emotions

mixed feelings.

i regret some things that i said.

sore butt

i was trying to get to my client's place on time, but i did not know their exact location. was looking frantically in their super huge car park. tried to rush through a flight of stairs and fell. landed on my butt.

geez... it was so painful that i stayed stunned for two seconds. the lucky part is, it was an exit staircase and no one was around. anyway, that exit staircase was the wrong way.

i had a look of my butt in front of the mirror just then. can see some blue blacks. i already applied some ointment on it, but i still think it'll be worse off tomorrow. hope it won't get too bad.

unusual weekend

weekend was lonely without tere, hairy & kennie in jakarta. but well, my honey stayed over at my place. my bed exactly. yayyy!

today was spent mostly at home. went to giant for dinner. walked a bit after meal cos we were so full. headed home before it was even 9 pm. then it was all spent with honey trying to get blackheads out of my face and chit-chating in front of the tv. later on, limi came over from the next apartment to join us. limi shared her views on marriage and other interesting issues.

it was something different from the normal weekend. but i guess it quite nice, although i would prefer the normal one. i learnt a lot through the conversations.

plus, i took friday and saturday off. it was so nice to just stay at home and relax. although i still have to handle some issues via the phone.

i also start to wonder why i would sometimes be interested in someone who is so different from what i want?

012345 km

was turning on my car engine when i discovered the odometer reading to be 012345 km. i found the discovery to be rather interesting and blurted out to tere and yuli about it (since they were in the car).

yuli wanted me to take a photo of it. first, i thought she must have found in interesting as well. then she continued to relate that it would bring good luck if i was to take photos of consecutive number (000123, 001234) and ending numbers (eg. 9999, 99999) of the odometer reading. i have never heard of such beliefs but there is no harm in taking photos right?

since the apartment had underground car park, the first photo turned out dark (top-left). later, i stopped by the roadside to take better shots with natural sunlight. not too shabby considering it is taken by a handphone camera.

xiao nan guo

accompanied my mum, mami, papa & another two elders for dinner about a week or two ago. xiao nan guo at mangga besar. we all thought it was the same xiao nan guo as the one in shanghai, but apparently not. the resto looked rather deserted when we first came. after a while, i found out that mami & papi knew the guy who is in charge of the resto. and that was why we were there.

anyway, the head waitress from china introduced us a few dishes. their most popular dish was the soup that has been "grilled" with charcoal for more than 3 days with clay pot. we ordered two different soup. one was yummy, the other just normal.

then they had a lot of other interesting dishes on the menu. the food there was especially oily and tasted so much like china food. quite authentic, i would say.

there were so many dishes that i had never taste before. what i mean was: there were normal food & vegetables but cooked in a different way. those that i like included pork and soy bean soup in claypot, fried tofu with mushroom with brown colored sauce, another oily soup that has almost everything in it and the fish that was dipped in i am not sure what oil (it was so fresh). the catch is, you can't eat much since it is so freaking oily. but i would say it was definitely worth a try. i would want to go back again sometime.

by the time we left (around 9.30), the resto was starting to be busy. the resto is located at the red light district area and opens from evening till 2-3 am in the morning.

xiao nan guo
jl. mangga besar 1, no. 22
jakarta, indonesia
t. 600 6483

ceng's surprise party

ceng's surprise birthday party on early morning 9 september 2005. i gotta drive to pantai mutiara around 11 plus at night. kind of tiring, but definitely worth it for such an amiable cousin like him. top-left is of him and his younger bro, harry. top-right is of him and rudy.

happy belated birthday to you, my dear cousin.

lara djonggrang

this new opened bar and resto is owned by the tugu (same group as dapur babah). the initial plan was to celebrate yuli's birthday with her at dapur babah. but when we reached there, they were already closing. the receptionist forwarded us to the new place, lara djonggrang.

the exterior was beautifully decorated with these lanterns. however, the catch is: we were the only ones there (but that was about a month ago). the place is quite nice, but not to my liking. i find it rather eerie.

electronic kitchen appliances

had been feeling rather unbalanced these days. the same usual needy feeling when the time of month has came.

it started out from office. things had been rough there and i took it rather seriously. in the end, i freaked my boss by being whiny. after he told me off, i came to realize that there is no benefit in me being so emotional. i came to realize that my main purpose in life is not about my career. why get worried about it right? i think i am spending too much time, energy and brain power in the office. i should reduce that because it rather coincides with my main purpose in life.

i was at the supermarket the other day and then i have this sudden rush of wanting to reward myself (cos i work hard). got myself a sandwich maker. i loved melted cheese in between bread. ever since the purchase, i think i have eaten at least 4 sandwiches.

and yesterday, i had the urge to buy a blender. went to electronic city and got it just then. since then, i had tried making watermelon juice and pineapple juice. slurp...

i guess it is just another way for me to entertain myself and diversify my attention. i certainly enjoy my new toys.

officially missing you

by tamia

all i hear is raindrops
falling on the rooftop
oh baby tell me why'd you have to go
cause this pain i feel
it won't go away
and today i'm officially missing you
i thought that from this heartache
i could escape
but i fronted long enough to know
there ain't no way
and today
i'm officially missing you

oh can't nobody do it like you
said every little thing you do
hey baby say it stays on my mind
and i, i'm officially

all i do is lay around
two ears full tears
from looking at your face on the wall
just a week ago you were my baby
now i don't even know you at all
i don't know you at all
well i wish that you would call me right now
so that i could get through to you somehow
but i guess it's safe to say baby safe to say
that i'm officially missing you

well i thought i could just get over you baby
but i see that's something i just can't do
from the way you would hold me
to the sweet things you told me
i just can't find a way
to let go of you

it's official
you know that i'm missing you
yeah yes
all i hear is raindrops
and i'm officially missing you

characteristics by star sign

read from andy's blog that female leos likes to remember the sweet memories, but not necessarily the old feelings. absolutely agree with it. i still remember those beautiful with my ex. although him and i used to have some bad times as well, but it is natural for human to remember the good instead of the bad (sympthoms of being in denial maybe?). haha!

anyway here's the characteristics for female leos.

l.e.o
stands out in a crowd. likes clothings that shows her confident, no cheap clothings for her. very selective about friends. open minded, but won't let people too close to her. likes praises, but not too many. she smiles to everyone, but inside, she believes she's born a leader.

likes to control. elegant, strong charisma. likes to remember sweet memories. most likely will have a photo album of her ex-es, and their love letters, but not necessarily the old feelings. has a lot of male friends. hates poor life, love cannot pay for all the expenditures. like sports. needs a lot of money to date her. generous, likes to give lavish gift. if you dont have much money, try to be creative.

some true. some not. but mostly true.

to check out yours, click here.

reasons of new fuel prices

some of the reasons why the government made the decision to rise fuel prices:

one.
the fuel prices in indo has been much lower the market price for years. government has been subsadising fuel for years. "as indonesia has become a net oil importer amid rising fuel consumption, declining oil production and soaring global oil prices recently hit us$70 a barrel, the fuel subsidies would have ballooned well over Rp 110 trillion to keep the fuel prices at their current levels." - the jakarta post

two.
"susilo personally did not want to increase fuel prices, but the tough decision was a must if the nation was to avert bankruptcy, from spending too much on the fuel subsidy." - the jakarta post

measures taken to help the poor cope with new fuel prices:

one.
"the government also issued five incentive packages, which include discounts for certain products, trade reform regulations, public transportation reform, an increase in the minimum price of unhusked rice paid to farmers and a direct subsidy for the poor." - the jakarta post

two.
"in march, the government made available Rp 17 trillion directed at easing the plight of the poor, and supposedly used that money to improve education, health services and rural infrastructure. with this new package of aid, the total bill for the year in extra benefits for the poor will reach rp 30 trillion." - the ja

three.
"after completing the poverty registration, the government has promised to give each of the 15 million low-income families monthly payments of rp 100,000 (approximately US$10) beginning next month to help ease their economic burden from the price rises." - the jakarta post

new fuel prices up by 126%

JAKARTA (JP): The government announced early on Saturday that the prices of fuels for domestic consumption raised in an average of 126 percent.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie announced at the Ministry of Finance compound that premium gasoline was raised from Rp 2,400 to Rp 4,500 (23 U.S. cents to 44 U.S. cents) per liter while diesel fuel is raised from Rp 2,100 to Rp 4,300 per liter.

Kerosene, mostly used by poor families, was raised almost two-fold from Rp 700 to Rp 2,000.

The announcement, initially planned at 10 p.m. on Friday, was made after a prolonged Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace. (nvn)

source: The Jakarta Post

***

also, i received an sms about protests due to new fuel prices. it reads like this.

INFO: bsk siang dr jam 9-14 kalo bs jgn kluar2 ke kota, katanya org turun demo ke gedung DPR, jam 12 siang smua org yg kerja hrs berenti 'n ikut demo. takutnya kerusuhan.. nama gerakannya PEOPLE'S POWER! kasih tau ke semua temen y'n family... thx

not sure if the source is true. but i guess there's nothing wrong with taking precaution.

the worst thing is, the new fuel price will hit the poor most. and of course, there'll also be an increase for minimum wage and so on. business is going to be more tough than ever. even i feel that the 87.5% increase for premium price is bitter. can you imagine that a rp. 50.000 can only buy 11 litre of premium? just yesterday, rp 50000 can fill almost half my car tank.

but again, there are things that must be considered as well. as what SBY said "i realize that this is not a popular policy, a bitter pill that we have to swallow, but we have to do it to save the nation's budget and the future of the country,"

let's just pray that the government is making the right decision and trust their fore sight.

victory!

update on the citibank credit card: it is finally resolved after much shouting and finally get to talk with the supervisor. the girl who picked up my phone was sure to be in some bad luck. it was frustrating to be let me waiting on silent tone for 20 minutes (it was all silent while she put me on hold) while she go get the omar who talked to me on 26 september 2005. when she was back in line, she told me that omar could not contact me this evening and will contact me tomorrow. i told her that i want an answer from omar today and that i have waited for 4 days. why should i wait some more? so in the end, i asked to speak to her supervisor. and warned her that she better NOT put me on hold for another 20 minutes. after being put on the same silent hold for 5 minutes, she told me that her supervisor (tia) is not around as it was friday night. i told her that i did not care, as it was citibank's responsibility to give me an answer by today! i was firm and told her that i will not put down the phone until the matter is settled. i also told her that i was not going to wait, even for 30 minutes.

in the end, her supervisor called my mobile. all she said was sorry and more sorry. i demanded that my annual fee credited back, plus the interest and late fee. rp. 203.725 exactly. i am dissapointed with their service.

i persisted and made all those efforts because i felt that it was not my fault. i should not be sacrificed if citibank hired some irresponssible marketing that did not explain anything to me. plus how could the citi phone officer not explain anything about my card when i activated it? these are just some of the flaws that big companies have. they throw you here and there. there is no follow up on complains. yikes yikes!

but again, i felt happy that someone actually listened in the end and get everything done! plus, i learnt something really important. to increase my bargaining power.

lesson learnt: it is useless to bargain with someone who has no power to make decisions.