Telephone Courtesy in Indonesia
Exhibit A
*ring ring*
Me: Hello?
Caller: Hello. Can I talk to Mr X?
Me: May I know who's speaking?
*silence*
Me: Hello??
Caller: Yes. Can I talk to Mr X?
Me: May I know who's speaking?
*silence*
Me: Hello??
Caller: Yes. Mr X, please!
Me: Who's speaking??? *getting annoyed*
Caller hangs up
Exhibit B
*ring ring*
Me: Hello?
Caller: Who's this?
Me: ???
Me: I'm sorry. Who are you looking for?
Caller: Who's this?
Me: Um.. U're the one calling..
Caller: Mr X home?
Me: Who's speaking?
*silence*
Me: Hello?
Caller: I wanna talk to Mr X!
i hang up
Exhibit C
*ring ring*
Me: Hello?
Caller: Hi. Can I talk to Mr X?
Me: May I know who's speaking?
Caller: It's from Siantar ( a region in Sumatra)
Me: Okay. And your name is?
Caller: I'm his friend.
Me: Yes. And your name is?
Caller: John.
Me: Hold on, please. *call for Dad*
why is it so difficult for Indonesians to say who they are on the phone. what's up with that?
i've been holding myself back. turn a blind eye to her manipulations. put on my happy face. letting myself be the black sheep of someone else's relationship and pretend that i dont know about it. and when i complain privately, im told to be positive.
im sick of this.
im still holding back in honour of someone. and no, it's not u dumbo.
u wanna mess with other people's heads, go ahead. i aint one of them. u push me further imma cap yo ass to the tune of Personal Jesus, bitch.
i sent in my (job) application this afternoon. we'll see how it goes. im hopeful that all the pieces will come together soon.. now.. now/soon...
my friend told me this is a phase. i sure hope it is. i've been restless. i mean, not that im not used to having nothing to do. but in melbourne, there's always reading for free at borders (heehee) and coffee with friends.
and so the waiting game starts..
honestly, im envious of people who have never had to apply for a job, without connection, because they'd never have to face the uncertainty and rejection. to each his own, i guess.
p.s. i did well for the toefl. 38 points short of perfect score. the test wasnt as difficult as i'd expected. mom was more nervous than i was. cute.
im doing a toefl test tomorrow morning. really dont know what to expect. i've never done these tests. toefl/ielts. no clue. dont know how to prepare for it as well. i guess i've always taken english for granted. and i've always thought that english is really my first second language. i hope ill do okay. more than okay, actually. near perfect would be awesome. but let's not get cocky.
whenever i tell family members im doing a toefl test, they always give an implied anticipation that i'd fail or do badly.
exhibit A:
person X: so have u done the toefl test?
me: im doing it this saturday
person X: u know if u fail, u cant re-do the test, like, the next week. u have to wait for 6 months.
me: right......good to know....
meh-
im doing the test cos i wanna apply for this job which my mom kind of hesitates at my applying since she wanna keep me free and easy to travel around with my dad. which i dont really mind. but im growing tired of unemployment. i feel the need to do something.. for myself.
p.s. apparently one of the requirement to apply for the aforementioned job is a toefl score of at least 500. doesnt say if one can be exempted from this if one is a graduate from a university in an english-speaking country.
double meh!
why cant indonesians spell my name correctly?? whenever i go out n get a cuppa at starbucks (coffee here isnt good, best bet is the gazillionaire chain. sad, i know) or yoghurt at sour sally, they'd ask my name and i'd emphasize the 'J' like JUL-ie and every.single.time. without fail (!) they'd write YULI.
whats up with that?
is this a cultural thing??
i lost my blackberry today. i was hesitant to tell mom but i did right after i came home and got (more than) an earful. i guess i deserve some of that.
im trying to stay positive, which might seem oddly twisted - that i may seem like im not bummed that i lost my BB. but i am bummed. i feel like something's missing. it's something that's taken for granted i guess. being able to communicate with friends so easily.
on one hand, i suppose its good now that im not dependent on the BB anymore. and also, i still have my 3GS.
on the other hand.. i am bummed...
must..
be..
positive..
sigh~
hurrayy.. finally i can connect to the world wide web. i'm a bit impressed that this wireless technology is getting rampant here in the third world. easy peasy. just a few bits n bobs, et voila! another thing i notice is people use lots of prepaid anything here. from internet, mobile. no need for contracts. u dont have to fill in real information too, i'm told. *shrugs*
i went to mangga dua today. it's like this shopping hub for people from all social classes (?). anyone looking for a bargain, basically. the place is stuffed with things. like a bunch of obsessive compulsive hoarders decide to commute in the same building. i can't stand it. i have a slight claustrophobia problem, u see. so i'd always imagine circumstances where, for instance, if there was a fire, or if there was another earthquake like the one just days ago. and then it'll just be.. buhbye.. kaput.. gone..
on the other hand, the place is fascinating. u can buy anything from a (real!) kitchen aid, kettle, mobile phone, game consoles, pirated and original dvds, toiletries, knockoff handbags, knockoff shoes, knockoff belts, knockoff clothing, knockoff non-leather goods sold as knockoff leather goods - basically, double knockoffs. the list is endless.
but i dont really like shopping there when it's too crowded. and the thing its, when it comes to the fashion, indonesian girls/women/aunties are too concerned with trends. so everyone ends up looking the same. i dont want that. tartan n bat-wing sleeves are in, i notice.
anyhoo..
i'm still settling down at home. it's kinda weird after 10 years++ of being away.
Have u ever had something explode in ur face when u were just going about ur business, just minding urself, trying ur best to hold ur pieces together in a pressure cooker?
I dont know if it showed despite how hard i tried because of the reactions i received.
What's there to say? As cliched as it sounds, u wont get it unless u're in my shoes.
What an impossible day. I woke up and thought of my friend who had just lost his father the day before. I was sombre for him. I tried to steal a quiet moment for a short prayer when the shit hit the fan. And i didnt see it coming. I thought i was doing the best i could.
Cherry on top was when i realized i was being an ass later in the day to someone who deserved none of it.
But all this does not compare to my friend's loss.
I hope u're doing okay.. My thoughts are with u..
i was going to have an early night when dumbo attempted to ambush me into fulfilling miss piggy's wishes. right. try harder.
and then there's the baby (not mine) crying.. or screeching. i cant tell which.
great. im up at 5.21 am, super annoyed, cant fucking sleep and trying to refrain from opening the chef's knife i got as my bday gift.
im getting a bit bored with how fashion is going these days. maybe cos it's not september yet. if u know fashion, u'd know what september means. im pining for something fresh. that said. what is 'fresh' for someone who wears a lot of black? sonia rykel! she has exciting stuff in store, but i feel like they're insanely overpriced. but what isnt in oz? excuse my fragmeted mind for a sec. as for bags, im leaning towards classics these days. and yes, that means black. maybe a 2.55 one day, in a rainbow of colours. hey, dreaming is free.
what did i do today? not much. yes, sneer away my friend. heehee..
dealt with some errands. thought about new places. and by places i mean places to go eat at. watched house, but fell asleep after 8 eps. did my toe nails. ate a bunch of clementines. semi-planned my honeymoon (with myself, thanks for asking). practiced self-control from the choc jar. going to make tea and admire nigella's cooking abilities fab cooking wares.
adieu
i like this look. reminds me of summer, al fresco dining and scouring the shops to do some damage. sorry, im confusing fantasy with reality.
cue music: california by phantom planet.
one of my faves..
wowsa.
this needs no explanation.
couverture vs compound
i decided i quite like the callebaut couverture. i can smell the choc before i even finish opening the jar. the choc has strong fragrance, like roasted beans, a hint of coffee and citrus. it's also sweet smelling.
the flavour itself is complex. it is wonderfully bitter, creamy and quite full-on. so, i'm leaning towards forastero/trinitario rather than criollo. this is bittersweet choc, so not that sweet, which is desirable for me. i taste a touch of butter - might be due to the high cocoa butter content (?). i can make out the grain, although very very very fine. texture is that - very fine and smooth, although quite dense. i dont taste citrus, fruitiness. i dont taste any acidity - another plus for my preference. overall very pleasant and velvety.
the aftertaste is just the resonating velvetiness and the slightest hint of acidity on the palette.
on the other hand, i also bought a bar of compound choc - nestle club classic. it says "rich dark chocolate". first thing i notice, no indication of combined cocoa solids/butter percentage, like most dark choc do, though it says it contains 40% cocoa solids (the callebaut has 53.8% cocoa solids). typically dark choc should have at least 70 % of combined cocoa solids and butter.
compound has typical ingredients, sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, but has butter oil, like most compounds do as an alternative for the more expensive cocoa butter. also has added 'flavours,' salt and milk solids. interesting that no hydrogenized veg oil is used, so not the worst of compounds.
i do smell the choc fragrance but noticably fainter than the couverture. the fragrance is mellow, sweet and there's something else that im guessing is oil. i also smell a faint citrus.
texture is crumbly rather than snappy. i immediately taste the salt, butter and sugar and then the bitterness comes through. the cocoa flavour is not as strong as the couverture. grain is rather coarse but bearable. overall not very complex. acidity surfaces and the sugar lingers as the aftertastes.
this must be quite a decent compound. i should have bought a cadbury.
the meaningful differences for me between the couverture and compound are the intense chocolatiness of the couverture and lack thereof in the compound, the texture of grain and the salt! i feel like the salt ruins the experience of the choc in the compound. definitely will not use the compound for cooking.
i havent made my mousse. i havent decided on the method and ingredients: cream/no cream, eggs/no eggs. dont think i'll be using vanilla (extract). cos mine is tahitian vanilla and it's quite strong. the purpose of my making the mousse is to taste the couverture in a recipe.
givenchy couture fall 09
photo from voutier
rêver de la haute couture. manifestement, faire de la couture est très compliqué, n'est-ce pas?
i hate to call myself a gourmet because there seems to be an underlying, smug connotation about it. but i love food. so i prefer calling myself a foodie.
right now im on a quest to better myself on the topic of chocolate.
unlike most girls, i dont have a thing about chocolate. i dont crave for it. actually i much prefer coffee than cocoa. but that's what i like to believe anyway.
got a head start with my pastry chef friend. and i am determined to train my taste buds on the differences between choc. esp couverture and compound, which shouldnt be too hard. i do want to know what im eating when im being served, say a truffle supposedly made of good quality belgian.
i bought some couverture choc today. callebaut dark choc buttons. just getting to know it, really.
one kilo of it, in fact.
might make choc mousse sometime this week.
lucky me.
im lusting after these:
sass & bide tee
and
ungaro chained knit hoodie
how maverick!
alas, im on a shopping ban.
I spent a lot of time thinking yesterday about how many times i can take it. Once, twice, three times.. Are there more in store?
There are people who are toxic to my life, plans, peacefulness. Some i have never even met, including her. She's like cancer. Because even after painful and tiresome healing processes she keeps coming back. At some point this has to stop. So either she or i succumb.
but why blame only the cancer when there is another element in the equation?
why does it have to be so complicated. It should have been a swat-the-fly and move on case.
then again, shoulda, woulda, coulda are the last words of a fool.
and how is it harmless as u say?
she is worth your betraying my trust. she is worth your causing me pain.
then why am i still here?
without u, there's no cancer.
If there is anymore then u can count me out because it is beneath me.
liar, liar, pants on fire..
flats are typically my day-to-day footwear of choice. but i have to make a confession: i love loafers. i think they're actually boys shoes (?). loafers are too often associated with grannies in daggy capris. perhaps, almost, if not equally frowned upon by its cousin the birkenstocks (on women anyway). but although there have been more and more chic reincarnations of late, it's difficult to find a pair that both serves its purpose of comfortable cradling of ur feet and still manage to look modern, young and chic. i now reminisce fondly of my off-white pair of nine west loafers that i wore until they were butchered.
yes:
no:
is this badass or what? alexander wang est un genie de la mode. il est visionnaire. mais je ne peux pas acheter ce sac a main parce que je mets de l'argent de côté pour m'acheter une pochette chanel. alors...
I'm a firm believer in murphy's law. It feels like im being pricked and prodded from all sides at this moment and the more i wish for a snippet of air, the wisdoms of murphy's law find their way each time.
As Carrie Bradshaw once mused:
"When did the art of compromise become compromising?"
At least i have fashion as my escape. I am desperate for a break. A honeymoon with myself, thank you.
Fingers crossed.
intruder alert
i'm outraged. seriously. wtf. she's not family. a mere acquaintance. a bloomin' acquaintance. please stop acting like u know me. stop acting like i care about u. as if. and most importantly, i would appreciate if u keep away from me. and dont tag along with my family. especially for my convocation(s). even though my parents are too polite to say otherwise. i dont appreciate ur 'company'.
in other words. fuck off. pretty please.
i had a nostalgic moment, reminiscing about my secondary school days in singapore because i have had nothing to do for the past many days. Im just waiting for my (last!) exam and havent got a kick to start studying just yet. i did flicker about one chapter though.
anyway, i was just browsing the school's website and it just dawned on me that it's been a while (!). i cant believe im actually an alumni. and soon to be an alumni of university of melbourne. i had fond memories of my classmates, some of whom i still keep in touch with and our teachers mrs sundram and ms loh. and not so fond memories of that discipline mistress.
i've always loved being at school. learning something. although i must say, being at uni does not make me feel smart. in actual fact i feel like i know less and less in comparison to the mountain of stuff out there.
but im glad i didnt go to an indonesian university cos the standard is just appalling. my friends and i have made comparisons of the workload between us who study here (melb U/monash etc) to those back home. makes melb seem like Gitmo in comparison.
what i will miss, though, is the south lawn, the courtyards, the cafes, the charming old facades-cos the inside is totally modern and im still conflicted about the juxtaposition. and of course, going to class and trying to squeeze bits of time to grab a cuppa!
politics at its best. he's good at saying things people want to hear and saying things he wants to say without having people realize it's not what they want to hear. bravo.
indo got a few shout-outs too..
another old SNL vid. so wrong!!! yet so funny.
i love food and the pleasure of eating, sharing a meal with friends. recently ive been craving singaporean food. i think it's because i spent my formative years there, whatever that means. i also like the fact that singaporeans have no qualms about eating at hawker centres, at least that's the impression i've got so far. where i come from there are some groups that dont like eating in humble tents/restos because they think it's disgusting. and they're right, it is. but it's so good.
i love indonesian food, esp padang cuisine which is replicated everywhere but isnt quite the same until u hav visited a typical padang resto with a pyramid of dishes. and the perfect sambal with green chillies.
if u know me well enough u probably know that i like to eat, a lot.. i'll eat anywhere from the road side to an award winning french restsurant. heck, i could probably replace tony bourdain (i wish!!) but right now i would kill just to sit in a hawker centre, in super humid singaporean weather, with a hot bowl of mee pok and teh-c peng.
my kind of porn..
givenchy..sigh..givenchy!!!
blue would be great for this pauric sweeny
god save mcqueen!
there's a long-running debate over girls (and increasingly boys too, perhaps), especially among indonesians, wearing branded bags, or other goods for that matter. darn, what a choppy sentence that was.
as i was saying. my observation is that there are two camps, surely - pro and contra. and my view is. who cares what people think!
if u can afford it, go ahead. i think what's important is to be respectful and gracious. there will always be people who will judge and pinpoint something negative about me. heck, even (some) members of my family wont hesitate to try and bring me down over matters as trivial as, i dont know, grapes. good luck with that.
people have different interests. some are obsessed with photography, some with golf, some with collecting wine, some with fashion, some with martial arts *cough cough cough*. it might sound kind of sad.. consumerist, materialist, whatever. social theorists might say it contributes to identity construction, which is an even more depressing discourse.
a fashion obsession is perhaps more difficult to understand. specifically because it is closely related with consumerism. fashion is often seen as frivolous, superficial. i love fashion. i could write an essay on this. the body as a surface for expression, finding a place in society, a performative practice perhaps blah blah blah..but i find myself not having a clear justification for my obsession. in fact, im not sure i see that there's a need to..
call me crazy.
yay, it worked!! i think i might prefer posting w this. unless i hav to do template/song changes. ive been thinking if i should change the template since its been a while, but ill probably get something simple n in black so im not sure whats the point. could something similar ever be so refreshing?
i think i hav a thing against fat people. they take up more space. they should be made to pay more for plane seats, tram tickets, extra material for clothes. why should little people like me bear the burden. sure, u hav psychological reasons to stuff urselves with food and without the pleasure. but that's better than 90 per cent of people in africa. i bet they'd rather be as miserable as u are..
just a little food for thought. ha..ha..ha..
test.. im using an app on ipod to blog, hopefully this works.
what a fascinating few days.
u know when u had faith in someone and u expect them to know better and then they prove u wrong, and not in a good way.
u know when they say women have real strong instincts. but i dont trust my instincts most of the time. i tend to lean on logic, as odd as that sounds. i dont like getting angry. i try to think with reason. i dont like being a medium for my emotions. a mere vessel. i prefer to wear my dress and not let the dress wear me. if u know what i mean.
but than all my friends say im too lenient. too nice. too forgiving.
and i thought i had an epiphany with my instinct a few days ago. i dont quite know what to make of that. so i didnt. and then...
"Seorang filsuf Yunani pernah menulis … nasib terbaik adalah tidak dilahirkan, yang kedua dilahirkan tapi mati muda, dan yang tersial adalah umur tua. Rasa-rasanya memang begitu."
"Lebih baik diasingkan daripada menyerah pada kemunafikan."
- Soe Hok Gie.
an al-jazeera (love this channel) report on the country that's on my passport.
location: Jakarta, INA
Close to You - Susan Wong
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