's sake. it's only a project. don't stress. just DO IT!

and God proved Himself to me one more time. i believed that i could do it, with His strength and not my own, and i did it! thank you so much, Lord. with YOU, i can take on anything!