"Life is just death in slow motion."

- Lewis Black, Comedy Central UK

Singapore oh Singapore

Singapore is known for many things, but friendly is not one of them.

Me: Can I have 2 siew mai^ and teh si gao siew dai*?
Lady: Having here or take away?
Me: Having here
Me: *thinking I can't finish the tea* Actually, can you make the tea take away
Lady: SO YOU WANT TEA OR TEH SI**?!
Me: Teh si, but I mean make it take away
Lady: BUT YOU ORDER (sic) TEH SI GAO SIEW DAI
Me: *also raised my voice* YES TEH SI GAO SIEW DAI BUT MAKE IT TAKE AWAY
Lady: Ya lah, take away
Me: ???

^ A type of traditional Chinese dumpling

* Thick coffee with evaporated milk, less sugar

** Coffee with condensed milk

How to order coffee in Singapore.
To order tea, change the word "kopi" to "teh".

"The world is yours. Take it."

-Olympias

Just won this in a lucky draw. Destiny is calling me. The Universe is sending me a sign.

- : -

In the same event, I talked to a lady who studied in Sweden for 6 months. I asked her how is it there and she said it's too quiet especially compared to Singapore, "You will only meet another human being if you walked for miles." I don't see the problem?

Well, one person's hell is another person's heaven. It's perfect for me. Where do I sign?

There are no contradictions

This is a story of contradictions of a certain wise person.
Disclaimer: All quotes are indeed real and not exaggeration, in all their ridiculousness. Only the timeline is jumbled up. If it's not clear, calling the person "wise" is a sarcasm.

Me: You should watch Game of Thrones.
Wise person (WP): I don't have time. I'm working to build the perfect software to earn money so I don't have to work for the rest of my life.
Me: K
WP: Talk to you later. I gotta catch a Pokemon.

- - : - -

Me: I'm thinking to move to Europe, for a chance to settle down there.
WP: You're so childish. You're a bad planner. You're not thinking of all the aspects. You only see the beautiful things, but not considering the negative things. Like racism. Listen to me, I've read the geopolitical information, psychology of the people, and inflation and exchange rate. I know that Europe economy is going down in a few years. Do you really want to live in such a place? Believe me, you don't.
Me: K
WP: Omg, I'm late for a meeting. Which direction to this place?

- - : - -

Me: I'm changing my lifestyle, so I'm cutting back on sugar.

WP: You only want to lose weight, right? You only care about looking skinny. Losing weight is not just about cutting back sugar. Like me, now I'm jogging every night. Do you wanna know how much I lost? I've lost 8 kg. My wife has lost 13 kg.

Me: K

WP: BTW, have you tried Nutella?

Knowing all the facts doesn't make you a smart person, much less a wise person.
You can know a lot, but still be an idiot.

Don't make it too easy for me

During latest family gathering... My COUSIN (yes, my cousin), showing off her second granddaughter (yes, you read that right), hinting at me still unmarried: "See, even my daughter already has two daughters."

I was torn between being nice, "Congratulations."
Or being my sarcastic self, "My condolences."

I just smiled mysteriously, cos my mama said to always be nice, but she also said to always be myself.

English proficiency

Another interesting, thought-provoking conversation with my (other) colleague:

Her: *saying this cannot be done, that cannot be done* It's impossible

Me: Nothing is impossible

Her: Are you endorsing Nike?

Me: What?

Her: I mean Adidas

Me: Oh, you mean "Impossible is Nothing"? That one is "Impossible is Nothing".

Her: ....

Me: Yeah, that's Adidas

Her: Tit for tat, tat for tit, it's the same.
Me: ....

Gloom

First morning without him, and even Singapore is gloomy.

Passion

How do you know what your dream is, you ask? It's when you can't stop thinking about it, until you do something. And once you're doing something to reach that dream, you can't stop moving.

What is passion, you ask? It's when you can't stop yourself from working for it. Even when everyone doubts you, mock you. Even when you question yourself. But you can't help to keep working for it.

Six cities in six days

1. Hanoi - 19 Aug

Had to meet a kabajillion people for this trip. But that means a kabajillion food.

The mandatory pho. Costs just around SGD2 (VND35.000)

Pigeon sticky rice. WHAT?! That's right, pigeon sticky rice.
If you're wondering, pigeon meat tastes like pork but with much softer texture, and minus the smell. 

Got hit by a motorcycle when I was walking in Old Quarter. That's the first. But the driver is so pro that she (yes, it's a SHE) stopped at the right time and "only" nudged on my ankle with her motorcycle front wheel.

2. Vinh - 20 Aug

Yes, that's the airplane we had to take to reach Vinh.
It's by Singapore Airlines.

More food! This time all is homemade.
Can you believe they cooked all of this within a couple of hours!

3. Cửa Lò - 21 Aug

Just about half an hour drive from Vinh, Cua Lo has different atmosphere being right on the side of a beach. And what a beautiful beach it is! We're here, of course, to have dinner of fresh seafood.

Not so impressed by the cookings though, not sure if it's the restaurant's fault or I'm not a fan of the cooking style. Except for the oysters. Well it's oysters. You can't go wrong with them.

4. Da Nang - 22 Aug

Danang is surprisingly clean and safe. I have the vibe of Penang, where we can walk by the roadside because there is a roadside, and because people or cars won't bother you.
Also surprisingly, there's so many Koreans! The annoying thing is, they're all eating Korean food or french fries. That's sad, when you can get these kind of food:

This is hands down the best meal I had in our Vietnam trip this time.
Sun-dried squid, garlic oysters, morning glory (kangkong), mi quang, and beeeeerrrrsss.

The highlight of our dinner time in Da Nang: Cha ca or Vietnamese fishcake, and mi quang or literally the noodles from Quang Nam area: 

The first time I had cha ca in Hanoi, it wasn't to impressive. But this time, it's so mind-blowing, I even finished all the vegetables! Funnily, it's the first time my Vietnamese boyfriend had mi quang, and I proudly claim that I'm the one who told him about it. We liked it so much during our lunch, we just have to find it again for our dinner.

5. Hội An - 23 Aug

Just a half-hour drive from Danang, Hoi An is great for day trip. The UNESCO site is tiny, you can walk around it in one hour. It's very photogenic. Just in a few hours we're there, we saw at least 6 couples doing pre-wedding pictures.

But another highlight is of course the food scene. There's a stretch along the river that's dedicated for food stalls. Some of the things we had are dry pork noodles, mini egg pancake, and Vietnamese pancake (respectively cao lầu, bánh căn, bánh xèo), the last being my absolute favourite.

6. Hue - 24 Aug

We weren't planning to drop by here. It's our last day but our flight is at night. There's nothing much to do in Danang except eating. So we decided to visit Vietnam's ancient capital city instead.

With 2 hours drive away from Danang, it's a bit further that I expected. It feels a bit rushed since we only spent a few hours here.

Who am I kidding, we're just there to eat. Went to the old palace to take a glimpse but we spent more time to eat. Omg, ya'll. If you think Vietnamese food is nice, you should try Central Vietnamese food. I'm so upset with myself that I didn't go there earlier.

Random thoughts from this trip:

• You have to spend at least 2 days in each city of Central Vietnam (Danang, Hoi An, Hue). Because you need at least the space of 3 meals a day to enjoy the food they have to offer.
• That's all, that's all the thoughts I have from this trip, just food-related.

My antinatalist-self: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

1. We all know it's not "a few" sleepless nights.
2. There's no guarantee he will grow up to love and respect you. It is not a given thing, you have to be a respectable person for your children to respect you.
3. Children, like pets, are not blessings, they're responsibilities. I hope more people realise this so we have fewer entitled parents in the world.

20 October 2013

20 October 2013

It's true that we can't help the people who won't help themselves. Apparently, it's not true that when you teach someone how to fish, he'll be able to eat fish for the rest of his life.

When he complained that he doesn't have enough fish to eat, you tell him about fishing. Then he'll complain that he doesn't know how to fish.

When you show him how to fish and even give him a manual on it, he'll complain that he doesn't have the bait.

When you show him where and how to get the bait, he'll complain that he doesn't know where to fish.

When you show him the good places to fish, he'll say he's too tired or not good enough at fishing to catch some fish.

So what's left to do is just to push him into the sea.

Found this old note of mine, and it still holds true even today.

A friend of mine, doesn't want to live in Indonesia anymore. So I told her to find work in another country. She said she can't really speak English. I told her to learn English then. She said it's too difficult.

Another friend of mine, wants to study in another country. So I said go then. What are you waiting for? She said she doesn't have money.
I said, there's a lot of scholarship. She said she doesn't have any info. I told her to ask around; we have friends who got scholarship in other countries before. She said she's too shy to ask.
I said Google it then. She said too many requirements, too difficult.

Then what's left to do for me is just to push them into the sea.

Just kidding.. I've learnt not to give anymore fucks.

The Irish dreams

My boyfriend is being accepted to an Irish university.
It's something that he's planned for a long time, but at the same time, came unexpectedly because he didn't expect to be accepted.

The path to heaven runs through miles of clouded hell.
Right to the top.
Don't look back.

So this is how it feels, getting half of everything.

Going back to writing my own journal.
Queen of My Heart playing in my head.

But it's all for the better.
Soon I'll be going.
Going to the hometown I've never been.

It's time to begin, isn't it?

My Antinatalism Anthem

by Imagine Dragons

When the days are cold, and the cards all fold

And the saints we see are all made of gold

When your dreams all fail

And the ones we hail

Are the worst of all

And the blood's run stale

I wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you

But with the beast inside, there's nowhere we can hide

No matter what we breed

We still are made of greed

This is my kingdom come

This is my kingdom come

At the curtain's call

It's the last of all

When the lights fade out

All the sinners crawl

So they dug your grave 

And the masquerade will come calling out

At the mess you made

Don't wanna let you down

But I am hell bound

Though this is all for you

Don't wanna hide the truth

No matter what we breed

We still are made of greed

This is my kingdom come

This is my kingdom come

They say it's what you make

I say it's up to fate

It's woven in my soul

I need to let you go

Your eyes, they shine so bright

I wanna save that light

I can't escape this now

Unless you show me how

When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes

It's where my demons hide

It's where my demons hide

Don't get too close

It's dark inside

It's where my demons hide

It's where my demons hide

佩佩

The world might be going to shit
but I know everything is alright because I have footages of Lee Pace feeding baby pandas:

I cannot have a normal colleague

I'm glad to report that my colleague with the incredible thoughts have moved back to her home country, ready for spawning. She's at her 2nd spawn right now. I hope she stops at two. I don't think the world can bear any more little incredible thoughts such as hers in this world.

But I can't catch a break. Even before the first is gone, the second came. Not only this second one has some similar incredible thoughts, she's outspoken too.

One outspokenness that bother me is, she really likes to report to me whenever she's going to the toilet for a big business. Or anything that's related to her big business, really. Usually it's verbal, but here's a written evidence of her favourite past time in office:

That's not the first time too. I just didn't get to screenshot her other reports.

I'm flattered that she feels the need to report to her senior in life, but I really do not need to know that particular aspect of her life.

“Planet Earth is the insane asylum of the galaxy.”

- Werner Von Braun 

"Simplicity is underrated."

- Evan T.

I found out how Donald Trump won the presidency.

Nothing changes until you do

“Let him that would move the world first move himself.” 

- Socrates

Love's red flag

More wise words from Matthew Hussey.

Do not fall in love with a fantasy. 

People can change, but only if they want to.

Spotted in Quora

Being rich is surely nice but being filthy rich is overrated.
After you hit US$20 million or something, it is the same nasi goreng afterwards.

-Anonymous in Quora

Heart vs Head

"Love with your heart. Use your head for everything else."

- Alan Melikdjanian

Values

Remember some time ago I had a question: When two persons you respect are disrespecting each other, do you stop respecting either one?

I finally found a concrete answer, which is a resounding YES.

It might not be too clearly black and white. It might not happen immediately. But you will lose your respect for one of them eventually. I found this answer, unfortunately, through personal experiences. I realised, this tendency to lean towards one side is because of our values. Or more precisely, the conflicting of those values.

What are values? No, not the monetary worth of something. I'm talking about the other kind of values:

The principles or standards of behaviour; one's judgement of what is important in life.

Everyone has values. Positive or negative, everyone has their own view of what they hold as important, that they use as the cornerstone of their lives.

For the positive examples, some people value honesty, or honour. So in everything they do, they will try to be honest, or honourable, even though they might get into trouble (Ned Stark, anyone?).

For the negative examples, it could be materialism, the value that put things as more than human beings.

When you respect someone, I find, it's because you have similar values. If you're an honest person, you'll only respect honest people, whether you realise this or not.

So if the 2 people you respect, are disrespecting each other, most probably there's a contradiction of values there. But as we know from a wise man, contradiction cannot exist in one place, so you'll drop one of them in the end.

“Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.”
- Francisco d’Anconia

I find this true in love as well.

We might fall in love because of various reasons. But we stay in love when we share the same values. When a couple in a relationship don't share the same values, you'll see that the relationship will fall apart faster than you can say "Francisco d'Anconia".

Anger

It's ok to be sad. It's also okay to be angry.

“...anger could be thought of as an intermediate emotion. An event happens, the brain doesn't have time (or doesn't want to) to fully process the situation and it needs a reaction, so anger is what's used until there's more time to examine everything in more detail.”^

“It’s the one that tells us we need to take action to put something right,” she says. “Anger is a problem-solving emotion. It gives us strength and energy, and motivates us to act.”^

“Nobody ever gets into trouble for feeling angry. But people sometimes get into trouble for what they do when they feel angry.”^

The Piemaker

"Nobody remembers your father, Ned.
But they do talk about how you turn out to be such a nice, wonderful boy.

Man, even."

- Vivian Charles, Pushing Daisies

If you look back and it makes you smile, 

hold on to it.

If you look back and it makes you angry, 

let go of it.

10,593 days old

My colleagues know I need a new lipstick, and I like my wine.
(Check out my Gudetama photobombing my wine)

Jewels of Italy

We took this picture ourselves from Piazzale Michelangelo.

So I finally visited one of my dream places: Italy! And let me tell you, that place is still dreamy.
We went to 5 cities: Rome, Pisa, Florence, Verona, and Venice, but my favourite is still Florence.

I originally wanted to share every details of my journey to, and in, Italy, but I ended up with 4 pages of essay. I don't want to torture you with that. So let me just start with answering the question I got a lot regarding my trip to Italy: What are your recommendations for Italy?

Well, my recommendation is actually to quit your job, withdraw everything you have in your bank, and just move to Italy already. But since we live in a cruel world with everyone judging us, here are more realistic recommendations:

• You'll need internet there

Having internet is useful anywhere. But especially so for Italy. There are so many places to go, you could be standing next to a famous archaeological site and you wouldn't know. This is why you need to constantly check your Google Map. Also, there's thousands of great neighbourhood eating places, so whenever you're hungry, just whip up your Google, and see if there's one right next to you.

• But don't buy SIM card in the airport

We were checking the SIM card sold in the airport because we're agitated about being disconnected (and Rome airport wifi is not so reliable). But then the seller said €40. We didn't even hear how many Gig of Internet before we said "no thanks". Outside, we still couldn't find a cheap SIM card, but in the end we bought one in Termini Station for €25 that provides 3 Gb of internet. Good enough for 10 days in Italy.

• When in Rome, go to Pane e Salame

Yeah sure, go to Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and be like any other tourists. Or, you can go to Pane e Salame and have a taste of the best prosciutto+wine you'll ever tasted in your life. It is the #1 out of almost 10.000 restaurants in Rome. It's literally 2 minutes walk from Trevi Fountain. So if you can go to the Fountain, you can go to Pane e Salame.

• Walk around Florence

Reserve at least 3 whole days of your trip in Italy just for Florence, and explore the city on foot. This city is BEAUTIFUL. Everywhere you turn is history and art and beauty. All the famous landmarks are within walking distance. The one place you shouldn't miss is Piazzale Michelangelo. This is where you can see Florence in its full glory from a hill (see picture above).
And there's of course the Florence Cathedral, the house of Il Duomo di Firenze. The beauty of it.. something you have to witness for yourself.
My only regret in Florence is that we only had barely a day there. Fret not, my love, I will come back!

• Florentine steak is the food of the gods

You don't know the meaning of delicious if you haven't tasted the Florentine steak. I wasn't even hungry when we went for the steak. But when we were served a 1.2 kg worth of meat +2 side dishes, just for the 2 of us, I licked the plate clean.
The place we went to was Trattoria Osteria Da Que' Ganzi. It's ranked pretty good in TripAdvisor, #56 of 2000+ restaurants in Florence, and they well-deserve their rank.

Look at this beauty.

Other random thoughts about Italy:
- Gelato is overrated, go for wine instead.
- Going during low season like in October is not so bad. It's less crowded and I enjoyed the cool weather.
- Don't go for restaurants, please. PLEASE. The best food (and wine!) are from the small eating places.
- Fun fact: There are ancient water fountains in Rome that still work and we can still drink the water. They also have a few of these in Venice, but I didn't see it in Florence. So there's no need to buy bottled water, just refill your empty wine bottles with these water fountains.
- Why, oh why, wasn't I born in Italy T.T

And last but not least, always remember:

 "It is a good life we lead, brother." 

"The best. May it never change." 

"And may it never change us."

Antinatalism

So I wasn't crazy,

     there's a word for it.

So I wasn't losing my mind,
     there's a philosophy about it.

So I'm not alone,
     there's followers of it.

Liar, liar on the wall

What sickening about liars is not that they lie.
But they have no remorse for their lies.

What sickening about childish people is not their immaturity.
But what they do that hurt the people around them.

Phuket

Finally, we visited Phuket.
Thailand's biggest island (almost as big as Singapore), which is also the favourite for foreigner.

It reminds me a lot of Bali, though. I still thought I was in Indonesia even on the second day. Doesn't mean it's a bad thing! I get to explore the hilly island on a bike. Great food, friendly people, beautiful beaches calling you to sleep the whole day without any worries, what's not to love!

Here are a few memorable things (among many!) I experienced there:

• Did I say food?

From street food to restaurant food, local food to Western food. Just pick a random seller, it'd most probably be delicious.

• Uber ist not gut

Unlike Jakarta, Uber is is not that much cheaper from Taxi services. In fact, there is actually no Uber in Phuket. The market is monopolised by Grab (at least as of Sept 2016). We spent about SGD35 to go from airport to our resort (one way!). But Grab still offers the convenience of just keying in your location+destination in the app, and you can just sit prettily for your pickup.

• They don't know Cha Tra Mue!

This is probably the only "disappointment" we have. The first thing we look for in Thailand, of course, the famous Thai tea. But apparently the Thai tea we know is actually more of Bangkok tea, only famous in Bangkok.

• Phuket is not cheap at all

Contrary to popular Singaporean beliefs that Thailand is cheap, Phuket is not.
Sure you can get views like this when you eat at a restaurant:

But the pricing is almost exactly like Singapore. Around $10-$18 per dish.
But then again, the service is waaaaaay better than Singapore. Good thing is, most restaurants accept cards, so if you don't mind the 3% charge, swipe away!

• But it can get very cheap if you know how

Taxi/Grab is expensive, yet the tourist spots are quite far away from each other. It's way better to rent a bike. A car is good too, but the roads there are narrow, so, take your pick.
Don't miss the Weekend Market, or as the locals know it: Naka Weekend Market. There are plenty of cheap but nice items for souvenirs and a plate of any food is only around THB25, which equals to SGD1 --ONE DOLLAR! We stayed there for about 3 hours just to eat miscellaneous things.

That's a quick recap of my adventure in this famous island. It's too bad that I didn't get to explore the surrounding island like Phi Phi or James Bond island. But that'd be another adventure for another chapter.

Next stop: Lifelong dream (guess where!)

Incredible thoughts

I have this REALLY interesting colleague who always says magical things. This is basically my face every time she says something:

She's been entertaining me from May 2014. And her latest pearl of thought is so incredible that I can't resist the temptation to share it here:

"so cool, no wonder they still enjoy working under great pressure of productivity."

So cool
                           No wonder how

they still enjoy working

under great pressure of productivity.

Under great pressure of productivity.

Under great pressure of productivity.

Under great pressure of productivity.

A t-shirt material right there:

Some of her other incredible thoughts include, but not limited to:

•  The meaning of STD does not make sense

• Google search is down (but it's ok if you turn it off then on again)

"Incredible thoughts, incredible minds
I'm so overwhelmed
How did her brain conceive them?!'

The groove

"It's always good to see people who are.... aspirational," she said as she closed the conversation.

Image of God

"...if man is made in the image of his god, and man is a corrupt entity
- wouldn’t it stand to reason that god is a corrupt entity?"

Jika manusia diciptakan menurut rupa tuhan, dan manusia adalah sebuah wujud yang curang
- bukankah sebuah argumen yang benar untuk mengatakan bahwa tuhan adalah sebuah wujud yang curang?

- The Day I Lost My Faith

Why are we trying to save the world?
What has the world done for us, except hates us.

Kenapa kita berusaha menyelamatkan dunia?

Apa yang sudah dunia ini berikan pada kita, selain kebencian.

-Inspired by Harley Quinn and her love for Puddin'

Lessons today

"Being nice is not something to do."

- Two Worlds, ep. 2

"It's better to be the enemy of a good person,
than to be a friend of a bad one.

Lebih baik menjadi musuh seseorang yang baik, daripada menjadi teman orang yang jahat.

-Anonymous 

A weekend well-spent

I think I've never written anything about my travels. I need to make it a habit so I can have written memories about the interesting things in my life.

So, first ever travel journal: Jakarta.

I haven't been there since forever. I can't even remember since when... Was it 2007 or 2008, or after that. 

Didn't really want to ever visit Jakarta because the traffic is traumatic. 

But a close friend is getting married so we have a excuse reason to go. 

I have to say this time the experience has been much better.
Jakarta is kinder to me this time.

• There was less traffic. 

It helps, of course, that I arrived at 11 pm on Friday and went to the airport on 3 pm on Monday. And I was late meeting people most of the time, but hey, at least I got to meet them on the same day instead of the next day!

• Uber ist gut

Seriously. It's much better than taking Taxi. It comes immediately, and it's dirt cheap. I was pleasantly surprised.

• Partying, partying, hey!

Got to go some fancy places in Jakarta, like the Cloud Lounge. The place is meh, but what's good is I got to meet some old friends (and new)! The rare kind souls that I was lucky enough to befriend.

And not forgetting the best thing about visiting Indonesia: FOOD

 Bebek goreng and nasi bakar.

LOTS OF FOOD:

Mi kepiting, sate babi, churros + Spanish coffee.

Gado-gado, and siomay Bandung.

And a lot more, but too many to list here. 

I might not be back to Jakarta any time soon, but now I have a better memory of this crowded city.

Next stop: Phuket!

Innie Outtie

Introverts are like a closed book, which you have to open and read yourself. Some have a lock you can't open, some can't be read because it's written in different language, some can't be understood even after you read it.

Extroverts are like audio-book that has an autoplay function, which off or pause button is so hidden, it's seldom can be found.

(Yeah, yeah, that's not what introvert/extrovert mean, but that's how I see them)