The Diary of The Slowpokes

en route to NYC

2009-05-19T11:34:00.002-04:00

Astra:

On the way to NYC to finalize apartment. Finally feels like I'll be moving into NYC. I dread the cleaning my current house and moving heavy stuff. It's a nice thing that Peter Pan buses have free Wi-Fi. I can check my email and chat and update my blog (been another month since the last update).

Somehow I feel that my typing skill has gone down. I should practise with Typer Sharks or something. Or maybe find the flash version of The Typing of the Dead. Or something....

NYC part 2

2009-04-22T19:11:00.005-04:00

Astra:

I've just finished my internship with Andrea Blanch a couple of weeks ago. I made myself as one of the best interns to have worked with her. Ossom rite? Well, I liked the place and the people. Andrea isn't exactly an easy boss to have but she's not the hardest one either. At least I could still handle the works that she asked me to do. I'll miss the interns there and Shiva, the cat. Shiva's the only cat that I've been able to socialize with in my 25 years of existence.

About a month before my internship ended, I rented a small place in Midtown East for 2 months just to cut cost on the hotel. But the rent isn't cheap either. So, I still think on whether or not the rent is justifiable. But the place is pretty nice and the rent comes with Internet, tv cable and utilities. The room is also furnished, just that there is no food and toiletries.

The first week of living in the new apartment was pretty crazy. Had to buy some food, toiletries and some cleaning agents. The worst news is that the shower got clogged and it almost flooded out. The standing shower is only separated from the rest of the floor by about 5-6cm of partition. That partition was the only thing holding the yucky water from spilling out. I wasn't able to bathe for 2 days. So I had to call people up to get it fixed. For many reasons that I don't want to say, it was finally fixed in about 5 days from the big clog. Luckily, the landlady who owns the building let me shower in different rooms that wasn't leaking or clogged.

Both Yin and I applied for graduate schools in NY, Parsons and School of Visual Arts. Both of us completed the application near the end of January. Both Parsons and SVA accepted Yin's applications and both of them offered her scholarships! On the other hand, SVA rejected mine. What happened to Parsons? Well, they lost my RISD transcript! They were supposed to let the applicants know by April 1. Yin got hers near the end of March. I waited until April 3 to email them about it. Then I decided to call the admission office up a few days later. Only then they told me they didn't have my RISD transcript. I think if I didn't make the call, I will not be notified even until next year. So I went back to RISD and got a new transcript and personally dropped the transcript to the school. Now I'm still waiting for the letter.

Another good news is: Yin got a job! She's been working in Troy, New York. She's a 2D artist for a game company called 1st Playable Productions. Check it out! There's another friend of ours who has been working there about a year longer than Yin. Phoebe was the one who asked Yin to try to apply for the job. Troy is a small city near Albany, the supposed capital of New York state, but obviously New York City has been outshining Albany by far. It's kind of hard buying things in Troy. There's only 1 four-lane road (2 lanes for each way) as the main road and shops are sparsely located. In the weekend, the buses run in 40mins to 1hour interval so watching the schedule is crucial. One good thing about the city is that the prices are cheaper compared to Manhattan. Even slightly cheaper than Providence. Cheaper is good.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none

NYC part 1

2009-01-01T17:47:00.000-05:00

So I got the internship and started working for Andrea Blanch a few days prior to Christmas. Exciting huh?

Then, it was my second week interning in New York. Took Greyhound bus to come to the Big Apple from Providence. My dad came to visit on Dec 25 and Yin and I took the regional train from Pvd to Boston to pick him up since the usual taxi guy who we usually call to pick/send him from/to the airport was apparently on vacation. Yeah, it was that time of the year when everyone seems to be on vacation and no one seems to want to work. A few days before that, I needed to go back to New York and continue my internship. Being near the end of year of 2008 and being New York, the prices of the hotel stays went up a lot. The hotel that I used to stay for my first week of internship went up twice the amount that I paid. It was a Holiday Inn very near to Penn Station where I got off the train from Pvd. The hotel was comfortable, pretty roomy for a NYC hotel, free breakfast included and fast wireless internet. For the price I paid that two-night stay, it was a bargain, really.

This time, I was staying for 3 nights in another hotel called the Pod. It was more expensive than the Holiday Inn but at least internet connection was available. The room was pretty nice, but not as comfy as the Holiday Inn. It was kind of small too. But the downside is that the hotel is further away from the office and I needed to transfer once to another subway line. At least its not as expensive as the rest of the hotels near the middle of Manhattan.

Anyway, on Monday, I took the subway to Andrea’s place and there was an old Chinese guy performing with his erhu begging money inside waiting platform for the subway. There was also another guy on the same day (but this time, afternoon when I was going back to the hotel) who was drumming with a weird drum.

I still don’t like Manhattan that much. So complicated, so crowded, so extreme, so ghetto and so dirty. The subway runs literally like blood veins through Manhattan. There are like more than 25 lines running through the city towards other areas outside Manhattan borough. I got lost a couple of times.

The New Year’s Eve was hectic. Everything seemed to be closing sooner than expected on that day. As expected since the Times Square was used as the center of celebration in the Northeastern part of the US. About 10 blocks around the Times Square was closed off if not for the resident or people who are going to celebrate the coming of new year. I got off at the nick of time and zoomed to the bus terminal. Unfortunately the surrounding area was kind of blocked off. I needed to walk around several blocks to get to the bus terminal. After rushing in the midst of cold, skin piercing winds and crowds of people oblivious to our condition, I found out that the bus to Providence since 2pm on that day was cancelled due to bad weather condition. The train, by that time would have left or got cancelled as well. Finally, after trying to check into a several hotel, I decided to go back to the hotel that I stayed in and check in again. Unfortunately, the room was so costly, but I just didn’t have any choice left. I was so pissed and tired. But I still don’t know who or what to blame. It just sucks.

I found out that there might be another bus going to Providence on 830am. So I needed to wake up early morning to check out. Being so drowned in the spirit of new year, some other guests talked loudly and made noises during the night I wished I could go out and slammed their faces onto the walls. But whatever. The next morning, I phoned Greyhound and was greeted by automated answering machine that took my call. I had to took a taxi to the bus terminal and found that the bus to Providence was still cancelled. At least I found out later that the train was running. So took the train back to Providence.

I really don’t like the crowdedness, messiness and complexity of NYC.

in the past few weeks...

2008-12-17T11:04:00.002-05:00

Astra:

time to recap from last post.

thanksgiving (this year fell on the Nov 27) was awesome! yin and i were invited to Uncle Ed's sweet home fr Americana thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey! they thought that since it's our first as-real-as-can-be thanksgiving dinner, turkey was a must! yin's been craving a whole turkey since we arrived here years ago. of course i didn't give her that since we don't know how to cook a whole turkey with all its stuffing. even if we do know how to prepare and cook it, that one whole turkey is too big for the two of us. sharing the turkey with a few of our friends would not even finish the turkey. all i got for her in the past few years was turkey hams or slices of turkey meat in the restaurants that we dined in.

anyway, there was a lot of food in the house. Aunt Jill's parents were there and so were her sister, the husband and their girls. the girls were lively as they met their cousins. in total, there were five girls jumping around, running around, and making noises in the house.

two weeks ago, i went for an interview for Markus Klinko and Indrani studio in NY. they have a list of high-profile clients so i was eager to get the internship. unfortunately i didn't. i wonder if i had missed anything. the internship was 5-6 days a week, unpaid, possibility of overtime and weekend shift and very busy. sounded very interesting even though it's unpaid.

after that, i looked again for another internship opportunity in craigslist. i found Andrea Blanch's request for an intern and applied. that same day an email came back from her asking me to call her. I rang her the next day and when i finally got got talk to her, she said that she wanted to meet me. so yesterday yin and i went over to her work place to meet her. we were greeted by her and her cat. so while i was conversing with Andrea, yin was occupied by the cat who was showing her the kitchen (according to her). there were 3 other interns (i think) who were crowding around one computer doing some work. Andrea said that she'll be calling me before the weekend to let me know if and when i'll be working. looks like i got it this time?

prior to that, i went over to B&H photo super store to trade in my old 18-70mm with 18-105mmm VR. the store was really cool! lots of gadgets and electronics on display such as telescopes, binoculars, video equipment, photo kits (lighting, cameras, lenses tripods, reflectors and many others), computers and monitors, printing papers, audio equipment (i finally got to try my ears on the critically acclaimed Grado SR60 headphone and i love it) and more. basically, all, if not most, of the stuff you can find in the website, you can find them at the store. the experience was arguably better and radically different from the minimalist and simple interior design of Apple stores. what's more interesting is the system that they use to transport goods. there are rails/trolleys overhead that send stuff from their storage room to the sales booth. the goods are transported on a green cart from the storage to the booth and then to the pickup point after you pay for your purchases. all you need to lug is the receipts that you would pay at the cashier. there is also a waiting room near the exit for those who prefer not to navigate the crowded store or wait for their friends or family members to go around the two-storey gigantic shop drooling over gadgets that they would want to own or, will own after paying. i was drooling too.

so, after looking around at most of the store, i queued to purchase my lens. the front-most person in line will be announced to go to the next booth available with a dome-shaped speaker system above your head. after telling the salesperson that i want to purchase the lens, he keyed in my phone number which has been stored in their database (since i used to buy some stuff from their online store) and asked the storage room to send the lens to him. after waiting for about a minute, the lens came in the green cart below the sales desk (you can see the carts whizzing from one far end of the rail to another end of the rail while you queue). then, he gave me the receipt. after paying, i finally got to pick up the lens.

the weather was crazy yesterday. in the morning, it was raining and everything was wet. as i went out of the house, it started raining ice pellets which upon hitting the ground, melted to merge with the puddles. in new york, it was a mix of rain, sleet and snow with snow ultimately lasted until the night.

it was tiring yesterday, but the trip was pretty worth it.

Narutofan Paypal subscription cancellation

2008-11-22T10:04:00.005-05:00

Astra:

i was finally able to cancel my subscription to Narutofan Manga Plus after a long year of paying for not using the bloody service. Tazmo, the webmaster/owner of Narutofan has been labeled as a scam-artist by many. the subscription said to be a donation to maintain the manga/anime servers. but most reports seem to indicate that he has been taking the money for himself. the best thing is that there is no unsubscribe option in the profile's control panel of the website.

what to do if you, a random subscriber of narutofan Plus account, stumbled or googled the topic and found my blog? i have sent a few cancellation notice from the support menu on the narutofan plus! site. but all of them got closed even without replying. like the ones below:

if you, a random member of narutofan free member, thinking of upgrading and paying US $8.00 per month seems worth the downloadable stuff and found my post, please DO NOT subscribe. i don't know how many people still go to narutofan.com for their daily dose of anime and manga. but there are other sites if you search well enough. i present to you complaints about narutofan plus! services here:

ripoffreport.com1
ripoffreport.com2
stoptazmo.com -> a whole site dedicated to, well, stop tazmo, the webmaster of narutofan and the one who had been accused of plundering the subscription money all to himself. you need to scroll down a little to look at the forum.

if you, a random subscriber of narutofan plus! thinking of unsubscribing but without any result from the forum. try cancelling your subscription via PayPal. follow these steps:
1. log into your PayPal account
2. under the History drop down menu, click on Basic Search or Advanced Search
3. under the Show drop down menu, choose Subscriptions.
4. if you remember the date when you started your subscription, find it. if you don't remember the date, search within the time frame (1 year, 2 years and so on).
5. click on the Search button
6. hopefully you could find your narutofan plus! subscription start date that you want to cancel.
7. click on the Details for the narutofan plus! services subscription
8. find and click on the Cancel Subscription button
9. on the next confirmation page, click again on the Cancel Subscription
10. done!

hopefully this post could help someone out there looking for a way to unsubscribe from the service.

finally...

2008-11-21T22:07:00.002-05:00

Astra:

wow. the last entry was 2 months ago. well, almost. it's scary how fast time flies, not stopping for anyone. i'm still trying to find a job/internship regardless of the economy. i know that the economy sucks right now but that's not for me to fix. all i have been hearing is that it's somewhat getting worse everyday. now that Obama will take the seat as the next president of this ultra-influential country, i hope that he could fix this. mind you, i'm not a supporter of Obama or McCain but they're both seem to better than Bush so, i'm glad.

mom's been giving me her support and helping me to source for options should i not get a job/internship soon. initially she wanted me to come back to Asia and look out for openings in China or Taiwan. i said, like hell i'm goin to China! the nearest i'd go is Taiwan. Hong Kong would be fine too. but now even in China people are getting sacked n salary cut. the impact of global trading and globalization is really severe. not to mention that we are getting even more connected somehow as the internet grows even bigger and inseparable from many people, especially those whose business depends a lot on the connectivity of the internet.

yin's been doing very well in Charlesbridge, a small book publishing company that seems to focus on young adults and children's books. both of us have been wondering if the company would eventually hire her at the end of her internship period. from what she told me, the small company definitely needs one or two more people in the office to help out. even so, it seems that the economic condition has put a leash on the company. i heard some people in the company got a pay-cut. lucky it's not a job-cut.

speaking of a job-cut, a good friend of mine had recently been pushed out of his job. he got a job in Massachusetts and even moved very near to the office. after about 5 months working in the company as an intern who progressed into almost full-time-like, he was sent packing out of the office. from him, i heard that there was another girl in another company who was also cut off her job. i also noticed that there are more higher-up jobs available now since there are many people in higher-level and lower-level jobs getting sacked.

maybe, i need to go back to school, get a degree in another field (not that i don't want to get a master's degree in photo, but it just doesn't seem possible at this moment) and wait for the economic condition to turn for the better. i mean, it should get back on its feet, right? we haven't even recovered fully from the turmoil in 1998 and here we are with another big-ass economic downfall.

enough of the sad story. this Thanksgiving, we'll be goin to Uncle Ed's house in New Haven, Connecticut. Yin's dream of having a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving would finally be fulfilled. we're both looking forward to it.

i think up to date, since July, i have sent about 30 odd applications. seems so little after 5 months of looking for job but not that i can help it. there isn't many position that i found. even internship. all the reply that i've got so far are rejection letters apologizing for not interested in me.

highlight of the day: Lamborghini Gallardo in Need for Speed Undercover rox!

not highlight of the day: so damn cold.

useless stuff

2008-09-28T20:11:00.001-04:00

I will update soon. meanwhile, look at the picture above.

Annoyed.

2008-06-05T11:10:00.001-04:00

I love these people, but they annoy me almost constantly... What does that mean? I don't even know.

UNEMPLOYED!

2008-06-03T11:04:00.002-04:00

Astra:

Our status now is not a student anymore~! but "unemployed"! yes!!! if we were to fill in some forms that require our employment status, we have to, sadly, write or choose "unemployed". see how painful that feels? we are jobless! useless bums! we are of no use to anyone!~

HOWEVER! that will soon change! i hope...........

we are currently looking for jobs, full time jobs. lots of people say that we should aim for New York. Uncle Ed Duran, a good friend of my mom said exactly like Frank Sinatra's song, New York New York: if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. frankly, i'm not afraid of moving n working there, i'm only afraid of the living costs there (including heat, water, electricity, internet, food, rent fee n stuff). i'm also kind of afraid that my dear n i will be separated far away. that will be so sad.

the graduation commencement was nice. it was supposed to be raining during our commencement time in the morning, around 10am-1pm. but it never did. the whole time we were sitting down listening to speeches and names being called without any drop of rain. lots of wind though. the weather was pretty much cloudy. very cooling. the previous day during our rehearsal was HOT! many of us were afraid of the forecast rain during the commencement.

I wore white long-sleeved shirt with tie, black blazer and pants and black loafs. my dear looked awesome with gray kebaya set.

my parents were both there and my dear's mom was there too. not her dad. there was lots of people with different decorations and some who were not decorating like us. there was also a gal who only wear a transparent rain poncho with nothing underneath! totally naked! i didn't know that until someone (i think it was my mom) pointed out. and then a friend of mine caught her on camera n posted them on facebook! i thought that was a way to go out with a bang! my mom thought that was an insult. after the commencement we all took a round-trip of 2-hour ride to Connecticut to visit uncle Ed Duran. by the time we were back to Providence, most of us were already almost dead tired. My dear n I were the only ones still kind of fresh. the next day, my brother arrived from Singapore. he obviously missed my commencement. too bad for him. i will hopefully post some pictures tonight.

i'm currently in Boston. in a room in a hotel called The Lenox, a nice hotel. but the wireless was faulty last night. it caused my mom to worked up a storm calling the receptionists because she needs to send LOTS of emails to her employee in Indonesia and customers from many places. so what am i doing here? my mom brought my brother and i here to look at my bro's future apartment when he moves in to Boston for Suffolk University. my mom pronounce it as Sulfok. my parents finally met Mr. n Mrs. Gorlin, the agents who have been helping us with the school administrative stuff here.

my mom n my bro will be taking the flight back to SEA tonight while I will be making my way back to Providence via train. my dear's mom insisted that she will go back on the 5th. both me and my dear as well as her family are afraid that she might get lost or left behind by the airplane.

last night, after strolling around Newbury street and Boylston street, we finally decided to stop by a steakhouse called Morton's. expensive place with nice ambience. a single-cut filet mignon was about 39bux and that's the smallest cut from the variety of steak. the rest of the choices were from 50% to 4 times bigger (and more meat) than the single-cut filet mignon. crazy. that was also the first time i asked for a complementing wine to go with my steak. the wine that I chose really did complement pretty well. my mom had a broiled salmon that tasted very moist, sweet and slightly salty due to the sauces. my bro had a few jumbo alexander shrimps. i wanted to try the dessert, but was too full. too bad. after hearing many comments from my mom, i really think that none of my parents can survive long in the states. it is just too different for them. i'm glad that i can adapt well here.

today, the weather is going to be HOT.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: getting hotter...

last few days in RISD

2008-05-19T17:08:00.005-04:00

Astra:

my senior thesis show has finally passed. there wasn't a great turn up from my friends. at least some did come and a couple of teachers too. the surprise guests were my agents. well, our agents, really. they were the ones helping us to take care of our tuition fees and admission to the school and stuff. i invited them but didn't really expect them to come since they said that they might come if they had the time. but they did.

I have posted the photos on my facebook account. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36027&id=554140409

the photos can also be found in my website, http://astra.no-ide.com/

We are now entering our last few days in the school. in about 2 weeks, we would officially be out of the school. I have just finished my final exam (only have one since I only take 3 classes this semester, enough to keep me busy. My credits have overflown anyway). I still have my thesis paper due on Wed and my prints due on Friday as well as art exchange among the seniors. on top of those stuff, i have to help my dear move and search for a job as well. what a pain.

both of my parents are coming for graduation commencement and only my dear's mom is coming for hers. but that is fine. both of us hope that her dad was able to attend.

all in all, life in RISD has been very fruitful to me. 3 years went by so quickly but sadly, only now i feel that i'm more comfortable at the school. this is actually the first time i feel that i don't want to leave the school just yet. there are still so many things to learn, so much information to process, so many people to greet and talk to but it all has to end somehow. i am very fortunate to be able to come here. i feel that somehow i have finally made something worthwhile in my senior year. somewhere in my heart, i wish i could go for a graduate program here in this little school.

i believe that we would be taking my dear's mom to tour the local attractions. or at least boston, a nicer place than new york, imo. i hope she'd like the place.

We are planning to go back to Indonesia on the plane departing Boston on June 5.

i am still trying to get my dear to blog stuff here. she keeps complaining to me that she does not have anything to say. looking at the content of the blog, i say that this blog is almost ,pretty much, my blog now unless she does something about it. currently she's very very occupied with her submission package that according to her, is supposed to be done on Friday, last Friday.

highlight of the day: done my exam! my last exam in my college life!

not highlight of the day: strong winds outside. really strong winds.

catching up with my own blog (???)

2008-04-30T22:13:00.002-04:00

Astra:

A>Hi blog, wassup?

E(erology)>Nothing. It has been a while since u wrote something here.

A>Yah, I know. I've been busy with stuff. Real busy. So, I just want to let you and other people know that I will be having my two-persons show next Thursday! I will definitely take photographs of the show and post them up here.

E>Ehh?! Awesome, yo!

A> Indeed. So, watch out for it, k? By the way, the photos that I will be using for the show are up in my webby.

E> Ah, where is it?

A> http://astra.no-ide.com/

E> I will have a look!!

A> You better do. Wait! You are a blog! You can't look at other pages! Only humans can!

E>...

people switching to mac?

2008-04-16T10:42:00.002-04:00

Astra:
this has to be quite a coincidence:

I will update more when I have the time. I'm so busy now!~ geebuz...

2008-03-01T20:00:00.001-05:00

Astra:

the numbers of emails i have received so far. yeah.

happennings around my birthday

2008-02-21T13:35:00.004-05:00

Astra:
I can remember quite a few important events in my life that happen during and/or around my birthday. I'll try to recall the events here:

1984: i was born. d'oh! i'm a rat, according to the chinese zodiac
1985: 1 yr old, don't remember anything
1986: 2 yrs old, still don't remember anything
1987: 3 yrs old, don't remember anything
1988: 4 yrs old, can't recall anything
1989: 5 yrs old, at least i know that mom was pregnant, younger bro is born later in september
1990: 6 yrs old, i think i had just started my primary school in indonesia
1991: 7 yrs old, still nothing special
1992: 8 yrs old, nothing special
1993: 9 yrs old, nothing special
1994: 10 yrs old, nothing special
1995: 11 yrs old, nothing special
1996: 12 yrs old, also the year of the rat. it was this time that i had my national exam primary school level in indonesia. my birthday was on the 2nd day of the exam. so sad.
1997: 13 yrs old, nothing special
1998: 14 yrs old, the late former president Suharto resigned. didn't get to celebrate because of the riot. i remembered my family not leaving the house.
1999: 15 yrs old, my first birthday in singapore! i can't recall if we celebrate that.
2000: 16 yrs old, my first birthday in the new millenium!
2001: 17 yrs old, nothing special
2002: 18 yrs old, birthday in my polytechnic years. i was an Orientation Group Leader then. i think... that was also the first time i started wearing short-sleeved shirt, a present from my friends.
2003: 19 yrs old, poly-mates celebration
2004: 20 yrs old, on the second day of my diploma show. also the first time celebrating with my dear!
2005: 21 yrs old, just came back from taipei!
2006: 22 yrs old, first time having my birthday in the States!
2007: 23 yrs old, nothing much happening.
2008: 24 yrs old (will be, as i'm typing). the due date for my min. 12-pages artist statement! also a year of the rat.

thats the best recollection so far.

Spring semester started!!!

2008-02-18T09:47:00.001-05:00

Astra:
And so the spring semester has started. It is nearing the end of our school year. it is so scary to know that you have to get a job, file for taxes, move out to another place, work, pay your own bills and stuff. normally i would not get so fidgety about going to another place, especially now that my dear is accompanying me. i mean, i should feel somewhat relieved that she's coming with me and we're in this together but, strangely i feel slightly challenged.

i guess it's good that the states let us stay and work in our fields for a year. but our plan now is to finish this spring, go back to indonesia for a month, and then return back here to start our work. so we probably are going to start in July.

my dad is here for less than a week. yesterday when he arrived, he kept on ranting about a lady working in the boston airport custom who took away some food that he brought. he said that a man already said that he could pass after asking a few questions. then the lady came and said No! she then inspected the food and took all of the chinese sausage, some instant noodle and stuff. when the lady was inspecting stuff made in singapore, she said they are OK. but the stuff that she took was made in indonesia, hong kong and i think, korea too. my dad also said that the lady took out a list and inspected the ingredients for each of the food. finally, the lady gave my dad a warning. she also said that my dad is supposed to be fined, but she will let it slide for then. so ridiculous.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: stupid rain and wind for the first day of spring? dammit.

mid of wintersession

2008-01-20T12:15:00.000-05:00

Astra:

We are now in the middle of our wintersession. it's been pretty well i think. I've made 3 holograms so far, well 2 actually, cos the other 1 does not have any definite object in it. the process of exposing the film is more intense than exposing a normal film because a very slight movement of a wavelength of light can do some damage to the image. its just like holding a camera with unsteady hands.

we've caught a couple of more movies since the last post. Juno is a pretty nice movie. it's witty, humorous, simple and quite memorable. the low-budget movie Cloverfield was kinda OK-ish for me. some movie critiques like it while others definitely do not share the same thought. but the movie is a dizzy-fest. i felt like puking after the movie, slightly.

i just remembered that i will have my mid term quiz for my holography class this wed. wish me luck.

i just bought a PS3 a few days ago, with Assassin's Creed as my first game. i figured that i could blow my paycheck this month since i would earn 400++. Assacreed is awesome though somewhat monotonous. now waiting for more games to come i.e. DMC4, MGS4 n perhaps, Soul Calibur 4. lotsa 4s, eh?

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none

So! New Semester is HERE!

2008-01-06T14:00:00.001-05:00

Yin:
It's been a long while since I've posted anything. Astra's been bugging me to post for hours, days, weeks, and months!

I really have nothing to mention, I guess... I'm probably just that boring of a person :"p
I still have two cute goldfishes, one rather un-round marimo (moss ball) and a loving (yet violent) boyfriend--nothing new!

I'm still too fat, my room too messy, play too much MMORPGs and do too little work. At least I'm trying to keep to my daily small exercise routine! It's all for my weak left foot. What happens to the weekly comic that I've been planning to do? LACK OF MOTIVATION!

H O W E V E R.

I'm going to draw a page and post it up my website as soon as possible. Please encourage and support me in this first leap hurdle! I need that nudge to start working--really.

Alvin & The Chipmunks sucked. It was the first time I really felt like leaving the cinema mid-movie. I really have a thing against stuffs that aren't believable AT ALL. I'm not saying that a singing chipmunk can't be believable because it CAN be. It's just that the dialogues were so crappy and inconsistent. I don't know what else to say about this movie--save your dollars and go buy some takoyaki/melonpan/gelato instead.

Sweeney Todd is NOT BAD. I'm not gonna spoil it for everyone who hasn't watched it yet because the movie's not playing in Singapore yet. Not until February 7th, at least.

I'm looking forward to watching Enchanted (and trying out some *hopefully* good sandwich at the mall) tonight.

wintersession started!

2008-01-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

Astra:
xmas is over and its now a new year! so fast. so scary.

looking back at the year before, i think that it was a pretty memorable year. i was quite productive, i think. the later part of the year was pretty relaxing but productive.

last xmas was pretty nice. went to NY to look at a few stuff. we went to look at the Madamme Tussaud's wax museum and Ripley's Believe It or Not and the Bodies Exhibition. obviously for those of you who knows about the wax museum, we met some celebs. at least, their wax figures. i say, for 25bux per person, it was not very interesting. it was slightly more than ok perhaps. but the more interesting stuff definitely comes from the Ripley's and the Bodies Exhibition.

it was our third time looking at the preserved bodies and organs n stuff but it was still amazing. the whole setup of the exhibition was different from the one we saw back in singapore. the one in singapore was a bright open space where we can have an overall view of the exhibits while the one here in NY was separated into sections like a dungeon or a maze. it was also dark and the exhibits were illuminated separately with halogen lights. it was so cool to see human body parts that are so similar and familiar but so estranged being exhibited.

reminder: i saw the lungs of a smoker. it was black. so all you smokers out there. stop smoking or you'll really be breaking your own lungs.

the Ripley's Believe It or Not also has lots of interesting stuff. like shrunken heads from a tribe in south america, or wax figure of 9-foot man, iron maiden (the torture coffin like device), and more.

oh, we also got to eat Yoshinoya! so rare in the states. but it was kinda sad cos i accidentally ordered something that my dear didn't like. and when i wanted to exchange for another meal, the other meal (in a take-away container) got thrown away. the taste was ok though. i think the branch in sg gives much better tasting combos.

i can finally take it easy this wintersession. only took 1 class (2 sessions of 3 hours per week). then i'll be working for 15 hours a week for extra moolah. the rest of the time i can spend to think n experiment for my thesis project.

the classes i'm taking is called Optics: the Light of Modern Physics. basically the class teaches the basics and principles of holography. iow, we are making some holograms! not those that you see in books or cards, but its a holographic imprints on super high resolution film. its done with lasers. i'm pretty sure that it's going to be COOL. the class grading is 45% on hands on class time, 25% on midterm quiz and 30% on final quiz. looks hard eh?

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none

just finished

2007-12-14T13:28:00.001-05:00

Astra:

... my final week stuff. I have had final exam, final presentation for my photo critique, final semester paper for my postcolonial literature and final critique for my documentary photography project. all in one week. crazy week, i tell you. never have i had this kind of crazy week in the past 3 months. but it's all over... for now.

i've had good crit, even from the two guest speakers who were 'hired' to come n talk about students' presentations and works. i felt that i was going to be skrewed because one of the guest lecturers just bared his fangs and shot words, criticizing a classmate of mine who presented before i did. fortunately he only gave constructive comments for my presentation. it was so relieving. i also got commented by other friends that they like my new stuff. great!

final exam for human ecology was ok i think. i should be able to get pretty good marks overall for the class.

final paper... barely scratched the minimum amount of pages needed. i wonder if the teacher is going to cut my marks for doing that. i sort of think that the paper was not structured well enough. i also think that the content is not solid enough. arrrrrrrgghhh!!

final critique for documentary photography... well... there was snowstorm yesterday. traffic got stuck and the teacher couldn't come to class. after waiting fr 2 hours or so, the people decided to crit each other's works. an informal class crit. i sat down hours to cut papers, prints n to glue with my dear's help prior to the class. didn't sleep much too.

finally... i am free... for now... i still have to experiment more on my thesis project. think of stuff to take photos of. search fr potential employer in LAlaland. i have to well, procrastinate no more to build my website. at least this time my dear can help with the gallery.

i need to play more too. i've been missing my play game time recently. lets see if i could take more pictures of the snow today or tomorrow.

by the way. a couple of good things happened just today. when i walked up a short distance to the hill to submit my papers, i say my English teacher whom i was supposed to give the papers to. as i took out the papers from my big bag, he said he was going to give me free ticket for 2 for a movie called "The Kite Runner". then later, i was trying to buy drinks from vending machine. 1.50bux for each bottle so, i inserted 2 piece of 1bux papers. after pressing the button for mineral water, the machine spat out 2 bottles instead of 1. with 50cents as change.

highlight of the day: freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

not highlight of the day: none

oddities in between artist ball and now...

2007-11-20T18:12:00.000-05:00

Astra:

i wonder if anyone ever read this blog. even my dear dun write in this blog anymore and this is supposed to be OUR blog, not my blog.

anyway, we are nearing the end of the semester and i don't feel like i've got much done, especially for my critique class. i sorta kinda feel that i've got pretty unproductive semester though i'm always busy.

both of us started alternating weeks to eat vegetables only. we call it the veggie week when everything we eat must be veggies. then after that we can eat meat though we try to eat less. we try to take part in reducing the number of cattle killed and the amount of greenhouse gas produced by the cattle (they do produce substantial amount of greenhouse gases). neither of us think that we could go full vegetarian in the long run so at least if we continue this, we could accumulate some considerable amount of, if you will, merit by not buying meat. it is also healthier too to not eat so much of red meat (beef and stuff). if we happen to break the vegan week by eating meat for whatever reason, we'll try to compensate another day in the non-veggie week by not eating meat for that one meal or day.

i am currently recovering from cold. my dear got it first then it spread to me and one of her roommate. it was so bad on sunday and monday morning. it is better now, at least the fever is gone and no more runny nose.

i am beginning to sort of regret taking post-colonial literature II this semester. the only reason i wanted to take the class was because we would be discussing one indonesian novel among many others. true enough the novel, imo, was really interesting. much more so then the few others that i have read until now. i really want to read the indonesian versions of the quartet (we read the 3rd volume of 4 books). that aside, the class and the teacher was ok. there are interesting discussions every time but i am just too lazy to read the novels. i don't think i am a novel-reading person ever.

it is the thanksgiving break and we have free days from wednesday to sunday. pretty nice break i say. except that after that, it is all chaos when everyone is rushing for final projects and final exams and stuff. we are going to boston for feast tomorrow and since we are in our veggie week, we think that it is OK to break since it is meant to be a celebration. shabu-zen, here we come!!!

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none

artist ball 2007

2007-11-03T14:48:00.000-04:00

Astra:

last nite was the Artist Ball. glad to be part of it because if we had not gone, we would have missed our last chance. it is our last year at school yeah. so here are some photos courtesy of a friend of ours, Phoebe Chui.

chocobo mugs

2007-10-26T15:44:00.000-04:00

Astra:

just received our chocobo mugs from http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop . they are simply too cute to be used.

Highlight of the day: none

Not highlight of the day: 6 hours of lab monitoring = boredom even if it means that i have time to do some works.

fishselector

2007-10-13T19:35:00.001-04:00

fishselector
Originally uploaded by deTrop

Astra:

received this list from Human Ecology class. hopefully it's useful for you people out there who likes to eat/buy fish.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none

Cows

2007-10-09T18:57:00.000-04:00

Astra:

Cows are such wonderful animals. they are relatively cute (as some might argue), even cuter when they are represented in cartoon forms or incorporated into designs of any kind. I cant find n upload any sample somehow. anyway, i'm sure you people would have seen many cow-motif stuff or design.

cows produce milk, healthy stuff that makes you grow stronger (and fattier sometimes). and their meat are one of the most eaten kind of meat in the world. obviously chicken too. however, unlike chicken, cows have many more parts that we can cut and cook into different dishes. loins (tenderloins, top loins and sirloin), brisket, and ribs just to name a few. different parts of them haf different properties too. i'm sure there are people out there who can explain the differences and make use of them for their culinary experience in the kitchens.

i think i'm just in the mood for appreciating how good beef is. my apologies to those who do not eat beef and the vegetarians for typing this entry.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: also none

Back and Busy

2007-09-26T17:28:00.000-04:00

Astra:

sorry for abandoning the blog for more than 2 months. i think that i had nothing to blog about in august. or maybe i have but i just do not care to do it because i am so lazy. anyway, i am back in RISD and busy with my stuff and so is my dear. it didn't seem so chaotic when i moved back here because i already have a place to stay full of my own familiar stuff that i just have to rearrange since the place was abandoned for 3 months.

it is creepy knowing that it is our last year at the school and by the end of our current academic year, we have to have found a place where we want to work in. plus there is the pressure of doing well for our senior shows in the coming spring semester. then, there is also the pressure of doing well in our current classes. ooh! the stress!

my dear has started to learn to be a fashionista (sort-of) and i think that she has made good progress. she is even reading Tim Gunn's book on fashion and found many interesting, tried and true tips that she then applies to herself. she has got many new clothes that replaces her older wardrobe and i do say that she's looking better than before.

both of us go to gym together. both of us want to lose some weight. i want to gain some muscles for my own vanity reason. i don't want to look like some body builder, just some toned lean muscles would do. but both our goals stay the same, lose some flabs. vanity, vanity vanity! and health!

best part of the day: none.

worst part of the day: the long day of critique class.

Sudden longing for boots

2007-07-15T08:29:00.000-04:00

Yin:

I've always been uncomfortable about my legs. They're huge! I hate how it's so hard to find cute pants to wear. I'd LOVE to wear cute hot pants, tight pants, frilly puffy pants, lovely stuffs that are out there in the stores! Problem is, most of them won't even get past my CALVES. Even if I can manage to squeeze into a pair, I'd just look so gross. I have short, FAT legs. I've always wanted to wear knee high boots, but my calves are too big.

That aside, I found a cute pair of PLUS size boots!

here!!!

I'll be saving up for that... I hope I can fit in it!

Meanwhile, I've been working out about almost two hours a day. However, I'm feeling very tired tonight so I'm going to miss out my night workout session... I'm hoping that one day, I can wear cute clothes and look GOOD in them. I know it's not the best reason for one to lose weight, but I can't deny that it is what it is.

Wish me luck with my progress! :">

what do you want to be when you grow up?

2007-07-13T10:50:00.000-04:00

Astra:

list of "I want to grow up to be ..." that i can remember when I was young. I remember many Indonesian adults would ask "what do want to be when you grow up?" to any kids they are familiar with. The stereotypical scenarios would be parents, older relatives (uncles and aunts) and grandparents who would shoot the question to kids anywhere from 3 to maybe 6 years old or more. It is nice to have a goal when you are young so that you could slowly learn to motivate yourself to become what you want to become. so here goes the list, not in any order:

1. President! Of course, who is the greatest guy who rule the country? Mistah President no doubt! I want to rule the country so that the country would prosper and no one would suffer from poverty!

2. Engineer! Or should I say "Insinyur!" I can build factories, cars, planes, military tanks and cool things! I am so smart I know I am very useful for the country!

3. Architect! I will design skyscraper with 10000 floors! Highest in the world!!! Full of offices, malls, restaurants and what-not!

4. Doctor! I am the healer of all kinds of illness! I can cure even the vilest of sickness and bring happiness to patients!

5. Army officers! (I am referring to those who wield guns or shoot missiles from armed vehicles, kids do not know that army needs desk officers too) I will battle enemies and bring glory to my country! I will be the hero and patriot who fight for justice!

6. Police! I keep the city safe from bad people like thieves, bandits and pickpockets! I am justice!

7. Famous singer! (I don't think anyone wants to just be a singer who is a nobody) I will sing nice songs and entertain people!

8. Businessman! I will earn lots and lots of money so that I will have nice house(s), nice car(s), nice clothe(s) and more! My parents would not have to work anymore! (no children yet)

9. Teacher! I will teach people my vast knowledge that I have got from my education! I do not get any awards or rewards but I am happy because it is a noble job!

10. Astronaut! I will be the first person to reach the furthest end of the universe! Maybe I'll bring back an alien or two.

Yeah. Those are all the more popular 'dreams' of the children that I can remember of. No one would want to be taxi driver, librarian, bus conductor, wood worker, and toilet cleaner. As far as I can remember, no one wanted to be a comic artist, writer, folk art artist or chef cos their pays suck. I remember my mom jeered me when I was less than 10 years old and I told her I wanted to be a comic artist. She said I won't be able to survive like that. Yeah well, I can't say that I am qualified now either.

Do not become a painter either, because they live poor. Maybe when you are lucky you could earn a little bit of money to buy paint. That's what people said. The truth is, you'll never know. Picasso's famous prior and after his death while Van Gogh lived miserably because his art was slightly more advanced in his era thus no one accepted it. Not everyone is the same.

I find myself changing my dreams every now and then as i grow up. Maybe I should rephrase it as goals instead of dreams. A goal sounds more realistic.

Highlight of the day: The new library was really cool. DIE HARD 4.0 was not so bad.

Not highlight of the day: effing stomachache.

highlight of my summer hol

2007-07-12T01:26:00.000-04:00

Astra:

the highlight of my summer holiday has juz passed a few days ago when yin came to sg with her parents and now she's back home in indonesia again. it was rekindling, fun and fulfilling. before she came here we already planned what we would buy, eat and do (including meeting up with her old friends). unfortunately we couldn't fulfill all of her gourmet cravings due to many unforeseen circumstances and the short time she had (only less than 5 days). plus we didn't have the chance to celebrate our annual anniversary but we decided to do it when we go back to the states.

so, the list of things we've achieved: watched transformers (damn cool movie!!), updated our printclub photo card (been 2 years since the last), ate at Ichiban Boshi (beat that Suckae sushi!), ate at Secret Recipe (chocolate banana cake!), shopping for her clothes n stuff, dinner at Breeks, Dinner at Boon Tong Kee and met up with all the friends that we made appointment with plus much more stuff that were out of our hands.

list of things we didn't achieve: didnt watch Hot Fuzz, Fantastic 4, Ocean's 13, annual anniversary celebration, fish soup in plaza singapura, fish misua in Newton Hawkers Center, Gelato (missed this cos she didn't want to), Yoshinoya and Tonkichi.

my poor dear has been struggling with her weight. I've been jogging n exercising n watching my meals as well. i wonder if i can keep it up when i go back to the states. this summer hols is the perfect chance fr her to lose some weight but she's always been surrounded with so much food at home i hafta scream at her on MSN to tell her not to eat too much. hopefully i could fix this up when we return back to the states. i'll force her to exercise regularly (MUAHAHAHAHHAHA!).

I need to start researching for my senior thesis already! I've been playing games (DS n PC n PS2/3) alot, watching anime and reading comic.

Highlight of the day: none

Not highlight of the day: also none

(too) Sunny Singapore

2007-06-23T01:02:00.000-04:00

Astra:

so i've been back in singapore for a while already in case anyone who reads my blog does not know (including the probability of one not looking at my MSN mass message below my nick). the very last summer vacation (i think) means this is the last time i could feel a true holiday, probably for years to come until... who knows when.

when xing, ja n ju met up with me, they introduced me to a local animation that made it into the big screen and they were telling me of how bad it is. Legend of the Sea was the name of the movie. xing commented that the movie received 1 star out of 5 in local magz. ja responded that probably the star was for the animation of a character's beard. that kind of bad comments really made me want to watch the movie and true enough, i bought a tix and watched it a few days after our small gathering.

the movie was bad. really bad. i watched Devilman (live-action plus CG movie) in crunchyroll and that was dubbed the worst movie of the year in japan (2006). i say Devilman lost to Legend of the Sea by about 5-10 marks out of 100. so, say Devilman was 20/100, Legend of the sea would be around 10-15/100. i struggled to fix my butt on the cinema's chair. i think that was the WORST movie in at least the past 5 years of my life or even more than that. even then, i'm glad that i caught the movie, it reminds me of mistakes that should not be done in an animation.

so much stuff to do now. i still haven't met up with the rest of the people i used to hang out with during my polytechnic years.

2006/07 is almost over

2007-05-18T09:37:00.000-04:00

Astra:

godmuthafuggingfirefox! it just closed down unexpectedly on me after typing some good sum of lines.

the weather today is bad. temp below 10C and rain. i dun feel like goin anywhere even if i wanna. i wanna get manga and watch Hot Fuzz.

I can't believe that my junior year is almost over. time flew so fast! i remember last september when both of us came back here to start our junior yr. the pain, the critique, the fun, the hardwork, the winter cold, the snow, the laziness, the money and more, just flew by. it has been a very good year for me though i wonder how much i have learned in the conceptual level. i sure have gained a lot in the technical stuff, thanks to some classes i took.

the photo department still has not announced the recipients of the awards frm my junior show. 4 awards in total. the financial office still need to process some administration stuff before our photo dept could announce the result because some of the awards (2 if i'm not mistaken) are based on financial aid status. the people in my year and some of the graduate students are getting fidgety.

i've got good crits fr my digital photo (with my fussy prof who is able to tell if i miss a color by 1 point in ps) and my photoIII.

i think im not gonna do well on my mirrors of memory class. i dunno wat i've learned other than the fact that Marcel Proust is a novelist who looks at many other things (one among them is photography that was very new at that time) and Freud is a normal guy with not so normal way of thinking about 'minds'.

i have finally got a d200! awesome camera, the perfect companion for my f100 cos both of them feels very much the same. almost pro body with very pro features and stuff. i traded my d70 n old f80 fr it but still hafta pay a crazy amount to get it.

i also dared to spend some money on CS3 design standard edition that has ps cs3, ai cs3 n id cs3, just the things i need fr work.

so, plan for the summer:
- bring back hassy n dslr n try to familirize myself with them (i realized that even though i have been hanging around with my older d70 camera, i still feel that i dunno about that camera 100%.
- shoot, shoot, shoot n shoot. i'm thinking of a project now that requires me to travel quite alot in sg. i'll start with familiar places first. i dun think i'll ever get terribly lost in sg anyway.
- install cs3suite in my comp and familiarize myself with them.
- before that, i think i hafta upgrade its graphic card n ram.
- calibrate my lousy monitor in sg. (dun think i'll be able to print a good quality print since my very old printer is really sucky comparatively to the newer ones.
- play ps3/2 games
- exercise n eat moderately
- go on dates with my dear when she goes to sg. it's been a long long while since we went to dates in sg.
- meet up with old frens to hear them complain abt life.
- start researching on my final project for senior year.

yeah, i think those should be enough to keep me occupied for the whole summer.

i'm excited to see my dear's project of a large series of movement pictures (almost like animation) that she's going to do during summer.

i just finished ff3 in NDS. its not so bad imo, but not very good either.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: boredom and rainy/cold weather.

spiderman3

2007-05-06T18:46:00.000-04:00

Astra:

so, watched spiderman3 yesterday. just the 2 of us. rushed to the cinema after working at the lab. overall i think its the nicer movie from the previous 2. and also one that is very arguable in many aspects.

ok so SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVENT WATCHED THE MOVIE:
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
likes: rough aspects of life, rather depressing storyline, dark side of spidey/peter, 2 1/2 villains, slightly comical, decent-nice CG. happy ending.

dislikes: stupid butler who only told harry after that many months (in storyline) and his other line. venom not venomous enough (as in not as faithful to the comic or better), sandman seems like a pathetic character who are always trapped in circumstantial misfortunes (also not faithful to the orthodox story, but still acceptable). sped-up storyline. squeezing of that many villains in the story.

comments: spiderman is a very down-to-earth kinda story with the stress, dilemma, romance and other complications of life. that is what makes the story interesting. also, in battles, spiderman is a very comical hero with his witty remarks about every moves that he or his opponent(s) make. i guess the movies do not really present this witty side of peter/spiderman. one reason that i can think of is that whoever is in charge of the script/story might intended to portray a more serious persona of peter/spidey. i wish they could make him wittier, not just nerdier.

having two villains vs two heroes is a nice touch to the series. i am a fan of both lone or duo hero. sometimes maybe a trio. 4 heroes are odd and 5 (just like japanese sentai) is more acceptable due to its long history. weird eh? anyway, its nice to see two good friends finally fighting arm-to-arm.

venom is just sad. he is bigger than spidey, good! he is dark, good! he is insane, good! but he does not speak in plural first-person case 'we', not good! also his tongue is supposed to be long, slimy and always hanging out of the mouth. i'd like to see if Carnage is going to make an appearance next movie. its just gonna get darker everytime.

the butler of osborn family is a very unintelligent guy. after all the damages done to the osborn family, he only talks to harry about his father and cleared up all the misunderstanding between spiderman/peter and harry. and his line, 'i love your father... and i love you too...' is so corny that made most of the people in the cinema laughed.

speaking of laughing. there are some inconsiderate people in the cinema who seem to be laughing and commenting loudly on many scenes. sorry for being racist, but most of them are blacks.

tobey seems like a guy who cannot play bad. cos i think his image of a good nerdy guy seems to stick so much in my head that once he turns 'dark' he seems so bad at being bad that it all seems like a joke. but i think that is why he suits to be peter parker. parker is always a nerd, never a badass.

the dialogue lines are kinda corny, but i could still tolerate it.

it all seems like an alternate story to the orthodox story line set by the comic series. but cooked medium. why do i like it? i dunno, i just do.

i think thats all i have for the movie.

END OF SPOILER

last week was a tiring week. with presentation and paper due for the class on wed and also prints due for the junior show. all ends well though. final paper and presentation went smoothly with good comments from the prof. this means that im through with the class. WHOOOO! the junior show was packed with many good stuff. i still hope i could win something, for the money and also for my own reputation.

yin missed a step while she was going down the stairs and fell, hurting her left ankle. she's better now but still not healed. clumsy gal. she even borrowed a pair of crutch from the health service for a day.

one of the fish choke herself (we're now very sure that dondon, the fish, is a she) with a pebble in her mouth. yin had to use my swiss army pinset to nudge the pebble so that the fish could spit it out. we now change the pebbles to smaller ones so that she could spit the whole thing out without getting herself choked. both the fish likes to play and find leftover food on the pebbles on the bottom of the tank.

only 2-3 weeks left and amidst all the chaos of the final weeks, is my birthday.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none

Notice

2007-04-27T11:08:00.000-04:00

Astra:
a notice in my work place:

Apple Pro Mouse $59
Apple Pro Keyboard $59
Damaging motherboard of $4000 workstation wih your 75cents soda: PRICELESS

portfolio n junior show

2007-04-13T09:16:00.000-04:00

Astra:
dreads of portfolio review on near the end of the month and a photo junior show early May are creeping up my spine. iow, i hafta take as many photos for the review and for award. hopefully my body of work is good nuff to last till the end of semester so that i could continue doing it fr next yr.

there's still no news frm Hasbro regarding internship. the person whom i sent my email to said i would be contacted soon cos one of the interns is leaving. hopefully i could get that internship.

they're testing the alarm in the building as i type this. annoying, but its necessary.

have been trying to transfer website to another web provider. already paid 80+ bux. somehow in the middle of transfer, none of my emails are replied. since i ordered the service frm yin's laptop, there wasnt any problem in the transaction. when i tried to go to their website at home, www.startlogic.com, my McAfee internet security said that the site is a phishing site. today i hafta go to my bank n tell the bank to do something abt this. fuggin web hosting site.

i passed my written driving permit test with a vengeance! now im scheduled to take driving exam on july. i haf less than 3 mths to prepare myself. i wonder how im supposed to get driving lessons when im this busy. dang! i feel like im 1 step closer to buying my own car. wheeeeee~

been very addicted to Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales. the minigames n microgames are very addictive but very annoying. i havent been able to get 2 super rare cards juz cos i cant get gold in 2 games. really, the minigames n microgames are sometimes too annoying for the game's own good. but i think i could complete the game in about 20 (plus minus 3 hrs) hrs game play time. im on my 11th or 13th hours now (cant remember exactly).

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none

Phoenix Wright typo

2007-04-08T02:02:00.001-04:00

P1010237_resize
Originally uploaded by deTrop.

Astra:
found this typo here. its on case 5 of the 1st US game of Phoenix Wright.

spring break! again!

2007-03-29T18:18:00.000-04:00

Astra:

went cycling with stony n my dear to KFC n whole foods. finally after almost 2 yrs in the states, i finally tasted KFC here. it was really good! 8 piece meal for 3 people. loaded with calories. i wonder how much exercise needed to burn all those calories.

spring break is almost over. gates of hell is about to open and we all will be sucked in.

i failed my 1st written test for driving permit. by just 1 qn. bloody hell. hafta retake the test next week. hopefully i could pass. my fault fr overestimating myself.

highlight of the day: KFC, stir-fry noodle with chicken, french horn mushroom n shiitake mushroom

not highlight of the day: strong n dry wind. shitty!

spring break!

2007-03-25T18:14:00.000-04:00

Astra:
and so spring break is here. though the weather doesn't seem spring-y yet. i sure hope the weather would turn warmer. i dun like to wear 2 pieces of jackets everytime i go out. at least now it doesnt get dark at 4pm.

300 is nice. but its not the best film of the spring imo. i dun really care about the accuracy to the history cos i enjoyed it like a movie, as it is supposed to be enjoyed.

imma watch TMNT tmorrow. we'll see.

my dear is in the mood fr a new pair of shoes. apparently she found 1 pair that is nice. but one shoe from the pair that she likes seems to have some fadings on the heel side and the store has already ran out of stock fr the same pair. we might return n haf a look at other places tomorrow at the mall.

spring break, a break with yet so much stuff to do. i hafta contact the DMV (division of motor vehicle) to get theory test to obtain a driving permit. one of these days. wish me luck!

highlight of the day: popcorn and 300

not highlight of the day: none yet

snow in the middle of spring

2007-03-16T10:10:00.000-04:00

Astra:

yah, its snowing today. or to be more exact, since the early morning when i was asleep. im assigned to another comp lab as a replacement for another comp monitor cos the monitor email-ed the whole group at 1:41am that she would be having a crit from 9-12 (which is the end of her shift) or something like that. but best thing is, im still paid as per normal: 9-1pm. eheheh.

so many people here in the lab in the morning. i guess they're all very hard working eh? well, its friday, many people still have classes today.

my dear suddenly lost her voice. poor thing. n now she's coughing too. pretty bad i say. too much of all dried snacks n not enough water i think. same old stuff. get well quick!

my bicycle's rear tire is punctured. there seems to be a small slit of hole. i hope it was not one of those pranks pulled by some random highschoolers who pass by. bicycle thefts n wrecking are one of the more common small crimes happening around the school. n since its snowing today, i cant bring the bike fr repair. bleh.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none too.

My Goldies

2007-02-27T01:36:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wish that my goldfishes can speak...
But then again,
Hearing "Feed me!" every few minutes
is a fearsome prospect.

-Yin

new spring semester

2007-02-25T18:14:00.000-05:00

Astra:

so the new semester has just begun. its now the end of 1st week of the spring semester. tomorrow's a new week already!

im taking up work study to get some extra money, not that i desperately need some, but just to make myself sit down and try to do some work. at least about 7 hours of work per week. boring, but its really something to make me do some work. hopefully the hours dont go to waste. well anyway, my dad has just arrived today and he'll be gone again on friday.

i hafta gear up to do some works again before the professors start to scold me one by one.

yin still wants a new fish. oh man...

we've been enjoying both our ds lites very much. bomberman land touch is really addictive imo!

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: also none

final stuff

2007-02-09T11:36:00.000-05:00

Astra:

rushing final projects. next Tue is the last of wintersession.

yin's playing with her new toy: sewing machine

wats up with the ppl who put password to view their blogs?

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: also none

almost the end of wintersession

2007-02-03T18:20:00.000-05:00

Astra:

so we're nearing the end of our wintersession and im left with about 3-4 classes per subjects. that means about 6-8 more days of school till winter break and the start of spring semester.

both classes been pretty fun n they doesnt seem to be as tiring as the previous wintersession classes, or at least as far as i can remember. yin's definitely into her collage class, i cant seem to understand the meaning of collages so the only judgment that i can give would be how i relatively feel abt the works that she's done. seems that she's done good so far. i'll post some of my caricature stuff when i could.

wintersession break... yin n i might b goin to boston to meet up with weiyong. good to know that there's more ppl we know nearby.

so, we went to recycling center just now n yin got very cheap materials fr her collage stuff. but the highlight of the trip, imo, would be the holographic cover edition of National Geographic published in late 80s (cant remember exactly when). i might scan it someday. so cool!

we watched little miss sunshine on dvd. i say its not really something that i can relate to. we also watched kinsey on dvd as well as rabbit proof fence. both, imo, are more interesting than little miss sunshine.

yin is currently buggin me to allow her to get another fish since she bought a bigger tank. i think 2 fishies r enuff since they might grow even bigger. maybe i should post the updated looks of the fish and the new tank once yin moves the fish to the new one.

highlights of the day: an eatery called Jesus Saves which probably serves stuff with Christian names (kidding). also the holographic cover edition of NatGeo

not highlight of the day: none

wintersession

2007-01-25T02:01:00.000-05:00

Astra:
Caricature and Psychology of Sexuality fr me.

been pretty good classes, profs r nice n stuff. damn corelpainter is so unstable. Adobe should bought painter over and improve it 10x or something.

might post some stuff frm caricature class fr show.

xiaxue should stay only ONLINE. heck if i dun bother reading her blog cos i think she's juz being bitchy more than being intelligent at commenting stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL_xcNCtjBU

link to xiaxue's interview with a plastic surgeon. her singlish is still (border line) pardonable imo, but please be more professional when u are interviewing. i know u dun talk abt labia with guys (maybe gals too) but ur being recorded in front of the camera with ur super-thick make up on. if ur not mentally mature enough, at least LOOK mature n worthy to be in front of the camera.

stay behind ur pc, xiaxue.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: painter crashes on me.

happy new yr n i cant sleep

2007-01-03T02:13:00.000-05:00

Astra:
i cant sleep n its 0214am of Jan 03, 2007. somehow rumei was messaging me on her msn n she asked me abt some technical stuff regarding her O2 mini. not that i can solve it though.

happy new yr to everyone who reads this. i hope this year would be a tough one (but fruitful). sometimes i need to really be pushed so that in return, i could push myself to the another level. improve, dammit! improve!

finally all of my fall 06 grades r completed. kent's lighting class was the last one to show up on the list, i wonder y.

i shall try to fall asleep soon.

highlight of the day: gunslinger in sakray, not very promising but i'll still give it a try.

not highlight of the day: not being able to sleep.

godzilla and its merrymen!

2006-12-04T22:04:00.000-05:00

the end and beginning

2006-12-04T21:06:00.000-05:00

Astra:
its the end of the fall term or to be more exact, nearing the end (we're left with only this week and the next).

today is the first snow of the winter. the snow happened in the morning while i was snoring. hehehhe. i believe the weather somehow, was kinda warm for the snow to thrive. i, on the other hand, think that the weather is somehow colder than it's written on the accuweather website. i read somewhere that the winter this year is going to be worse than last year. this aint good!

been doing some godzilla table top for lighting assignment. due to my stupidity, many of the later photos are grainy and beyond help. may post some here later.

in this cold weather, a bowl of ahiru udon is the best.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: so fuckin cold.

mumble happyfeet

2006-11-19T15:24:00.000-05:00

Astra:

went to watch happy feet yesterday. its one of the best movies i've seen this year and in my opinion, better than CARS.

i'd say its 8.5/10, i'd give it 9/10 if it wasnt for the rushed ending. you hafta see it to get wat i mean.

thanksgiving break is coming, we plan to go to the zoo on wed then travel to boston n stay over at a house that belongs to a fren of yin's older bro (frgot which one). we planned to stay over for 2 nites in boston, take our time to unwind and fr yin, she has to do an assignment that involves travelling. after the travel, its time to work again, this time its for the final assignments. booyeah!

i miss sushi, might go n eat some later, fr dinner.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none

borat

2006-11-12T23:11:00.000-05:00

Astra:
just watched the movie n it was one of the more hilarious movie of this year. it speaks of many different issues that we are dealing with in our daily lives in very humorous manners. n i must say that the movie is well presented too.

thanksgiving is getting near and many deadlines are piling up juz before the thanksgiving break. i even doubt that there wont be any homework during the break. the funny thing is, there are only 2-3 weeks left after the thanksgiving break and then we'll haf the fall term break. i cant wait fr the break, but i hafta finish up assignments before the break. OMF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

highlight of the day: "hello, my name is Borat..."

not highlight of the day: nothing in particular.

100

2006-11-03T20:32:00.000-05:00

Astra:

some things are really unexpected. like when i was flipping one of the books that i ordered through amazon.com (needed for class) and found 100bux as bookmark. both me n yin were shocked and amazed. thank you whoever left this money.

its getting colder. dun like cold. dun like hot either. thats y spring n fall are my fav seasons.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none

beginning of winter

2006-10-24T17:43:00.000-04:00

Astra:
the weather is getting colder week by week. the works are getting more intense as week goes by too, but i could still find some time to slack every now and then.

my mom's gonna come to visit fr a week or so. the visit may disrupt my usual lifestyle that i've been adopting. i often crash at yin's place after working up late at nite in darkrooms n stuff, or juz to accompany her. oh well, i guess i juz hafta put up with it fr a week.

i hope it's not gonna snow soon cos i dun think that im ready fr it yet, but i suppose it's possible within the next couple of weeks cos the temperature could almost reach freezing point in the cloudy afternoon. but the forecast says that it wont snow fr the next 2 weeks. i sure hope not. i kinda miss the beginning of the fall season when the weather was cooler, not too hot and not too cold.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: i didnt bring scarf, so it was very cold outside. i shoulda brought one tmr.

sniff

2006-10-14T20:20:00.000-04:00

At work.. Alone in the computer lab... it's 8PM and Astra's not here yet... >"<
I hate to admit it, but I'm a little scared (and lonely) I'm trying to move around as much as possible in fear of the lights being turned off automatically because of the lack of motion. (yes, it happenned before)
Wonder what he's doing... usually he'll be sitting beside me doing random things ;O;
I even brought him the Corpse Bride DVD in case he wants to watch it... Maybe he's still busy doing his photography stuff? I'm a little hungry too... but we agreed on dinner after my work time.

Recently, I think some things changed for the worse... I do hope that it's only temporary. I hope that it's just one of my baseless fears.

the fall of 2006

2006-10-07T18:24:00.000-04:00

Astra:

fall is here. it's getting colder and colder as weeks go by. sux aint it? at least its drier than sg and indo.

looking at blogs are not that interesting anymore, many friends haf somehow ceased to blog furiously like they used to. dre's site has become silent hill 5, ju's quit bloggin since she's ever on 'sian' mode with nothing to talk about, jerric has quit too. the rest of my list only blog every now and then. i could look at mr. brown or sarong party gal (but not xiaxue though) or some other blogs but i'd rather stick to looking at my frens'. more personal, see? i dun care if anyone reads my blog, im juz gonna type here anyway.

and xing said that he wanted to get a blog, but apparently i still havent confirmed with him whether or not he has got a blog for himself. later perhaps.

Dali, the snail died a few days ago. somehow. yin thinks that the fish might haf played some parts in the snail's death.

its Oct 7 now and its the monthly anniversary of my dear n me. spend the day juz like any other day. supposedly we should haf got some cheesecakes frm "The Cheesecake Factory" but fr some reason, yin juz couldnt wake up frm her heavy sleepiness. so...

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none.

Dondon, Doris and Dali.

2006-09-30T18:33:00.000-04:00

Bought 2 goldfishies (Dondon and Doris) and a snail (Dali) yesterday! They're too cute ;"D Got them a filter and a rock to play with. Dondon and Dali dug a hole in the gravel pile... and they slept in it. The petshop person told me to feed them just 2 to 3 pellets per day (which is really tiny..) I'm tempted to feed them more, but well... I guess I shouldn't do that.

Grocery shopping's easy now that Astra has a shopping cart! We used to lug plastic bags all over the place, but now all we need is to stuff all the groceries in... and pull! <3<3<3 Should've got it earlier!

nerd?

2006-09-26T23:03:00.000-04:00

Astra:

y would someone who knows alot about technical aspects of certain fields be called a nerd or a geek? i mean one who knows alot about such stuff is not necessarily lacking in social skills or hygiene and fitness level rite?

fyi, im not talking abt myself, but someone who teaches in one of my classes. im juz ranting about the comment made by my classmate.

highlight of the day: salmon wasabi bagel roxor

not highlight of the day: notin.

The Diary of The Slowpokes

2006-09-24T12:28:00.000-04:00

Yin ;"D

it's been awhile since i last blogged... so i think it's now time to add a new entry! :"3

i'm working as a lab monitor at my college! i love my job so much! i mean, i get to sit in front of the computer for four hours... not doing anything significant other than to make sure that the lab is in order. aside from that, i can just surf the web, write blogs and study for my liberal art classes. basically, i don't lose any hours! some say that it's a boring job, but i think it's only boring if you have NOTHING to do--which is not the case for me! i think i have too much things in my hands...

i've also been squeezing in some time for my ragnarok online character. my lv 98 dancer is at 63.5% exp! i hope i can get her up to 75% by the end of next week. it's not a big goal, but hey... i don't really have much time to play! as an estimate, if Astra helps me with the levelling, i can get about 2% per hour.

philosophy of religion class is so interesting! i enjoy reading all the assigned texts provided by the professor. he's extremely helpful whenever i have questions via e-mail. i think he wants me to speak more in class, but i don't really want to. i addressed all my questions regarding the text by mail. thanks, mr. stephen ott!

i'm hoping that i'll be able to crunch all my tummy fats into oblivion with sheer willpower and a brand new 20 usd yoga mat. that, however... i'll do starting from TONIGHT! yes, i promise. really. tonight. ahuh! huhuhuhu~

its starting again.

2006-09-10T21:06:00.000-04:00

Astra:

and so the end of holiday is here. tmr the school is starting (only orientation for the freshmen). i feel like a little kid coming back to school, u know, that kinda feeling of laziness, not wanting to go back to school. but i suppose its better now as compared to when i get to work later after graduation. i want more vacation.

highlight of the day: oyakodon made by dearie! n ps2!

not highlight of the day: none.

in the states

2006-09-03T20:26:00.000-04:00

Astra:

my father, my dear n i have arrived in the states. not much of a problem in the states, but there seem to be quite some delays in jakarta as the computer read my e-ticket as cancelled because i didnt show. somehow the tix input was for 30 aug this year while it was supposed to be for next yr. i dunno whose fault is it but that sure made my early trip to the airport a waste. i had to wait till about 40mins before departure to got myself a seat in the plane. freakin hell.

it was horrible trying to sleep in the airplane but i think i managed to get some. in frankfurt, we got a 50 mins delay cos one of the airplane warning system was malfunctioning. a very crucial part of the instruments.

i feel so sleepy now. my bio clock muz be in like.. 3-4am range. imma get some dinner and then bathe n then sleep.

2006-09-01T10:06:00.000-04:00

Astra:

this is my last post from jakarta, indonesia. hehehe.

tomorrow evening is my departure time to frankfurt-boston. and so the holiday is almost over (how many times have i said this?). anyway, the hell is coming soon.

i've met up with my dear again, twice in fact. once on tue and the second time, yesterday with her parents. she's looking great though seems to have gained a little weight or retain some weight on her arms. im gonna have her work out with dumbells once we get back to the states and so do i.

i feel like i wanna have more holidays, who doesn't, right?

i dunno wat else to say.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: i saw a roach coming out and entering a hole on the washing basin. i did sprayed some insect killer. i hope it died.

bye sg

2006-08-27T03:49:00.000-04:00

Astra:
this is it, my last post from sg.

1 more week and i would be on the way to boston. bye singapore.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: also none.

getting nearer by seconds

2006-08-25T00:53:00.000-04:00

Astra:

usually im pretty cool with leaving a country but somehow im feeling some kinda uneasiness as i will be leaving sg and indon fr another year or so (almost a year, 10mths perhaps?). i hope its nothing important. its been a good holiday time for me, to be able to meet up with frens, to be able to play ps2 again (KH2!! n suikoden5!!!), to be able to hear my klipsch speakers again, to be able to spend quiet time at home, to be able to roam orchard road though i've got only a little money to be spent on, to be able to learn chinese though i dread it, to be able to work out almost everyday (though more sitting makes not much of a difference to my belly), to be able to spend my weekend with my parents, to be able to swim in the pool downstairs, to be able to save some money by not going out and eating out so often and last but not least, to be able to unwind entirely before hell breaks loose in providence again. i feel kinda uneasy to part with all these, but such is life. i'll juz hafta step forward and everything will be all rite.

despite all that, i still lack of one thing: the presence of my dear. but it doesnt matter anymore since we'll be meeting up soon.

well then, wish me luck ppl.

highlight of the day: finally able to get my net connection back after it decided to quit on me yesterday afternoon.

not highlight of the day: also none.

time

2006-08-21T03:55:00.000-04:00

Astra:

ok, the time is getting nearer for me to get out of singapore. i have less than a week left here in sg. means last few days to slack in singapore. eheheh.

gonna hafta start packing stuff that im gonna bring back to the states. hope i wont forget anything important. im getting rather forgetful nowadays.

my dear's gonna b heading to jakarta at the same time as i am. been long long time since i saw her. heheheh. hope we could meet up before we depart fr the US.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none too.

last 2 weeks in sg

2006-08-12T11:00:00.000-04:00

Astra:

HOLY SHIIIIIIT! the end of my summer vacation is near!!!!!! n its now my last 2 weeks of my holiday in sg.

oh, i juz came back frm jakarta today, somebody welcome me back plz. wahhaha.

my dear juz came online using her bro's pc in his house n finally after a few weeks we chatted online. been so long since we did that. now back to sms-es.

ever since London security caught 19 suspects who were claimed to have carried some bomb materials frm Heathrow to the States, the security in the States has been tightened rather severely. so that means, no chemical is to be carried on board with your carry-on baggage(s) unless it is some form of medical prescription. even then, there muz be a form of written prescription letter that accompanies the medication. moreover, there muz not b any cosmetics to be brought with your carry-on baggage too. which means it would be an almost chemical free environment where all the gals who look pretty cannot adorn themselves further while those who have acceptable looks will find themselves walking without the glamor of artificial enhancement and those who are challenged in the looks department well, you can think of the rest of it. also, there should not be any beverages. means, THEY DUN FUCKIN CARE IF THE PASSENGERS GET THIRSTY. no lotion of any sort, no perfume, no cologne (means everyone will smell), no shampoo and soap, no contact lens care solution (you poor contact lens wearers) n no suntan lotion. all of the items should be carried inside the checked baggage.

however, according to the information that i got from massport.com, you are permitted to carry these in ur carry-on:
-Baby formula, breast milk, juice (if a baby or small child is traveling).
-prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger’s ticket.
-Iinsulin, and other essential non-prescription medicines.

BREAST MILK! holy cow. they're so considerate, eh? yeah, yeah, its not good to ban breastfeeding is it?

one more thing, electronic stuff such as ipod and handphones may trigger secondary inspection and should be put inside checked baggage if possible. this means boredom to the max if ppl were to do as they're told. now how am i suppose to carry my big camera bag, huh??? in the baggage??? FUCK U DOODS!

highlight of the day: being back in sg i suppose.

not highlight of the day: kinda pissed looking at some dumb-oes carrying big suitcases on board airplane, less space for other passengers to put their belongings. DUN BE FUCKIN SELFISH, PPL?

life.. oh life.. oooh liiifee~

2006-07-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

Astra:

(plz bear with me as i rant)

we live so that we ultimately die, yes?

ppl view life differently depending on the situation that they are in. say life is like a wheel, a giant big ferris wheel (ppl like to use this, no?). when ur up high u'll say that life is good and fair. when ur down below and u cant see the mountains far away or the beach so clear with glimmering sand, u'll say life isnt fair, i wanna be on top too! when somehow the ferris wheel stopped (technical difficulty), everyone have totally different opinion altogether. the ones above will enjoy the view while they can, while the ones below are desperate to get to the top. c'est la vie.

i suppose, life is fair. without the downs, we wont be able to push ourselves to the top and feel proud of ourselves (give some credit to yourself will ya?).

to those people who are feeling down right now, may you be blessed with the stength to bring yourself up.

to those who are feeling good, enjoy it while you can, cos blissful moment wont last forever.

to my dear, im not there for u though i want to but we'll always be close to each other.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none too.

hot hot day

2006-07-20T09:21:00.000-04:00

Astra:

so a few days ago i bought 2 rolls of Fuji Neopan 1600, black n white films thinking that i would push it to 3200 and spend the whole rolls testing wat i couldn't previously. hopefully i could get some very grainy pics that i've always wanted to try. since today is a sunny day (good sunny day though very hot n humid for some reason), i went out carrying my camera hoping to get some pics (not good, not decent, juz SOME pics). i also thought that i might juz bring my old Coolpix 5700 to Nikon Service Center in Fuji Xerox Tower. n so i did.

walking towards the mrt feels longer n hotter n more humid than usual. i wonder why. walking from Tanjong Pagar MRT to the tower (about 300m) made me perspire like i've juz sprinted for 500m.

so i asked the security guard who directed me to the lift and said that the service center is on the 10th floor. i got out of the lift with a middle aged man who walked in front of me (my mind was blank when i walked behind him). suddenly he kicked the door and within split second, his face pounded onto the crystal clear glass door panel with a good "BONGGG!" sound, echoing. i immediately asked him, "are you ok? are u all rite?" he replied me in chinese, mumbling something like "im ok. i cannot see the door, the place is so bright" n laughed a little. ouch, that's gotta hurt.

hopefully my coolpix will be fixed within the next 2 weeks or less.

my dear's laptop has juz died. one of her bros brought the laptop to jakarta hoping to be able to fix it somehow. after a few days (or about 1 week i think), my dear received a message saying that the motherboard is busted. if she were to repair it, its gonna cost her 1350USD. thats enough to buy another laptop. my condolences to the laptop. may it, umm... rest in one piece.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: hot day.

back in sg again. AGAIN

2006-07-15T08:52:00.000-04:00

Astra:

k im back from my break in indo. while i was away from sg, i brought back kingdom hearts 2 n suikoden5 as well as tekken5 and my own memory card. suddenly after i typed 'memory card' i came to remember that i used to have my own ps2 which is now damaged n my own set of memory card, which is now misplaced, i believe. oh well. i managed to complete KH2 while i was rotting in indo.

so how is KH2 imo? overall KH2 is much better at gameplay and story as compared to the 1st. though fr me, KH1 made much bigger impact as it was the 1st to come out with such audacity (in a good way) to mix Squaresoft (Square-Enix) RPG characters with Disney characters and the world of The Nightmare Before Christmas into 1 super neat X button-loving(mashing) game. Kudos to Tetsuya Nomura! so what aspects of KH2 that i like? the improved graphics (slightly), continuation of the story (though the story somewhat progressed slowly with visiting worlds that are filled with minigames), the minigames (there are many more minigames now), the theme of balance between light and darkness and the introduction of the 3rd elements of nothingness (The Nobodies), the reaction command (triangle!), 5 forms systems (valor or sometimes called brave by other gamers, wisdom, master, final and anti forms) that brings more variety as well as skills to Sora (main chara) and the cutscenes that made u feel anxious, somewhat happy, sad, and touched.

1 week ago, i managed to defeat Sephiroth, the presumably most toughest boss in the game while Sora was at lv 74 (taking into consideration that the recommended level was 80+). of cos there are many many other players who had been trying to subdue Sephiroth at lv50 or even lv40++ juz for challenge. i dont care much though. hehehe. wasted about 4 elixirs, though i think i coulda used juz 3.

the story was a good ending and also a good beginning for kh3. it ended with a part that tells the gamers that there might be another adventure calling. and unlike KH1 where the focus dribbles between Riku (Sora's best friend) and Sora going their own way to save Kairi (the gal who seems to hold the interests of both Sora and Riku), KH2 focused solely on Sora and how after he was awaken from a suspended animation-state to his ever-optimistic attitude to reunite back with Kairi and Riku (they were separated at the end of KH1). Touching scene? there is one when finally at the very last world that Sora visited, Sora finally reunited with Kairi and Riku. Riku was in another form so Sora couldnt recognize him. only after Kairi 'let' Sora sees that the man was indeed Riku, that Sora bursts into tears, happy to finally be able to meet a long lost best friend.

the ending for all the princesses are of course, happy. pretty much like the movies.

cant wait for KH3 to be out. i bet it'll look much cooler on ps3.

my dear has not been smsing lately since her family is on tight monetary situation. so instead of sms-ing so often, i called her every now n then, hope she doesnt mind this. good thing her prepaid card doesnt charge for incoming calls, wherever it is from. i sure hope her family situation improves for the better.

hey hey, 1 1/2 more months to meet up with u guys, n then i'll be goin back to the States.

highlight of the day: beer and black cherries would make me sleep better, yeah?

not highlight of the day: had quite severe stomach ache this afternoon. been very long since i had that kinda attack.

Playboy Indonesia prosecuted!?

2006-07-05T05:36:00.000-04:00

Astra:

well this is a rather old story that happened in March but somehow there are still ppl talking so passionately (read, gossip) about the magazine, the models and editors.

those of you who was not aware of this incident, here is the brief story so far:
there was a rumour in Feb-March '06 about Playboy mag making its debut in Indonesia. some ppl are making a big fuss over that, while of cos others who claim to be more open-minded, gave Playboy a green light. the religious extremist claimed that "Playboy is not suitable for reading because its contents degrade women." and, "Even if it had no pictures of women in it, we would still protest it because of the name." the publisher however, had mentioned that the articles (especially pictures) would not show nudity as not to cross the law of the country. eventually, there were three people being prosecuted as suspect for showing indecency to the public. the editor and 2 models were interrogated like criminals. moreover, after its publishing date, the religious extremist demanded that the magazine withdraw all the issues from bookstores within seven days. whaddaya know, its all SOLD OUT.

the thing about this is that the photos in the mag "did not feature full nudity and paled next to the garish locally-made pornography available from hawkers and video-sellers in Jakarta."

the models shown in the magazine are clothed lightly (lingerie, sexy undies) juz like other magazines such as FHM or MAXIM. there are other magazines that feature swimsuit sexy gals too. many speculations arose due to this fact.

i happened to think that how could those ppl who claimed that Playboy magazines are full of porn know that in the international edition, it IS full of nudity (porn). there were other ppl who thought of the same thing as me too. I looked on several forums and blogs to read some interesting comments. I pity those ppl who only look at this small thing n not something that needs more attention such as corruptions. why ppl? why??

(all quotes from Timesonline.co.uk)

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: final form takes quite a bit of time to level up! hope in the end, glide lv3 is worth it.

up and about in singapore. sorta

2006-06-26T12:24:00.000-04:00

Astra:

so as some of u might haf known, im back in sg. gonna b spendin time here fr abt 2 mths. the actual time could be less then that but who cares.

some of the frens i've met over the past weeks been tellin me that i've got no change since i came back from the States. they're expecting me to have some slangs or accent or perhaps to appear more ang-moh-like. d thing is i cant speak the way i speak to the ppl in the States here. its singapore fr goodness sake. ppl speak SINGLISH not english! do i really need to be more like the ppl in the States to certify that i juz came back frm there?

im still me, man! i wouldnt change so drastically
FHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

highlight of the day: CARS is worth watching! not gonna write review though

not highlight of the day: somehow its terribly hot n humid today. i wish s'pore had autumn or spring when the weather is cooler.

back from shanghai

2006-06-13T01:29:00.000-04:00

Astra:

the title says it all.

just as i thought, shanghai wasnt really fun at all. sure we see lotsa places with branded stuff and how modern the city has become compared to other parts of China, but other than that and the famed night scene, there's nothing more. even the night scene is really nothing much but itself. one thing that is cool about the architecture is the tv station that looks like some sort of molecular structure shaped into a rocket-like building that happens to be the tallest in china, or the city, to say the least.

i've always been paranoid about how fun a place inhabited with Chinese ppl can be. well taipei was nice and full of nice people. singapore? i feel like myself only when im with my friends. china? oh, im traumatized frm my first visit to beijing n xian a few years ago. so i guess shanghai was better but only by a little.

ok. so we got to go around a few places in the city itself. we got ourselves a guide and a car(+driver) to show us around. some of the places we went to are the main Buddhist temple in the city, silk factory, some old mansion+garden that has historical content behind it and tea house.

the garden has a diner that was visited by the former US president Bill Clinton. and in the honor of the former president, they made an a-la-carte package called Bill Clinton Set. the diner even set aside a window to lay out a photograph of Clinton and his wife on the table complete with the replica of the food that they ordered. i remember seeing sweet n sour fried fish.

i wonder if the restaurant would make a George W. Bush Set if he ever gone to that place.

on second day, we went to Hangzhou (2++ hours from shanghai by car), home of the West Lake (Xi Hu) where the story of the Legend of Madam White Snake takes place. even the LeiFeng Temple is there. but apparently the pagoda was rebuilt. also it is the home of the temple of Yue Fei, a renowned Chinese general. pity we didnt go to see the temple, only passed it from the outside.

we went to a big temple in Hangzhou though i've forgotten wat the name of the temple is. its like a huge complex dedicated for the temple. before we enter the temple, there are some statues on the rocky side of the complex. i think those statues on the cliff were one of the earliest in China. there is also a tomb of an Indian Buddhist monk near the statue of his. on the way to the exit, there was a hall of 500 Luohans and the hall itself is shaped like a swastika (from above).

my mom wanna get some artworks frm Shanghai, near the place where we dined, there was an art-shop full of Chinese art. so we went there. i stayed outside cos i got a feeling that i'd better b stayin outside cos something unpleasant might happen inside. surely my feeling was right. the owner of the place was trying to show some stuff to my parents and due to the reasons that the stuff (watever it is) was kinda expensive and too big to be fit into our luggage, my parents refused to buy. he raised his voice and said something like, hey! im trying to make friends by lowering the price. come on. big bro (dad), how about RMBxxxx? (i remeber it was a four-digit number around 1000++ i think) ok? how about it big sis (my mom)? my parents politely declined while smiling and slowly walked out of the store. outside the store, i remember the owner said something like, 'please buy it! if not, u will regret it!!' my mom was mumbling, 'yeah i know, i know.' then after a few meters away, he approached us again and lowered the price to RMB 1000. still no result. then he left us. some business he has. well my mom said that he needed to pay for the expensive rental fee of his shop. oh well.

last day was the last minute shopping day. i didnt get anything fr myself there. but my mom got something fr my dear. gg. wonder when i can meet up with her again.

last few days here in indonesia before i go back to sg. anyone wanna meet up?

btw, on my way back to indo via singapore, the whole plane from shanghai to singapore, is travelling with Edison Chen, the actor/singer. my family was on the same row as him. he was escorted by a guard when he entered the plane and after that he still used his handphone in the plane. well busy ppl la hor? he was sleeping most of the time and the stewardess on the Raffles class of SIA couldnt help but noticing him. lol! he look so i-am-cool kinda guy with only 1 expression on his face. after getting off the plane at singapore he rushed off to another plane heading to Male, i think it is the city in Maldives

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: bored. simply bored.

fl;kaklrejgfda

2006-06-06T07:10:00.000-04:00

Astra:
sorry. had run outta ideas fr the title.

anyway, im in indo as i write this. gonna b goin to shanghai fr weekend getaway with family.

what have i been up to? well some of u might know that i've cut my hair.

i've been doin nothing since i come back. so bored. been playing suikoden2 n juz started Kingdom Hearts 2 today. really lots of whack-around but thats part n parcel of the levelling system that every rpg gamer should endure imo. dont complain that the game is mostly whacking cos every levelling up needs to fight nevertheless. i only played a little bit, so the story is still very very vague to me. i remember some ppl complained about how bad it is to mix cute disney characters with rpg characters like final fantasy icons like this. beat it! y play if u dun like. this is the charm of KH series n this is one of the reasons why ppl like it.

cant wait to go back to sg or providence again where i can do more stuff there. too bad i didnt bring my huey along so that i could calibrate my monitor. not even cathay photo in sg sells huey. bastards.

yin is now in banjarmasin, kalimantan (or borneo). been sending each other sms-es. =|
will b a long time till we meet again. n tentatively, we'll b goin back to the states on sept 2. my dad's tix and mine haf been issued, i juz gave the details of the flight to yin.

kinda hungry. needa workout a little...

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none too

D-Day

2006-05-27T15:03:00.000-04:00

Astra:

tomorrow nite is our flight time. gonna miss this house n this place (not so much of the food at school though).

not sure when i could blog again though. maybe i'll find time in indo n sg to do it. hehehe.

gonna go to shanghai fr a few days. a holiday with family, more like a weekend getaway actually.

i dunno wat im gonna do in the 2-3 months im away. im juz gonna make a list of wat i THINK im gonna do:
-update website, more like revamp to tell the truth.
-play KH2, SUIKODEN 5, n other games that i miss n wanna get.
-shoot photos n stuff
-go out with friends in sg
-sms yin everyday
-exercise!

i'll try to keep busy.

highlight of the day: finished helping yin moving stuff! so tired even its only 3pm now

not highlight of the day: STILL GOT MUCH TO DO

CRAZY STORM

2006-05-21T18:47:00.000-04:00

Astra:
its now raining severely like a typhoon on rage while I was in Taipei. crazy.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: none too.

things to do: updated2

2006-05-17T00:51:00.000-04:00

Astra:
before the semester ends and we go back to hometown, these are the things to do:
15 prints for Color Photography class. DONE
study for Histories of Photography's final quiz. DONE
cram readings fr HoP. DONE
study for Japanese Folk Art DONE
final crit for Photo II: Technical. DONE
tidy up the house before we leave.
move things frm dearie's place to mine for the summer. DONE
prepare stuff for Shanghai i.e. camera equipment.
get decent sleep every now and then. DONE
try to finish up Suikoden1. DONE
backup my photos in external HDD. DONE
pay rent for summer.

i'll add when i remember. /hmm

most prob gonna be going to sg in mid/end june. hope to see my frens there. also hope that dearie could b in sg even for a few days.

highlight of the day: Photo II: Critique's crit session went quite well albeit my dissatisfaction with my work. =[

not highlight of the day: bad bad bad rice from school canteen. like overcooked rice with lotsa excess water. THEY SHOULD LEARN HOW TO COOK RICE PROPERLY DAMMIT!

the end is near

2006-05-03T21:53:00.000-04:00

Astra:

well, the term is about to end. not anything spectacular. some people at school are looking forward to the holidays while some are feeling not so excited knowing that there would be works piling up towards the end i.e. final projects, final papers, final quizzes, etc. me? im feeling kinda neutral. sorta wanna stay here, sorta wanna go back, somewhere in the middle? both haf their own plus n minus stuff. i'll juz go with the flow.

kickboxing is fun!

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: rainy day, tabasco filled Chicken Lo Mein (that's wat it's called)

sigh..

2006-04-27T16:02:00.000-04:00

Sigh... Having a hard time... I'm trying to keep my grades up, but I'm so tired :"( I struggled the whole night to do my drawing assignment.. but it was hard! In the end, i broke down and went to bed... Missed my drawing class (I know it's bad but..) I think my hunnie is angry at me for that <_<;;

Sorry...

I'm trying to pull myself back together now. Trying to finish assignments in advance so I can get back on track by next week. I have to work harder, I know :"( I love what I'm doing at school right now, it's just that I'm tired. My mind is full of summer holiday!

Going back to my drawing now... *rolls away*

~Yin

we're goin home

2006-04-23T10:58:00.000-04:00

Astra:
on the 28th of May we'll be goin back to Indonesia for summer holiday! on da way, we'll stop at S'pore for a while though. not sure wat to do there. but hopefully we got some chances to go to sg.

highlight of the day: good soup!

not highlight of the day: not yet.

Yin's bday!

2006-04-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

Astra:
IT'S YIN'S BDAY IN MY TIME ZONE! HAPPY BDAY DEARIE!

we...

2006-03-04T21:42:00.000-05:00

Astra:
...just cut our hair!

highlight of the day: none
not highlight of the day: noting

links are back

2006-02-27T00:15:00.000-05:00

Astra:
ok. i think all the links are there now. had to go thru my history n link to other fren's blog which in turn, leads to other frens' blogs n so on.

if any of u feel that i did not include your blog, do notify me n i'll change it as soon as im aware of it.

EL CRAPPO

2006-02-26T23:51:00.000-05:00

ASTRA:
SHIT! ALL THE LINKS R GONE!! SHIT!!!

hmm... wat to say...

2006-02-26T23:32:00.000-05:00

Astra:
yes ziting, the template had been changed. *A* im kinda bored of the older one so i took the liberty to change it.

Spring Term has started and we're getting busy with assignments n stuff. everytime i asked yin to blog, she only replied: but, i dunno wat to write about. ok.

im feeling kinda bored rite now. i know i got stuff in my hand but hell, its already 2336hrs now. feeling so lazy n lethargic. its freaking cold outside n i've been wondering why colder period of the year is longer than the hotter period. i just wish Providence is a place like LA where its cool all year round, not alternating between cold n hot.

am having brain dead now. haf no creativity juice for project. crap. stuck. shit. crap. i hafta start going to the library n look at books for inspiration. damn. hmm.

Dad just arrived today n gonna b here for a week or so. hmm.

Subway is always nice.

Highlight of the day: short term objective in RO fulfilled.

not highlight of the day: noting too.

geisha

2006-01-19T23:28:00.000-05:00

Astra:
just watched memoirs of geisha. n here is my rating:
6.5/10

i give it high mark for visuals! i might be slightly more biased towards something that smells japanese but hey, this is MY review rite?

casting is ok. im not biased towards any of the female castings, nor am i have anything to say against them. but knowing their origins, i must say that the castings are kind of shaky, but i also have to say that there are not many japanese female actresses who have made it internationally and able to speak English language as fluent as the casts do (correct me if im wrong please). maybe they just have no choice, or maybe they just need more internationally recognized asian female actress? i don't know.

story, hmm... i don't know what to say in comparison to the novel as i honestly, am not a type of person who like to read novels and so, i have not read the novel myself. sorry folks! but looking at the story itself, it is kind of weird and kind of making sense at the same time. more inside drama, sad drama that doesn't seem to stir me. supposedly Chiyo or Sayuri (later named that way) had very sad life and seems like everything she wished to hold dear had been taken away from her but, i just don't feel that sadness. i'm too cold, am i not? not really, i did feel something when i watched the movie, irk. look! there are so many Ecchi uncles in the movie! (Ecchi is how Japanese pronounce the letter H in katakana. in turn, the letter H represents the word 'hentai' that means perverted. why did i write this? some of you random blog-jumpers who happen to stumble upon this blog might not know about this, that's why!) so much lust in the air, i feel kind of disgusted by just looking at how the old men were eyeing Sayuri. Eeeeeewww! well done ppl! good thing the story and the scenes tied together much better than KingKong as to say that there is no scene that is jumping around. the story had some historical value in it which is a little plus point to it. the ending is kind of expected, but i feel that it is more of being rushed and cut. n there is an extra extra-dramatized scene of Sayuri throwing away a belonging dear to her in front of almost inaccessible cliff in front of the oh-so-wide sea. oh, the exaggeration!

edit:
so why do i give the rating kind of low? the story does not catch me much. besides, from all i know about geisha, being a geisha is not about selling someone's child to another house and by chance someone send that child to become a geisha. it is more like a privilege to be in a school for geisha, just like a privilege to be able to get into schools like Harvard or MIT.

music was good. i won't be searching for the soundtrack though, i just like the music being so fluid in the scenes. Yoyo Ma rocks with his cello!

what else? nothing else that i can think of regarding the movie right now. so there.

my dear's right thumb was cut near the place where the flesh meets the nail, you know, the area between the line of the flesh ends, ah whatever. she's in pain now and her thumb seems to be kind of swelling and going reddish. gonna take her to see some medic treatment tomorrow. must see.

highlight of the day: nice fruit parfait for breakfast.

not highlight of the day: nothing in particular

photos as private collections

2006-01-16T15:29:00.000-05:00

Astra:
sometimes i wonder y im taking photos of my own life n sometimes, of others too. true that many of them are not publishable in public or considered as good pics but i have to say that all of them means something to me n perhaps to other ppl too. sometimes before i shoot something, i ask myself whether or not taking that picture is worth it. after looking back, i am glad that i took those pics.

highlight of the day: nothing.

not highlight of the day: so cold outside. its -10C n my house is like below 10C.

jolt cola sux

2006-01-05T08:20:00.000-05:00

Astra:
crap. had hard time sleepin last nite. must be cause i drank Jolt Cola that boasted natural caffeine 2 hrs before i sleep. so contrast to a coupla nites before, i had very nice deep sleep after eating cherries. must..... have.. moree.... ugh.. cherriesssssss..........

highlight of the day: none yet. its still morning.

not highlight of the day: i woke up feeling so tired. it sux

late wishes + movie review

2006-01-05T00:02:00.000-05:00

Astra:
sorry guys! been away from blogging for a while.

late merry xmas n happy new year to you guys.

been to Los Angeles and Las Vegas fr xmas. went there with my dear n we crashed in her cousin's house. had good time. we kinda don't like vegas that much. other than... well.. yeah.. we dun really like the place there. good to look around though, but there are only hotels, gamblings and sex-for-sale there. im not gonna reveal more about the sex part but neither of us were involved, ok? in short, we like LA better. much much better than any other cities we've been to in US. well, we havent been to many cities actually, but compared to LV and Providence, i think LA is a much better place to live in. =P. it has food that we like, stuff to see, nicer weather, places to go, stuff to shop and the famous LAPD. heheheh. in LA we went to Universal Studios, Disneyland, Disney Concert Hall, LA downtown (little tokyo) and of cos, the mall. very fun n tiring, but very nice break for us. hehehe. the whole period seems like an adventure fr us. really satisfying.

we just started our Winter Session term a few days ago. we both are taking 2 same classes. Coloring with Pastel and Portraiture. we've been playin n spending on pastels. fun n tiring. but im gettin the hang of it.

now for the movie review:
King Kong 6/10

thats all.

no, just kidding. seriously, thats my rating for the movie. the movie aint that nice in my opinion EXCEPT for the very well executed visual elements n cinematography. the movies are very visually strong imo and there are some nice actions going on, just like LOTR but it has lotsa flaws that turns me off. there are not many characters that i could sympathize, jack black is good in that film, but not his character. there is just something wrong with the character whom i initially thought to be a good guy, but somehow he turned evil in the 1/3 of the story. adrien brody looks like a fool in that story, i mean, his character. the good looking actor who participated in the journey suddenly turned back and helped adrien when they were in peril. yeah yeah i know, he wanna act like a hero, just like his image of a hero in the movies he play but so what? the rest of the supporting characters r just.. well, supporting. naomi also looks like a fool with no resolution at the end of the movie. yeah, the ending is weird. abruptly ended i must say. the story is very uncaptivating and stretched. i could make fun of the king kong and the t-rexes when they fight for naomi (does anyone see a pattern here? a big t-rex aiming fr a puny human? like.. always? hey, they haf other bigger catches around rite? surely they dun survive only on 1 human per several years). n where the hell do those dinos come from? survivals from the ice age? nothing is revealed about their existence in Skull island (very nice name eh? very scary Supersized Kreatures Ultimately Left 'Lost' Island) though. the militaries also seem like some fools who dont know how to asses a hostage situation, yeah, yeah u got a big chimp jumping and sliding and running around the city but hey, there's a dame in distress! anyone just care to shoot the monkey n ignoring the safety of the dame? there are some cut scenes that are very disturbing. like the part when adrien and naomi fell into the water and chased by the kong. the next thing i know, they're running in the forest already. things are supersized. some part of the animations are not really that well excecuted too. hmm. it really could have been better. MUCH better.

disclaimer: this is just my review. those of you who have not seen the movie, do not feel discouraged. watch it still fr the thrill. it could just be me who have way high expectations about that movie. yeah i did feel sceptical when i saw the trailer. but many people said its nice, even some movie review sites said the movie is a must watch.
next movie to watch: memoirs of a geisha.

goodness. i gotta sleep now.

highlight of the day: gourmet india n popeye makes good combination to fill our stomachs
not highlight of the day: nothing really negative.

snow snow snow

2005-12-04T18:38:00.000-05:00

Astra:
it's been snowing fr the past ten over hours. everything outside is covered by ice. including my poor bicycle. hehahah.

both of us will be going over to LA by plane to visit my dear's relatives. we'll be going to Las Vegas too. hope i could get some nice pics home. it's gonna b exciting. i'm sure of it!

last coupla weeks for our fall term n works piling up! damn. it's gonna end soon. SOON!

i'm getting sick now. not good

highlight of the day: snow! wet, cold n slippery

not highlight of the day: the new pair of shoes that i bought here a few months ago are not as nice to wear as compared to my older ones. damn.

Spending

2005-11-16T23:39:00.000-05:00

I always feel that I don't have enough money to spend on my school materials... Too many paints and brushes that I wish I can afford to splurge on... Too many other drawing materials and good papers to buy too! I hate people who have absolutely no money problems! Ha! They buy school materials so easily... T ^ T I'm waiting for my social security number(which will enable me to work on-campus) but it's a long, tedious process. Was working off-campus for awhile... good money, but not safe. Working at school pays little, but it's still an income after all.

I hate how some people can just splurge on whatever they want :"( When people go on shopping sprees buying fashion items and stuffs like that, I wish I can have that much extra money to spend on dolling up myself. Donate to me! Haahahahahaha! I think I need to go to wal-mart to buy some more socks.

At least I don't feel bad walking around in clothes stained with paint... quite common occurence here in my school.

I've gotten so disconnected from my phone. Had my phone on my all of the time in Singapore because I depended on it a lot then, but now... hardly use it X___X;; Makes not much difference on having it or not. Maybe I should get a pre paid phone instead, but I'm still under term contract with Sprint I think. Bah?

Have I been watching too much of Gackt's videos on youtube.com? They're really funny clips of him during interviews and talk shows. He appeared in my dreams yesterday. It's really weird...

BUTABARA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Yin

about: today

2005-11-16T21:04:00.000-05:00

Astra:
today seems to be reeking of the word "death".
its kinda strange day to me. strange weather: cold wind blowing, temperature around 18 degree C outside (feels more like 16 though) but inside some buildings, the temperature is like 30 degree C. hotter than the much cooler temperature that i think i am beginning to adapt to. and it is humid too. this ain't suppose to happen during this time of the year. it's just like what my Art History section professor said, "there is something weird about the weather today, something ominous." hmm.

anyway, when i woke up this morning and checked my mail, i found something disturbing. an email frm my cousin (we usually contact each other via email) asking about how i am and stuff. thats not strange is it? ok, let's go to the strange part. she said that in one conversation with my mom, she told my mom that i'm working. i was really STARTLED by that. i had never worked in my entire time here at all and i have never told anyone that i'm working because i AM not. there has been this issue goin on about me working, this gossip that seems to be starting frm nowhere (my dad, during his visit, asked me whether i was working!)(!). i'm learning to take it calmly. later i replied the email explaining that I have NEVER worked. N-E-V-E-R!

after shower and breakfast (fruit parfait, i think its an item at school that is really nice but its overpriced) i rushed to RISD's Museum of Art to look at some photographs for my paper assignment. i reached there to find myself being the first to go to the center today. i wonder where has the 'kiasu-ism' of my schoolmates gone to? well, someone else frm my class came not too long after me. *phew*

next in my agenda, i went to the library to literally borrow most of the books about some photographers that i am supposed to be researching. my bad. i feel so evil. EVIL!

then, i had my lunch, which was ham and cheese croissant. tiny and just enough to fill my stomach that was still kinda full after gobbling up the parfait in the morning. *burp*.

when i reach my Art History class, the room was so hot i had to choose to sit next to the window and open it up for the cooler wind to blow in. another interesting thing that happened prior to the class, there are a handful number of gals (apparently there are more gals in the class as compared to the number of boys) who said that the class room is grossly hot. 'gross'.

after the class, i cycled back home and found myself perspiring more than usual. weird.

around the evening, my dear was supposed to call me after she had done with her meeting with her student advisor (i forgot what she had in her schedule then) but she hadn't made any. i tried to call her a few times but it seems that her handphone is either dead or being turned off. so i decided to go to her dorm to wait fr her earlier in case she happens to pass by the lobby. i just told myself not to worry too much. shit happens to handphones y'know. i predicted that her handphone went dead cos she didnt charge it. my guessing was right! her meeting ended up late and she didn't bring her phone. expected.

while i was waiting at the lobby, the female security guard suddenly stood in front of the exit and directed people to go to the other exit at the far end of the big corridor. someone asked her what happened. the guard explains that there was a crazy man armed with a gun outside and some policemen were on their way. later, a friend of mine came down by the elevator with a few other friends of her. once she was told that there was a crazy guy outside, she went, "see! i know there was a crazy man! i heard some noise from my window!". a crazy man with a gun. creepy.

in my English Literature class, a friend of mine mentioned that the wind was blowing so forcefully that the cloud up in the sky was passing the moon quite fast. something exciting he said. hmm. at the same time, he was also presenting about consumerism and a part of his presentation was about statistics that he found. the statistics was about The US who consumed about 30% of world's resources. he also mentioned about land being opened up, trees being cut, figures of trash that US citizens produced annually and the amount of food wasted. disturbing!

on my way back home, i saw a few people bringing their dogs fr walks. i had never seen that many people bringing their dogs for walk simultaneously before (there were about 3-4 people with about the same number of dogs). those dogs made me think of Anubis, the god of death. sheesh.

highlight of the day: nothin

not highlight of the day: lotsa works seems to due next week. shit!

shorties

2005-11-07T08:02:00.000-05:00

Astra:
my dad is here since Nov,2
issit just me or has Bleach, Naruto n all other mangas that i usually download and read have become rather slow? i meant those people who are supposed to be translating them.
am tired of doing paperworks.
am also tired of doing studio works.
am so wanting to laze around.
am so wanting to play suikoden, just that i juz won the game from ebay and it's not shipped yet.
am so wanting to play final fantasy tactics, juz that it's also not shipped, yet!
am so wanting to sleep and laze around.

highlight of the day: none. its still in the mornin.
not highlight of the day: same reason above.

where is the spirit of halloween

2005-10-30T21:45:00.000-05:00

Astra:

tomorrow (in my place) is halloween. so...

highlight of the day: manga from borders!

not highlight of the day: the fact that tomorrow is monday.

mmm hmm..

2005-10-24T21:35:00.000-04:00

Astra:
stupid spammers.

today was quite a good day for me. my photo critique session went so much better than what i expected. i had a rough 1.5 weeks of not having an idea of what to do so near the end of last week i was shooting trash. literally! i deliberately looked for some individual trash that is almost white in color and dodged it to almost white.

when i was intro-ing my photos, the teacher was drinking until when i said "i shot some trash!". she immediately choked and coughed and laughed and so did the whole class. initially i wanna bring up attention of this little things that we took for granted, like throwing trash not in its appropriate place. but to them, its of something else, in a way, they view it like more of a hidden racist joke. they liked it and told me to continue with a similar series.

im glad that it turned out to be hillarious in a good way. though different from the message that im trying to say, but yeah, still good enough.

highlight of the day: nice critique session!

not highlight of the day: i gotta rush my papers!

-ing

2005-10-22T16:07:00.000-04:00

Astra:

it's raining.
temperature's dropping.
our mid-term exam is nearing.
we are surviving.
though sometimes it gets boring,
all we need to do is kill some poring.

the air is chilling.
im kind of shivering.
after this, im gonna do some cooking
to satisfy my stomach that is grumbling.

blow cold wind! blow!

2005-10-16T19:44:00.000-04:00

Astra:
for d past 2 days, the wind has been blowing hard. and i really mean HARD! it's as if it were to blow harder, you would be stopped by it or dragged by it. hopefully it will get better fr the next few days or so. slowly i could feel that the temperature is dropping. hmm!

went out to walmart on a bus today. my dear n i met up with her working colleague and we went to Rhode Island Mall. i wore only a long sleeve and a windbreaker. i really shoulda wore more. the wind is really turning like a windstorm.

that was the first time we took a bus (different from a trolley). kinda fun cos when we were goin back, a different bus from the one we took earlier, went past the domestic airport. but after that, it zoomed to the bus terminal back in Providence. when we took the bus back to the terminal, there was this plump guy who always put on smile. he was smiling widely throughout the 15 mins journey to the terminal. scary.

oh, we also shared a small digital camera. a panasonic dmc lz-2. my dear took some pics with it. d pics turns out not so bad actually. heheh. pretty good camera under US$250. had a bit of dilemma when we were choosing the SD card. cos the 256mb cost abt less than US$40. 512mb is almost US$70 while the 1gb is almost $80. damn the prices. in the end we got ourselves a 256mb SD card.

yesterday we went to staples. kind of like a place that sells office stationeries, some pc n laptops, pda, printers, scanners, handphones, keyboards, mice etc. we had our shopping done and ready to pay at the cashier. but when they scan the stuff, the whole plaza (block of shops) went down on electricity. so some of the staff there went panic while the manager and the ones with more experience told them wat to do. they had to run around to get the prices and calculate them one by one. but before they are done with that, the electricity was up again. even then we had to wait fr like 15 mins fr their slow computer to boot up. so we did. unfortunately, the computers still couldn't calculate the amount, though they had the scanner up and running so that they could check the price. the cashier who was serving us was so comical. he was so bend on taking a stapler gun and shoot the slow booting pc. but in the end, we got outta there and went back rushing back so that my dear could make it in time for work.

highlight of the day: damn cold strong wind!!

not highlight of the day: didnt put on warmer clothings!!!

starting point

2005-09-26T21:26:00.000-04:00

Astra:

1st of all, thx celes fr asking. we're good here. getting busy with each of our works. the starting of the semester doesn't really mess our body and mind yet. at least thats wat i think for now. we'll see later.

even though it's been about a mth here, i dare say that we're still trying to orient ourselves in the new land where we're gonna spend abt 3 yrs of our life. still some new ppl we're gonna meet and places we're gonna stumble upon and stuff that we're gonna encounter etc. we'll just follow how our books gonna flip over.

so yeah, i juz remembered a funny incident that happened to me today. my dear n i were waiting for our bus (its called a trolley) to go to d sch. it was windy and we're standing somewhat near some trees. I was chewing on my bubble gum and blowing it every now n then. and a sudden strong gust of wind blew towards us and at the same time, i was blowing a balloon and a small twig flew and hit my balloon right at the corner near my lips n got stuck there. my dear made a remark - u'll get dust on the balloon!- and laughed. i was holding the balloon and thinking like, WTF?? twig???? n struggling to reach the wrapper in my pocket. i kinda destroyed the balloon and spit it out while telling Yin that i got a twig on my bubble gum (apparently the twig wasn't very obvious) and she bursted out laughing till her stomach ached. lesson learned: never blow a bubble gum near a tree on a windy day.

ok, here are some pics of somewhere around our school neighborhood. fyi, d place where our school is situated, is called College Hill. cos it has several college, such as the renowned Brown Uni and of cos, RISD.

this is my bicycle:

the trolley:

our school neighborhood. the buildings on d left are where some faculties of the school are located. the reddish building on the left is the Illustration Study Building, while the towering 1 next to it is the Design Center, where my photography studios are. the one on the right is the new dorm where Yin lives.

btw, I met a malaysian malay in my art histories class. nice guy to hang out with. he intro-ed me to a balinese guy who worked in one of the canteens at school.

highlight of the day: none

not highlight of the day: dead fish on the river. windy. smell of the dead fish. all that equates to 1 unsightly combo.

nice island.

2005-08-23T21:52:00.000-04:00

Astra says:
well, here we are in Rhode Island. not actually an island if you look at it frm any map. its actually the smallest state in the US nice and quiet albeit the weather seems kinda unstable according to some folks we know.

the time here is exactly 12 hrs slower than singapore. means, its ard 10pm now in my place while its ard 10am now in singapore.

so yeah, i've settled down in my rented apartment. its a 3-storey house as i predicted. and im renting the whole 3rd floor all for myself. 2-3 bedrooms (1 of them actually being used as a store room for boxes and suitcases) and a kitchen plus a bathroom. its a very nice place! i'll put up the photographs soon i hope.

the landlord and landlady are very nice ppl! they're frm Portugal. though they speak broken English, but our communication goes on without much problem. apparently in the small yard that they haf, the landlady and her cousin plants some veges. there are some cucumber, tomatoes, green chilli and some other plants and flowers. 1 of the days, she even gave me some tomatoes and cucumbers. really good stuff.

oh rite, i had to wait fr almost 2 days for my cable internet to b activated. but here it is. up and running. and with a router too! juz got 1 to split. later gonna use it for my PC.

the first few days of moving in was quite a hassle. my mom and i had to buy lotsa stuff and go ard finding our way around. after sometime, we finally got to know a way to travel to Downtown, a place where some mall is located and a large supermarket. lucky for us, the bus (actually called a trolley) brings us from a street near my house, to directly in front of the supermarket called Shaws. the place is huge! but somehow it doesn't have a sweet soy sauce. -_-a

i tried to convince my mom to get me a car. but no avail. so in the end, she got me a bicycle. the coolest one i've ever had! i'll post the pic sometime.

today my dear came over to my house (yest i went to her guest house) and we cooked fried rice and stir fried veges. bought some ingredients from the supermarket and made a bit of mess in the kitchen. there were many dishes to wash. luckily, i kinda enjoy doin the dishes =P. tmr mornin, gonna add fried eggs and some more beef to the leftover fried rice. that should b enough for breakfast rite? the fried rice tasted quite nice fr my liking though my dear said that it lacked some taste. and the stir fried veges turns out not bad too =P. more practice!

highlight of the day: cooking, though messy, is a very satisfying experience for me.

not highlight of the day: nothing.

ahem... IT'S GETTING NEAR!

2005-08-12T03:51:00.000-04:00

Astra says:

not the end of the world. but d time for me to leave Asia and head to America and start a whole new journey to gain some knowledge. hopefully, when i'm back here again, things (economy and peace in indonesia and wat not) would b getting better.

hmm. my mom sent me an email and asked me to call my eldest uncle and my youngest aunt in Medan juz now. yeah i did call them and bid them goodbye. i dun think i'm ever eloquent in bidding good byes. tat might juz explain y i'd rather walk out quietly and juz disappear rather than saying good bye. but things aren't always going the way i wanted them to. oh well.

my mom juz called again. she asked me to make a to-do list. things that are desperately needed to b done as soon as we reach Providence. to be more exact, as soon as we reach my rented flat.

btw, i've not told anyone abt the place i'd be staying in fr d next 1 yr. from the description i got, it's actually a flat on the 3rd floor of a house. so, the landlord has this 3-floor house, s/he is living on the ground floor, while probably, renting the other 2 floors above to some other ppl. i heard that the 2nd floor is used by a Singaporean teacher. aint so bad i think. so, the flat that im renting cost abt US$800 per mth. but its a 3-room flat: 2-bedrooms and 1 living room. at least thats wat i presume from the description.

tats enough update frm jakarta.

highlight of the day: none.

not highlight of the day: also none.

last update from singapore

2005-08-06T09:05:00.000-04:00

Astra:

this might b the last update that i'm gonna type before i take a plane

to leave singapore fr d next 1 year or so (might be more). well,

unless i haf a sudden urge to write some junk later at nite.

anyway, as the title says, this is juz my last update frm this small

dot. doesn't mean that im gonna stop updating my blog. i will update

my blog every once in a while even when im in jakarta. needless to

say, once i got my internet ready in the states, i will write too.

hopefully someone would read.

so, wat should i start with?

lemme say thanks to all d ppl i've come in contact with. especially

those i came to know as early as the time i stepped in this foreign

country. you gave me good impression abt this country. i could still

remember the time when i was about to enter Hotel Asia. it was a rainy

day with fresh air saying welcome to me.

thanx to Auntie Pat who had been my guardian fr abt 2 yrs (i think

more -_-a) and ppl whom i got to know during my stay under her

guardianship.

my time in Buona Vista Secondary School was really nice even though i

seriously had to put lotsa effort in coping with the workload. and

btw, the school is gone by d time i graduated frm there. merged with

Queensway Secondary and i think the building might haf been

demolished. i could remember most of my frens in the class who came

frm many parts of the world. but only a handful whom i keep in contact

with. we're still good frens aren't we?

when i was in Nanyang Poly, i had loads of wonderful time too despite

the work load that was really pushing me to the limit. having to share

my ups n downs with my frens had been a very good experience fr me. n

having to haf many good frens is a blessing for me. you know who you

are. some of them even mentioned me in their blog =Pp. though 1 i know

only wanted some stamps frm the states. sheesh.

ok. hmm...

my dear juz came back to singapore a couple of days ago to take care

of some business with MOE (Education, not environment). should i talk?

well maybe i juz hafta rant it here. the lady who had been taking care

of my dear's bond deferment application was not very helpful and in

fact, kinda rude. i emailed her a handful of times (during the time

when my dear was not able to reply the lady's emails ASAP. so i had to

reply them for her) and spoke to her once on the phone. best of all.

last week the lady took a leave fr more than 1 week when it was kinda

crucial for my dear to b able to settle her prob soon. DAMN! i wonder

y someone like her is in charge of this kinda thing. pissed!

(continued at night:)

yesterday both of us tested the nikon FG that i got for Yin. mostly

are her shots. i taught her abt d basic operation of the camera and i

muz say she's a pretty good learner. =P. she finished off her film

this morning and later today, we got the roll developed. i'd say she

might hafta work on her stability in holding the cam while pressing

the shutter button. but seems that the exposure was good and

consistent. too bad there was no film scanning service. then again, if

we were to scan the roll, we might hafta wait till tmr. hmm. she's

very happy with her new gadget. i too am happy fr her.

oh, we met someone whom we know through ClubSNAP yesterday too. he's a

nice guy who, by email, suggested to Yin to try and get a Nikon FG cos

after looking at what my dear wrote abt wat she wanted for a manual

cam, Glenn thought that FG is very suitable. after checking the specs

and comparing with a couple other manual film cams, we decided to look

for it. the best thing happened when i met the previous owner of the

camera in Peninsula Plaza's BK who, at that time, was there with a

friend. i didnt know who Terence's fren was and rudely, i didnt asked

and introduced myself. only until he send me a PM (private message) in

ClubSNAP that i realized the person i met without asking his name, was

the person who gave a very good suggestion to Yin and me. a small

world eh?

ok back from the history lesson. we met up in Raffles City's Starbucks

Cafe and talked a whole lot abt photography in general. he also

introduced me to his rangefinder camera and told me abt its usefulness

compared to SLR. it was a very enlightening talk to both of us. i'm

interested in the camera as well but, i'm gonna stick to SLR and point

and shoot cameras fr d time being. after the long talk, we walked to

some shops to window shop. he got himself his stock of black and white

films while Yin got a new camera bag for the FG. luckily, i think

Cathay Photo is having promotion or some sales. many or maybe all of

the items are discounted. hmm, yeah, i think so.

if you have not noticed, Jolie, Yin's lil puppy was back in her house

in Banjarmasin juz 2 days before she came down to Singapore. she was

so happy to haf the pup back.

wat else should i write? hmm...

oh yeah, i've not packed my stuff yet. bummer!

i feel as if im leaving singapore for good. hahahah! nah. tats juz wat

i feel, my conscious mind knows well that i'll b back here. for wat? i

dunno. i juz know that i'll b back here in, maybe 1 year? or 2 years?

or perhaps, 3 years from now? i'll be back.

take care, my good frens.

highlight of the day: nothing much.

not highlight of the day: also nothing much.

1 Day Happiness

2005-08-01T11:01:00.000-04:00

I owned a dog for a day.

My brother bought a cute wire fox terrier yesterday... Kinda dirty, smelly, with matted fur. Caged in a petshop's cage for weeks. Cut a pretty good deal to get this li'l ball of curly fur. She puked inside the car on the way home. Bought a pretty yellow bowl and a pack of dog food for the babe.

Named her Jolie. From Angelina Jolie, yes.

She's a charmer! Very friendly with my noisy nephews. My curious nephews were all over the barely six months' old girl. She was sniffing everything around my home, wagging that short little tail. Jolie ate two bowls of dog food, plus slurps and slurps of water.

My nephews were fighting to hold Jolie's leash. She doesn't mind the leash at all!

Peaceful Jolie.

Jolie spent the night in my brother's room. She likes to jump on his bed, but of course we can't allow her to sleep there. I took off her leash so she could run around freely. She's awfully adorable... Doesn't look nearly as pretty as those show quality wire fox terriers but I've grown attached to her.

Jolie is not mute!

My brother decided to return Jolie to the petshop. He said, he can't bear the responsibilities. My mom complained that Jolie couldn't bark... and that it's useless to keep a silent dog. My dad said that no one would have the time to take care of her.

The maids wouldn't clean the rooms because they had to walk past Jolie. They wouldn't let themselves to get into contact with dogs. Haram, they said. Jolie was so unwanted by most people in the house.

Sadness...

Jolie was sleeping when I carried her into the car. She woke up and stared at me, puzzled. I don't know if she had any idea what's gonna happen to her.

My brother drove us to the petshop. Jolie threw up again. Poor girl, she had motion sickness. I rubbed her back gently till she go back to sleep.

Had to wake her up again when we got to the petshop. Carried her to the shop while my brother explained to the shop owner about our situation. We didn't get our money back. My brother told the shop owner to just inform us when someone's interested in buying the puppy.

After Jolie went into the cage, she barked a few times. I bid her goodbye, and cried for the next many hours. Bawled my eyes out at home. My parents got worried... My dad kept asking me whether I'm angry at him and stuffs. No dad, I'm not angry at you. My mom felt kinda bad. She persuaded my brother to bring Jolie back home.

My brother told me to stop crying because my mom won't stop persuading him to bring Jolie back. I was sad and angry at the same time. I can't keep a dog but I can't cry either.

In the end, I still have to let go of Jolie. I'm sorry Jolie, I wish you could stay in our home. I hope you'll find a better home soon! It was just one day with you, but I love you already.

shot some birds

2005-07-29T12:05:00.000-04:00

after a long while, i finally made my trip to Jurong Bird Park. a photo shooting trip to be more exact. got my d70 and f100 out. the bag is getting heavier. my right shoulder is stressed cos of the weight.

dun think i could go on too long with that kinda weight on juz 1 of my shoulders. im gonna check out Cathay Photo for some backpacks. should b better off with sharing the loads on 2 shoulders i guess.

having my heavier camera coupled with a zoom telephoto lens and the tripod is really tiring. feels like having to carry a large n long dumbbell wherever i go. moreover i tried to juggle 2 tasks of taking film (with the heavier zoom lens) and trying out my D70 IR capability. i should really make a mental note not to juggle that kinda thing. nevertheless, it was a nice exercise though. juz hafta develop my films. 3 rolls gone for today.

as for the IR shots, here are some shots that i like. actually, only managed to scoop out 4 of them. cos the rest are either blurred or under exposed, or some other disfigurements.

highlight of the day: finally got to take photos again!

not highlight of the day: noting much.

.Astra

Security

2005-07-27T00:44:00.000-04:00

Juz before my lunch today, i saw an unusual sight in the hdb flat juz across my window.

on one of the floor, there was an old lady who, i think, had juz came back home and unlocking the metal bar gate and thedoor slowly. and whaddaya know, there is another younger lady juz directly 1 level below (same column of flat) who appeared to be meddling with the gate too. at first i thought that she was doing the same thing, unlocking the gate.

but no.

soon after she meddled with the keys, she began checking her locks, looked at her left and right and then, grab the bars of the gate and began shaking it with her body as if she's trying to break the door with all her might. and then, she checked the locks and tried pulling it apart. and again, she shook the gate. she took a break and adjusted a Singapore flag that has been hanging and apparently blown by the wind inwards towards the corridor. after throwing the flag outwards so that the flag is in its correct position, she again checked the lock and shook the gate. and after a while, she straightened herself and her clothes and went somewhere else.

i cant make out whether she's testing if the door is securely locked or she forgot abt her locks or some other reason.

highlight of the day: noting yet.

not highlight of the day: hmm...

.Astra

Aldo's birthday

2005-07-24T22:48:00.000-04:00

Today, my nephew Aldo hits 2! He's such a darling although he doesn't really smile. Well he does smile, but it looks like a toothless grandpa smile... He's so shy! CUTE! *squeals*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALDO~<3<3<3<3<3

Ahem, next... I haven't got my pulsa(translate it yourself plz) so I can't contact my hunnie through MSN. GPRS is so expensive! I want to sign up for GPRS later on in Rhode Island! Heard its 20USD for unlimited transfer per month. Not such a bad deal considering I'll be able to use skype to make calls. I wonder what he's doing right now...

I can't wait for lunch time, the cake looks so good! *drools*

my PC is skrood

2005-07-23T12:00:00.000-04:00

hooyeah! damn JianAn was rite abt formatting my C:/. So rite it felt like a curse frm him. okok i've reformatted my goddamn C:/ now wat? I CANT FREAKING GO ONLINE!!! damn. something is damn wrong with the alcatel speed touch setup. it keeps saying some error abt not having TCP/IP. goodness sake i've already installed it a coupla times frm WinXP cd. i wont take any risk to try anything funny on the modem this sunday. ok, today, since its already past 0000hrs. juz afraid that if i accidentally disabled the network, i wont be able to go online d whole day, not juz me, even my bro too. cos we shared the connection under diff user name. i'm gonna go mad on monday to try n fix it. if the most unfavorable condition ever happens, like the net juz died on me and i had no way to fix it, i could always call on V-net n request fr someone to come over n try to fix it. damn. maybe i should change to cable instead. then again, i wont b here long.

fr d past few days, my dear has been telling me to read some ebook abt Buddhism. a belief that i take but yet understand it so little. so yeah, after much probing, i dled some .pdf(s) to read on the laptop.

I could convert it so that it can b read by my pocket PC, but i refused. most of d time, i use pocket pc fr other purpose and cant be bothered to strain my eyes to read. besides, using its PDA function would deplete the battery fairly quickly. Yin converted some of the pdf into another format understood by pocket reader and happily bringin the ebooks everywhere she goes. good fr her.

i'm revamping my website. hopefully i could finish it soon enough before i set off to jkt.

speaking of going back to jkt, im reminded of my parent's bad flights fr d past few weeks. abt 2 weeks ago, my dad had to delay his landing in sg cos some lanes of changi's plane runway was closed and i think there are some complications over places for landing and taking off. the same thing happen to my mum's flight last week. and when she's going off frm sg-jkt, her plane was delayed fr an hour. n today, my dad came, and his plane also had a delayed landing. like.. WTF IS WRONG THERE??? delaying cos of NDP practice every saturday?? goodness, fuel fr the planes are already expensive and yet you cause unnecessary delay and adding more cost to the already burdened flight companies juz fr d sake of NDP? is tat wat is going on? give us a break! i really like to know juz y they did that.

this is the record i obtained today:
19:15 GA830 Jakarta 1 23 Landed 19:48

1915hrs is the scheduled time. while 1948 was the landing time after a delay of over 1/2 hr of the scheduled time. not only GARUDA INDONESIA that was delayed. even sg's own airline was delayed fr quite long time. some other airlines like lufthansa, Air new zealand and silk air was also delayed fr abt 20mins to more than 1/2hr. doesnt this cost money?

btw, my dear created her own dream blog: indo-dreams. its all abt her dreams regarding our home country, Indonesia - the country famed fr its '98 riots, lowest amongst world currencies, biggest muslim country in the world, biggest archipelago, rich on natural resources, Bali, Bintan, Batam (the three infamoues B-islands as i would call them), corruption, civil war, rich indon basterds and despite all those, still one beautiful country yet to be cultivated by the right people. check out on my links.

highlight of the day: uhh.. nil

not highlight of the day: skrood PC.

.Astra

The Diary of The Slowpokes

en route to NYC

NYC part 2

NYC part 1

in the past few weeks...

Narutofan Paypal subscription cancellation

finally...

useless stuff

Annoyed.

UNEMPLOYED!

last few days in RISD

catching up with my own blog (???)

people switching to mac?

happennings around my birthday

Spring semester started!!!

mid of wintersession

So! New Semester is HERE!

wintersession started!

just finished

oddities in between artist ball and now...

artist ball 2007

chocobo mugs

fishselector

Cows

Back and Busy

Sudden longing for boots

what do you want to be when you grow up?

highlight of my summer hol

(too) Sunny Singapore

2006/07 is almost over

spiderman3

Notice

portfolio n junior show

Phoenix Wright typo

spring break! again!

spring break!

snow in the middle of spring

My Goldies

new spring semester

final stuff

almost the end of wintersession

wintersession

happy new yr n i cant sleep

godzilla and its merrymen!

the end and beginning

mumble happyfeet

borat

100

beginning of winter

*sniff*

the fall of 2006

Dondon, Doris and Dali.

nerd?

The Diary of The Slowpokes

its starting again.

in the states

bye sg

getting nearer by seconds

time

last 2 weeks in sg

life.. oh life.. oooh liiifee~

hot hot day

back in sg again. AGAIN

Playboy Indonesia prosecuted!?

up and about in singapore. sorta

back from shanghai

fl;kaklrejgfda

D-Day

CRAZY STORM

things to do: updated2

the end is near

sigh..

we're goin home

Yin's bday!

we...

links are back

EL CRAPPO

hmm... wat to say...

geisha

photos as private collections

sniff