We went to surprise Diana yesterday. Apparently, there are 4 people that I know that share the same birthday, oct30, georgia, yyw, diana n him(sung).

For some reason, I was reminded of that hurtful incident again. I was reminded of his b'day last yr, how i initiated the idea of small party for him by inviting jj and all. I even made him a card (well, not the best card, but at least I have the sincerity). And not to forget all the house cleaning, cooking, accomodating him ... And what did I get? The second worst moment of my life thus far, the most hurtful, desolated chinese new year and birthday ever in my twenty years! 伤心，孤独，狼狈...

It's really difficult... i though i could be strong, be brave, but i'm still very weak, very foolish! Still foolish enough to shed tears because of this again.

To make matter worse, some people just have to rub it in, opening the wound again, and making it deeper, more painful.

Anyway, there are some photos from past weeks events that I attended- Japanese night and the Multicultural children fair that my org. attended. We had to do last minute preparation on Wed for the Thursday fair :( It was rather crazy, and I ended with gastric pain >.<

J-night

Tusuk sate (making Satay) after J-night for tmr's Idul Fitri celebration

Multicultural Children Fair

Angklung

Wayang
The boy is cute, isn't he?

Went to OKC today. My cousin asked me to. I was rather surprised that they could remember to ask me along. Usually, they just couldn't be bothered about me. Anyway, if they ask, I won't decline. So went to OKC after ... dunno hw many months. I think the last time I went there to shop was when I just reached okc from indo. Nonetheless, bought some stuffs and then went to a Vietnamese noodle restaurant to eat dinner and we heard the owners quarrelling in Vietnamese. We were quite scared. If we knew what they were talking, it would make us feel a little better, but we didnt' know what's going on. So we quickly ate our food and left.

Liverpool lost to Besiktas!!! Hyypia scored 2 own goal in two consecutives games!!! Blaming him alone may not be fair, but still, may be he's too old now =S Retirement may be? And i couldn't believe that Arsenal scored 7 goals! 7!!! My m'sians friends here were over the moon! I watched Barcelona match on Espn. They should have been given penalty!

I'm still not talking to him... And It really, really,really irritates me when people who know about this "cold war" btw us PRETENDS not to know about it! It really pisses me off. I mean, you know we are not in good terms and his siblings are the middle men, so stop asking me to ask him or tell him stuffs directly! You KNOW, so STOP PRETENDING!!!! Stop pissing me off!!

It's HAILING!!!!
My first ever experience of hail! I'm so glad I was not outside at that moment. Oh well, how could i possibly be outside that late on a Sunday night? Anyway, I was so shocked to see it's hailing. It was noisy when it first hailed. I wondered why there was such a noise on my window. I looked out and there were ice! haha... Cool and scary to sum it up!

Just had my exam :S Not so good. I wasn't really prepared for it. Shouldn't have studied with Aaron... he talked a lot. But he talked to Viking mostly :P Poor him. Felt guilty for asking him to come to study together.

On Sunday, we had Halal Bihalal to celebrate Idul Fitri. There were nice food and I got a taste of American Football. Around 12 of us played football after lunch. It was rather fun, and my team won! haha... then, we were called back to clean up, but when we got back, the place was more or less cleaned. Felt guilty again, but what were we to do, we were young and energetic! Haha... Anyway, the internet connection was bad nowadays. It keeps disconnecting every 10 minutes.

Another thing to complain was that i hate the new concept for Pistol Pizza, the restaurant that i'm working in. The new assistant manager was trying to change the restaurant into an italiano restaurant in the evening... the problem is none of us (except her may be) is fully prepared for this new thing. Last night, we were mostly lost at what to do. Orders were missing, food were taking too long to be prepared and customers were waiting for their orders for a long time. I wanted to change Job! And i'm not the only one who's saying this. Yoshi and Hiro also wanted to quit. But resigning now would be irresponsible of me. Even now, they were still short-handed. Never mind if I resigned. *sigh* I'm so not looking forward to work tonight!

on the lighter now, Gerrard led England to victory. He should be the captain not John Terry! Ok, biasness on my side :P

Texas was.... bigger than oklahoma :P Everything is bigger in Texas as the saying goes... The trip was rather fun. And I managed to go to the cities that I wanted to though only for a brief stop.

Day 1:

departed at 8pm (typical indonesians) then numerous stops on the way "toilet" break (it was more like a cigarette break for the 3 smokers... ) Then we had lunch at some ulu food court. Expensive and bland chinese food. There after, we had to be troubled by hotel issues. We looked through the coupon and many didn't offer discounts on weekends. See.....when I suggested to book hotels on the internet, some people (my I-know-better twin cousins) said that it's cheaper if you can get coupons... we been there(dallas only) so many times, we know... blah blah blah.... We managed to get a cheap one (and for some reason I got a feeling that it won't be that good) but it turned out to be worse than I expected. We reached the place and it was located in a very ulu street. Very quiet and everywhere looked deserted and old... One of the guy was saying that he didn't want to lose his kidney! So we searched for another hotel and found one with a vacant room but it was expensive.

After a brief rest, we proceed to the famous RiverWalk... it was sooooo crowded with people. We decided to take the cruise around the river. It was nice at first, but i became sleepy after sometime :S And I was so hungry... after the cruise we went to pick a restaurant... we didn't know what to eat many were mexican food and no one wanted it for dinner so we ended up eating at a restaurant that sold western food. It was special to eat at the open restaurant, but I didn't really enjoy the stares of the passers-by. Yeah, the food was expensive too!

Day 2:

Shopping at San Marcos' Prime Outlet. It was a very big shopping complex where you can find almost all your favorite boutiques from Gap to Gucci to Armani... We were there for like 6 hours but my shopping appitete was still not full! Should have not taggedthe twins or let them tagged us. They didn't want to shop anymore cause they had spent enough, but they have no right to prevent others to shop!!!!

At night, we went to the Ripley's Haunted Adventure... I was scared even before we reached there.

Tommy A was trying to be funny with the "ghost". His face was scary! and I wonder how he could keep his eyes wide open without blinking for a long time!

The after, we went to see the records at Guinness World record museum next door. And across the road was The Alamo (below).

Day 3:

End of our Texas trip. We stopped at Austin for lunch... Got to see a part of UT (University of Texas)... i wish I was in UT not OSU! The campus was so vibrant and big!!!

Posing in front to the bus! Haha... Happy to set foot at Austin but wished we went to see the state capitol and more parts of Austin!

Below: The Old Red Museum in Dallas that I could only see from a far on the car :( The building was so nice....

We had dinner in Dallas at a Singaporean restaurant but the food was disappointing... Butter Prawn --> prawn with egg??? Kangkong with belacan and not spicy *sigh*

Yeah! Fall break is here!!!! Going to Texas tmr for 3 days. Finally, I am able to get out of stilly during the school break. The plan was soooo indecisive till last minute :S Hope we could have fun and most importantly be SAFE.

Indra sprained his ankle just now... Not sure if he can joined us. Hope he can, but had to see how his ankle is tomorrow morning... *sigh* after the break, i will be having 2 exams!!!

We watched "the way home" a korean movie (i watched it before on Ch. U ...hui jia) during religion class (it has something to do with taoism and confucianism). It was soo touching... The movie reminded me of my grandma and my parents... how as a child I weren't able to appreciate what they have done to me and easily threw my tantrum whenever I wanted, not thinking that I had made things difficult for them. I'm sorry >.<

Went to Roni's house to celebrate his 21st B'day last nite.

The b'day boy

After cake war and being thrown with flour

Cake War!!!

I won the ISO (international Student Association) Olympics Women's Badminton double!!! finally got a "gold olympic" medal. Haha... There're only 5 teams playing and 2 teams forfeited. So, we waited for malaysia to beat Nepal and then we played them. We, Ani and I, were so darn nervous. Who won't when 13 supporters were at the sideline, cheering you loudly and VISIBLY. It's enough to make one nervous to know that we were playing in a final game, but knowing that u were watched by 13 others, it was double the nervousness. I was so nervous and rather"embarrased" by my friends' loud cheer (vs. 5 supporters from M'sia) that I actually blushed! First time ever, I blushed during a match. It's definetely not from breathlessness from running around the court as I didn't run much.

Anyway, I didn't bring camera yesterday for the badminton match, but i took some photos during the vollyball match. Do note that we played BASKETBALL, prior to a VOLLEYBALL match! haha... yesterday, one of the guys even joked that the warm-up for badminton was chatting! LOL

Vasodilation! I hate it when it happened. I looked so red as read as a tomato!!!! Those at 3e1 who saw my face before after the soccer practice during PE should have remembered what I looked like. It happened again after playing badminton just now, and I just played for like 5 min of single with Viking! Have to run so much...hate single!

Anyway, Mbak Yuyun won! Yeah! Hope india would be easy...the match against Vietnam just now was rather difficult. The Viet. girl was good! Go mbak Yuyun...Can't watch gotta work :( If colvin center was near enough, I could have sneak out there during my 10 min break. Haha... My double match with Ani will be on Tuesday against Africa... Never saw them played they didn't come for the single match... hope they don't come on Tuesday too :P I'm so bad, I know.... Haha...

got exam tmr. If I didn't do well tmr, I think I and you would know why. FYI, I did study last night and this afternoon before "relaxing" by watching the badminton match. haha...

The 5 indonesians boy were on the far left

Me and Indra(the new kid.Haha...)

We have Olympics games for the International students here.

Last Saturday, there's a soccer match between Malaysia and India. Some indonesians joined the malaysian team... My cousins and I decided to watch since we didnt' really have anything to do. But before that, we went to play badminton...so nice nobody playing...and no Indian to snatch the courts...the Indians always snatched the court. The other time, when we're still playing, 2 indian guys purposely played basketball to "scare" us away...and whenever I moved back to hit the shuttlecock, one of them would make "shoo shoo" sound. sooo inconsiderate!I was real fed up and I decided to play longer than I wanted!

Sooo irritatinggggg!!!

They know I need to practice to learn how to drive a car in order to get my license.
But if they never ask me to, I don’t really want to ask them!
I mean hello, THEY KNOW I NEED to PRACTICE, but they tried very hard to ignore the problem, so what can I do???

So, please dad, stop bugging me about it!!!!

I don’t want to ask them! Cause I know what their reaction would be. They would just say that they would ask their bro and then they would be reluctantly teach me (if I’m lucky enough for ONE time only. Yeah, only ONCE , cause I only ask them for once!!!
So I have to keep asking them. I know my place, I’m not that shi chang lan da!!!!

Mama would have understood my situation!!!!

IOSA had an activity mart on Thurday afternoon. It's aim was to increase awareness of our organization in the campus. Anyway, not many came by. But we had some fun chatting and joking around at our booth.

There's this big obstacle course the one that I always see in disney channel. Risma kept bugging people to play with her. In the end, since I also wanted to tried it out, I accompanied her.

The wind was sooo strong and it was so high up. I was a little scared ...

We had IOSA (indonesian overseas student association) election today. It wasn't like any normal election i have had before. It's kinna informal, very informal. We had pot luck dinner and then followed by follow up of what the organization been doing for the past year. Then, we discussed about the next committee members, they called them officers here. What luck! I was nominated as secretary and yeah, without much voting i became one >.< It's like we just had a verbal discussion of the officers and the person nominated didn't really have much choice. Anyway, I do hope I would do a good job doing it. I've never been a secretary before and from the past experiences, I didn't really like being in a committee. First meeting this Saturday.

I'm soooo ashamed of myself! I just realized how spoilt a child I am! Well, I know i'm spoilt- my mum always do most of the things (cook, laundry...) for me, then any other technical stuffs, my dad is always there to fix it.But I just don't know that i'm that spoilt. So, here I am in USA and i find myself lost not knowing what to do when things happened. Yeah, even after a year in USA, I should at least learn how to be independent and do things on my own, right? For the record, I cook and do my own laundry, but for the most of the things that my dad used to do for me, I'm still trying to do those myself...

Anyway, now that I have some friends already, I tend to ask them for help instead. Haha...

What I'm trying to share here is that the chain of my bicycle came loose (or whatever the term is). Basically, I couldn't paddle the bike. I tried to meddle with the chain, but didn't quite know what to do.

When at work, I tried to ask Sho, he's a new worker, a Japanese (many japanese there), if he had a bike or if he knew how to fix my bike. He doesn't have a bike (as he has a car). But he offered to take a look at my bike and see what he can do. I was quite surprise by this sudden kind gesture. So we exchanged numbers.

After 3pm, he called me to say that he's outside my apt and he brought 2 other friends, Hiro and Koichi (they worked at pistol too and Koichi just lived NW from my apt).Hiro managed to fix the chain of my bike in like seconds, and he did this while I was on the phone with Sho, making my way to the front door. Hiro said, "You should know how to fix this yourself" I tried to defend myself by saying that I tried to move the chain, but it wouldn't move. Revelation it was when he told me that I should move the lower chain not the top. 3 guys looking at me as if i'm dumb (actually, i think only Hiro did). I'm not dumb, just ignorant (nvr pay attention when dad fixed my bike, cause I just left him to do all the work and enjoyed myself :P ) Still, I really feel stupid! May be I shouldn't have agreed to Sho's offer. If I knew he would bring 2 other people... but of course he had to ask for help. He doesn't really know how to fix bike and if he came alone it would be like the blind leading the blind. Well, I think I do need this "wake up call"!

Anyway, Liverpool trashed Toulouse 4-0!!!

I thought I wouldn't care. But then, why did I catch myself looking out of the window to check if the black toyota camry is in the parking lot or not? Most of the time, it weren't there. The emptiness that filled the house started to creep into my heart. I felt bitter, hurt, and these feelings started to sting my eyes... but each time, i told myself not to be such a fool again. I've shed enough tears, so don't waste anymore of it on this.

I had to learn to ignore these feelings. This isn't new. But yeah, i'm foolish enough to create some sort of bogus hope. Hope! No more of it in our relationship, for sure. If they ask me, the sun would have risen from the West! Anyway, it's good isn't it. I'm already being excluded, the odd one out. Moving out, being on my own just justified it. We won't need to put up false pretence anymore.

I went to visit Yuriko yesterday. She showed me around fifth floor of Parker dormitory. I took a look at the public bathroom, and I couldn't think of myself not having a bathroom in my own place! Yuriko is going to Oregon as an exchange student next semester (otherwise, we could be roommate next spring). Now, i'm thinking of following her footstep of applying to be an exchange student. Then, I wouldn't be stuck in this boring (and sorrowful) Stillwater anymore! And I still don't know if I should apply for the school scholarship or not :S I wish I was Peterpan never having to grow up and worry about so many things!

On the lighter note, I have finished decorating my apt. Since there're two rooms and only me, I decided to turn the bigger one into my bedroom and the other one into my study room. Here are some of the photos.

Living Room

Photo corner

Bedroom

Study Room
My Fridge!

Haven't been blogging for a while. Busy moving house, working and fall semester has started since Monday! The lessons are rather boring, except for Marketing. The teacher rocks!And guess what? I'm in the same class as Roni, and Asagi in Management. First time having someone I know in the same class!

Work was crazy on Monday and Tuesday! Order kept coming non-stop. We didn't have time to take any break at all! I even had to leave 2o minutes later on Monday just to help make some orders as most of the people were new. Now, we had to pay for our food. We couldn't just take any food like we used to. But we got 50% off though. Well, at least today's not that crazy. It was slow after 8pm, and we left earlier today!

Thunder! Thunderstorm coming this weekend. It was so hot monday through Thursday.... well erratic Oklahoma weather!

Yuriko invited me to visit her dorm room. I want to go there tomorrow afternoon, but if it rains heavily...Well, I saw Farrell's room just now. I guess Yuriko's would be more or less the same. I always thought dorm room would have a bathroom till today! I don't think I want to live in a dorm anymore!

Finally, I got myself a handphone :D

Liverpool should have beaten Chelsea. Stupid referee, stupid penalty!

Happy Birthday Deng Lao Shi!!!!
Photos from those who went back to give her a nice lil celebration. Wish I was there too :S



Hope your wishes come true, lao shi!

I'm finally back at this quaint Stillwater. Our trip was not as smooth as we planned it, but it could be worse. We were stranded on the plane for 6 freaking long hours. Thought that we could save some time by taking the non-stop flight from SIN-LAX, but in the end, we had to wait for 6 hours on the plane after we landed as the computer system in the custom was down. Then, we went to the hotel for the night. Luckily, I booked the hotel already. Otherwise, we would be spending the night at the airport. Hotels were fully booked due to the computer break-down. Before that, we couldn't watch the movies as the movie system for our row was down. WE could only play games :S

As if things couldn't be worse, when we checked in for the domestic flight, we were told that our luggage was over the weight limit of 50lbs. Ani & Ana had to pay $100 for the 2 luggage. Actually, there were four, but they were only charged for 2 *grin* (later, we learnt that international passengers are allowed up to 70lbs)! The price to pay for experience! Mine was 1.5 lbs heavier, but wasn't charged.

ONly 1 sticker came out for my luggage and I had 2! I weren't allowed to print anymore by the stupid com! Anyway, I then decided to carry the smaller luggage and when we reached the custom (the scanning), I just remembered that I had shampoo n lotion in the luggage. WE quickly got out of the queue and panickly thought of things that we could do with the luggage. Then, i decided to queue at the "odd-size luggage check-in". It had the shortest line and I thought I could just ask the person in-charge if there's anyway I could check in my luggage again. As it turned out, he just asked me for my boarding pass and as my flight was delayed till 1.30 pm (it was 10.30am), there was still time to transfer my luggage and ta da, I could check in my luggage. I was actually rather surprised that it was so smooth! But i couldn't complain, can I? *phew. Enough trouble for 2 days already! Kinna worried when I next travel!

Also, my uncle passed away on Sunday. He looked okay when we visited him on Friday....

second time proves to be harder

my departureday islooming closer and closer day by day. In the blink of an eye, it will be Saturday, and it's time to say goodbye again...till next year? Three months seem long, but it's not long enough. I know it's inevitable, but stil it's hard to accept. The second time proves to be more difficult. This time I would not have my family as companion, I could not take solace in the unknown for I know what to expect, and what awaits my return.

Stillwater ain't that bad. It's where:
- I got a real taste of absolute independence.
-I earned my first penny.
-I did my household chores by myself.
-I was able to return home in the wee hours without feeling guilty for worrying my mum.
-I felt homesick to be bone- missing my family and friends like never before. And hence, I'm able to live with it. Trained my emotional toughness, I would say)
-I know that there's such thing as "second class cousin" and how it felt to be one. (this isn't a good one, but again training my emotional toughness, and learnt that who you consider relatives may be worse off than your friends whom you share no blood tie with).

Still, I yearn for the other S- Singapore!

alma mater

I retraced my footsteps, walked down the memory lane on Friday. I was filled with nostalgia walking into the school compound. Two years since I graduated, but the school still looked the same. Some minor changes here and there, but it's still looked the same as when I was a student there.

The parade square when we had to religiously go every morning before the start of lesson to sing the national anthem, the garden, the staff room, the classrooms, the science practical labs...the teachers. For four years, 6 hours, sometimes 8 to 10 hrs, a day five to six times a week, I spent my time there- learning, building rapport...sleeping, daydreaming(who don't?). I know I would miss those time, but it never occurred to me that I would miss them sooooo sooooo much, especially last year when I started my uni edu. in a foreign land. How I miss the classrooms, how I miss my classmates, how I miss my teachers and their teaching methods!

From third floor to the first, we walked through the classroms, the physic, biology, chemistry labs. I never liked science practical much, but looking at the empty lab, images for us in there diligently trying to finish our practical came back before me. We scratched our brain trying to figure out where're our classroom and others used to be 2 years ago.

My alma mater... holds my many bitter-sweet memories of my 4 years of secondary school life. It's where I met my closer friends, it's where I gained knowledge, it's where I went through the toughest period of my academic life thus far.