Thursday, September 29, 2005

oh Mr Jose

Not planning to blog, but I am so sleepy and here you go. I may post this afterall (writing this in notepad first).

Who is Mr Jose? Well, I wonder how many of you got it right, as in Mr Jose Mourinho I just realize, even with me telling you that, some of you still will not get who he is. He's Chelsea manager (manager = coach). Chelsea, as in one of the football (I use football) club in English Premier League. Okay, I can not get any clearer than that. Ouh...!!! He's just so hot! Yes, even though he has a very arrogant look and feel in him. 42, so quite old! Oh No! Is this a sign that I'm beginning to like older guy!!! But...Okay, I will quote what one of the Mr said: "Older men are wiser...They tend to give more than to receive!! More open to opinions and definitely more patient than young birds!!!" Let's all laugh together

Anywho, it's not that I only see him now that I feel that he is so handsome. Felt it long ago but decided to just keep my mouth shut or the 2 Misters will like try to throw things at me. Well maybe one of the Mr will not care while the other will just keep on blabbing on how good look and whatever couldn't bring a club to a success such as to the extend a certain red club has. How to address this 2 Mr? Feeling like using Mr.Italian Job and Mr.Bashenan(?) or what? First initial is okay? It would be too obvious like that. Actually I hope the other can be Mr.Z, it's like perfectly taking it from the alphabet then. Anyway, we have a good champion league week this week, don't we? Even better with Trezeguet scoring for Juve, wooHoo. Too bad that it's a draw for Chelsea. Not that I wish them to win. I wish Liverpool to win, well, it's a whole different thing from liking the way the manager look and liking the club Okay, enough of all these non-sense. Happy, Mr? Or is the leaf story better?

:) eKa @ 3:18:00 PM • 0 comments

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Indonesian Arts Festival 2005

Yesterday I went to IAF 2005 in Kallang Theatre with Vivy, all thanks to Vivy who was willing to accompany me and to Copper who weeks ago sent me an sms asking me if I was interested in watching. He actually really did his job, he really made sure that I got my tickets. I actually didn't watch the first IAF in 2003, but I remembered clearly that it was staged on the day when I came back to Singapore after some time of soul-searching back at home. Anyway, yesterday I actually thought that it was gonna start late, being it an Indonesian thing, so me and Vivy decided to just take our time We would actually have been on time if not for the jam in Orchard. Well what to expect, Orchard + Saturday night. Arrived a few minutes late and the show actually started on time. I actually saw Dendry but didn't call out to him because he seemed busy. Saw Copper as we got in, well as Vivy put it at least we already "setor muka" to him (show our face). He told us to quickly come in since we were late. We also met Malvin who ushered us in. We were seated at the upper level and the show had already began. There was this, well at that time I could only call it as a monster though it was actually called Barong, anyway I just found it to be quite scary and it turned out it was only Etu inside the costume *sigH*

IAF 2005 is staging Cindelaras and nope it's not the Indonesian version of Cinderella. Cindelaras is a folklore and they turned it to a musical with a touch of pop and all the things that kids these days listen (I suppose) I honestly don't really know what Cindelaras is all about. In short it's about this kingdom where the king lived with his queen and concubine. There's this spiritual healer / advisor who wanted to have the power to run the kingdom. Through the concubine, he managed to get the queen to be thrown away from the kingdom. The queen then lived in the jungle and gave birth to Cindelaras, rightful heir to the throne. As he grew older, he just had this feeling that there's something more than live in the jungle. So as fate it he got out from the live in the jungle and ventured out and he reached his kingdom, which was now in chaos. The king hold a competition to elect a new prime minister. In the end we saw that Cindelaras fought his half brother in the competition. Of course Cindelaras won, the king discovered the truth, the queen was back and the spiritual healer and the concubine ran away. Pretty simple good-will-prevail story.

I found the whole thing to be quite interesting, though I found some of the items like the dances, songs, like the part when Cindelaras was describing his dream to be kinda too long and the very awful sound system didn't help. The sound system was bad and I wasn't the only one complaining this. The most interesting part of the whole musical for me was the Saman dance, it was pretty cool and I actually always want to do that since I was a kid The host, Arie and Desta, were funny. I suppose their reputation as funny hosts really made it easier for them to do this gig. They didn't even have to try that hard to entertain us. The guest stars are Bhumi band and Maliq & d'Essentials. Bhumi band is a Singapore based band, with all Singapore Malay members and only 1 Indonesian but it's enough to make them really sound like an Indonesian band. They brought 2 songs during the musical and I just couldn't help feeling how they really sound so Indonesian, they sounded a bit like Dewa or Padi. I wonder if there is truly an Indonesian sound or is this kind of sound just belong to the region? I also wonder if there is a truly Singapore sound?

Maliq & d'Essential closed the show and truly they were what the crowd was waiting for. I have to admit myself that they're the one who made me really interested in going. Honestly speaking, I don't really know the songs that they brought yesterday. I've only listened one of their song once (I think it was Terdiam) long time ago and I was truly impressed and yes they were that good. Indonesia do have so many talents. Again, too bad the sound sytems was so bad. I just got word that Vivy had sent me their songs to my gmail account. Vivy is very efficient and effective All and all the whole thing was pretty good. Knowing how difficult it must be to make such event come true though they couldn't devote their entire time for it, for all the practice and everything, the whole crew really deserved a thumbs up.

During the intermission, I saw, first it was Steven's back first, then I saw JTG and Arief and then Roy. After much waving and calling, Roy finally noticed me. He was there with his all-girls team Couldn't really see his sister clearly but why is it that I had a feeling that she's taller than Roy He seems to be doing pretty good, nice to meet him again, and yes it's been a long time since we last saw each other. He said that I looked exactly the same though I said "What do you mean? I'm skinnier" Well, I hope he meant that I still looked 18 Then Felis saw me and Vivy and we talked quite a bit. It's good to see her again, she told us about her little incident when she came back home recently, it was so like her Should really catch up with them actually. After the show finished, we quickly got home because I didn't want to get stranded in a middle of nowhere. Some people that we saw were Angelica (talked a bit to her), Antonius (Vivy was the one who recognize him), and then Nyile (good to see him again) and there was Rimbun too. A pretty interesting night, and all because copper asked that question. One should really ask, I suppose Too bad in the end didn't really get to talk to him and Dendry.

:) eKa @ 7:08:00 PM • 0 comments

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

We Are Not Playing Chess, Or Is It still Chess?

After successfully getting myself sick for weeks, I think I also successfully damage my mental state. Feel really not well mentally today. I think it all started Sunday night. I'm just gonna summarize what happen on Sunday night. I once read this booklet from NUS about the things to expect as an international student. Of course, I didn't really read the thing fully, but I read this part about international students normally get a shock when they return home. It is because things were not as we remember it to be when we left. When we left home, things still go on as they used to, as they suppose to. Yes, people would miss us, but they also must go on with their lives and carry on with the hustle bustle of lives. But then that Sunday night, I felt that people are so used to doing things without me, that I felt forgotten and insignificant *sigH* Honestly as selfish as this may sound, but I do get pissed off if people wouldn't give time for me when I come home. Come on, I can not spend much time at home, so can you like get out of your routine for a while. I mean you've been doing your things for quite some time; can't you give some time for ME? That wasn't really the case though on that Sunday night. On Sunday night, I just felt that I was not longer counted or being considered for certain things. It's not like they try to change their so-called plans to include me, but I was somewhat being told to be at fault because I couldn't accommodate them. I really couldn't shake that off. Still feeling kinda sad and angry this morning when I wake up. The bible and so many things have been written about never go to sleep still feeling angry or don't still be angry when the sun sets. Well, following that, I would not sleep, nor would the sun set on my account, but again who cares?!? The sun will still set and everything will still go on as usual, no matter what I feel. Argh...I want to scream!

Let's move on to the title then. Chess, why the title? Because after a heavy conversation this morning, I just feel that life is not like playing chess, when you make your move based on what your opponent do, or in this case of life, based on what your friends make. However, is it still chess? Courtesy of Joan of Arcadia, the main character, Joan, in one of her conversation with "God", they were discussing about chess and life. God corrected her when she said that when she played chess, she based her move by what her opponent did. God said that she should never do that because if she did it like that, she wouldn't be in control. Just play the games the way you want it to be played. It may look chaotic but things will work out.

I honestly don't know why I do the things that I do, like why I did such a moronic act this afternoon. I don't know if I am right, or does it matter to be right? What is right? What defines it. I was talking to Ayu this morning and told her, how come I'm this old and I'm still clueless about things. It's so difficult to understand what is happening, because I don't understand. I don't even know if I am happy. It's just like there's no guidance, there are no criteria to define whether things are enough, things are correct, and so on. How do you know when you just whine too much? Or if you have done more that no more can be given? How do you know that you really need to make a move? Or you should stay put? Do what your heart tells you to do? What if your heart lies? Or what if you can't hear what your heart says? Do you know that your heart also has a protective mechanism to protect you so that you wouldn't feel hurt? I am afraid that I'm not doing the right thing. I'm so afraid that I'm just scared of things and I have done God wrong, because I'm not doing what He wants me to do because I'm scared, because it's not comfortable, because it's new, because I would be alone? How strange is it? Being afraid of being afraid? Fix me.

:) eKa @ 9:27:00 PM • 0 comments

Saturday, September 10, 2005

...Was it you? I hope it was you. Hi!

:) eKa @ 8:24:00 PM • 0 comments

Saturday, September 03, 2005

I Love Professor Snape

Comments on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:

What?!? Some big Potter's fans out there will shout at me Well, I just have so much sympathy for him after reading this book. Really felt that he hadn't really got a fair treatment. Come on! People would shout, he's a death eater, he was once and he maybe is now, difficult to trust a person like him. I wrote "maybe he is now" because I really do think he's still in a good side. Yep, even after he killed Dumbledore. That part when Rowling wrote "'Severus...'. The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.", I felt Dumbledore wasn't pleading for his life. A man like Dumbledore wouldn't plea for his life like that, I think he wouldn't be afraid to die. I think he was pleading so that Snape wouldn't do such an evil act, I think he knew the desperation in Severus's mind and in that short moment, he felt his best shot was to plea so that Severus wouldn't end up doing something really bad, something that could be avoided. Notice how I now address him in a first name basis Again, I still do feel that Snape is not with the dark side. Dumbledore trusted him so much. It's still a mystery why but my guesses are perhaps they are related, or Dumbledore loves her mother, those sort of things. Actually, as great and amazing as Dumbledore was pictured to be, we still don't know much about him. The way he expressed his trust in Severus were pretty strong, which kinda makes it somewhat impossible to think that he was wrong.

I don't know why Harry couldn't give Snape a break. He saw that his father was mean towards Snape for fun and yet though he felt slightly sorry for the man, he couldn't give him a better attitude and judgment. I really feel sorry for Snape, I really think he's been so unfairly treated and judged Anyway, feel glad that one of my guesses for any of the Potter books ended up right in this book. One out of the so many which ended up to be wrong, I finally got 1 right. I was thinking (or maybe hoping) the half-blood prince's potion book would be related to Snape and I was right. I really like how Harry actually owed Snape for something One whole book with a title dedicated for Snape, I suppose there's so much more about Snape that we will find out. Really looking forward for the next book, hopefully all questions would be answered.

On other parts of the book. Dear Neville were not mentioned much, I think his name only came up 1-2 times in the earlier chapters and a little bit in the endings. Kinda surprised that he didn't come more in the story. One thing that I think I hate most of the whole thing, well this and the fact that Dumbledore died is the love story between Harry and Ginny. Well, I kinda against it, I don't really know why. I just don't feel as excited as when it was Harry and Cho Chang. In the end Harry and Ginny did split up but I can assure you that by the end of the last book, they would be kissing and holding hands again. Ron was also a bit over the top with Lavender, but I think his love story with Hermione was better written. So now it's official that they like each other but nothing major had happened, so I guess they're moving it slowly, so it's pretty nice and interesting. I didn't like the ending, how Hogwarts maybe closed and Harry decided not to return to school even if it was to open. First, I just don't understand how they could close a school like that, especially when it was one of the 3 magic schools around. Come on, in our real world, even when incidents like the one in Columbine happened, schools still stay open. So I didn't get why they need to close the school. I also think Harry's decision was kinda too rash and come on, I thought the whole point of having it to the 7^th book was to chronicle Harry's life as he was having all his adventures and life in Hogwarts?

So much to look forward too. For one of course that I hope Severus Snape is really good. I also hope Draco will be good, been hoping for him to be good for a long time. I even hope he would have a crush on Hermione Oh yeah, as for R.A.B, I have several guesses. Got this during my 1 week break from chapter 29 to 30. As usual I maybe wrong, but this was what I found from The Order of the Phoenix. I think R.A.B could be Dumbledore's brother Aberforth. It would be interesting to know more about Dumbledore or it also could be Sirius Black's uncle who had died and gave him some gold Alphard. I maybe completely wrong. So that's all folk. One last thing perhaps, Snape in the movie was played by Alan Rickman, well played perhaps that we did feel that he was pretty bad but now since I like Snape more, I feel that I may perhaps can like people who's not really that good looking Yeah...yeah...yeah, it is silly. Forgive me

:) eKa @ 8:30:00 PM • 0 comments

Ache

Went to visit the doctor again today. I just couldn't take the sickness anymore. Now, she gave me 4 medicines. The amount of pills I have to take kinda freak me out but what matter now is that I can get rid off the disease as soon as possible. The doctor gave me another news which really freaked me out. I'm kinda very scared about it but I have to deal with it. She wants me to deal with it as soon as I am well again. I just don't think I could do this here alone, really thinking of going home to deal with it. I may sound too dramatic now. Don't be too alarmed, it's not a big deal. God help me through please...

On other news, finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Comments coming out soon. I kinda didn't want to end it and knowing the whole story will really be ending by the next book is kinda very sad. Anyways, the silly me tried to cling on for far too long. It's only a week later after chapter 29 that I read the last chapter. I guess I really didn't want it to end I finally also read that post in Cheryl's blog about her take on the story Don't think she gonna likes what I am about to say Osh on the other hand seemed to be slightly in the same side as me Well, everything do come to an end. Okay, take care people, take better care of yourself. I'm pretty sure you're doing a much better job than me

:) eKa @ 8:03:00 PM • 0 comments