Filed under: ramblings
This week Indiana is hotter than Texas ! This is crazy. Last night around 8pm I came home to my 96 degree hot apartment. It felt like I was in a sauna. I sat down watching tv and the sweat kept running down my neck and my back. Gilee ! After a couple hours of air conditioning, the temp is till in the high 80’s, still warm. It’s finally back to normal around midnight.
My weekend in Texas was so short. It is never enough :p Although I left Thursday evening, pretty much 1 day was gone because we both had to work on Friday. Hendrik didn’t even come home early :p We didn’t go anywhere the whole weekend other than trips to the grocery store and Home Depot. He mowed the lawn, spread fertilizer for the grass. There were a lot of brown patches.. this summer is too hot ! We watched Closer .. hmmm don’t know how to describe it.. hehe not exactly my kind of flick 
but it’s alright .
We had dinner with some friends, 3 other couples, at Pao’s Mandarin House. The food was superb. I wonder why Hendrik never brought me there till this past weekend. Sunday morning, I made bakut teh and batagor. We ate the batagor with pecel spinach + boiled egg hehehe.. *pake apa aja yg ada*
Btw, since Hendrik returned from Indo, he’s had this new vision about our future, as if he received some kind of enlightenment hahaha.. I shall talk about this next time :p
Okies.. back to my Korean drama 
After being delayed for 2 hours, my plane finally landed in Austin at 1.10 AM this morning ! Poor Hendrik waited for me for an hour at the airport. He said according to the flight status on Delta website, I would arrive at midnight. Anyway we reached home at exactly 2AM..
I subscribed myself and Hendrik to several new magazines today .. adding to our already long list of subscriptions.. It’s because I saw a big notice on his desk showing "This is your last issue of Maxim" .. so I asked him if he wants to renew it.. .He said he’s interested in a new gadget magazine called Sync .. so I began my search for a the best deal as usual.. ^__^ Thanks to Google, I found a free 10-issue-subscription within seconds :p hahaha . So that’s done …hehehe…then using MagazinePriceSearch, I found Maxim for only $3.43 a year ! No need to think at all ! Cheap cheap cheap! I renewed Hendrik’s subscription for 2 years !
I saw so many other ridiculously cheap subscriptions! I really don’t understand how subscription prices could be this low !! We can get a 1 year subscription for only twice the cover price of an issue! For example, the RollingStone magazine sells for $3.95 / issue. Regular subscription price is around $13 for 26 issues (50 cent each), which is already huge savings ! But today I found this crazy deal of $5.91 for 78 issues (8 cent each!!). But we both don’t read that magazine.. hehe so I pass on that.
I usually always buy something at the airport for reading materials. You know most magazines are like $3-$4 at retail. Why would I spend $3 for an issue of a magazine that I could get for a year for only $5 ! I probably should stick to news / entertainment mags like People, US Weekly, and such if I want buy at the newsstand because those magazines subscriptions are much much more expensive. 1 year subscription to People is almost $100. hehehe *Nggak mau rugi ah*
I already have Cosmopolitan, SELF, and MarieClaire subscriptions, but I think they’re expiring, I think I’ve received some renewal postcards… but I don’t plan to renew them cus I got tired of reading the same things for years :p Especially Cosmo.. I find it boring these days .. probably because I’ve been reading that magazine for 6 years ?! They’ve pretty much recycled the same articles again and again and I have a lot of catching up to do too.. MarieClaire is pretty good, but I still have a stack of them that I haven’t read.. ( I blame korean drama hehehe )
Hendrik too actually already got a lot of magazines to read His PC Mags and Business Week are still active. Btw he just renewed his PC mags for 3 years last March for $49!! *It’s a good deal, but mahal banget kalo dibanding sama yg laen2* Something I wouldn’t have done myself :p hehe but again, that’s the difference between me and him .. he just can’t wait when he wants something ..
Today, I signed myself up for 2 years of Forbes ( only $4 ! quite a replacement for Cosmo huh ? ^_^ ) , 2 years of GQ for Hendrik ( also only $4 ! ) … ah the feeling of satisfaction
Next time I’m thinking of getting a Golf and or Auto magazine for yayang, some Shopping magazines, and Bridal magazines for me ? huheuhe but don’t get any idea though.. Nothing is in the plan !! I think it’s just fun looking at those gowns and reading those articles… Maybe I can start clipping the pictures / articles if I see something I like.. hehehe Which girl doesn’t dream of planning her wedding day ? .. but again, I must stress this.. No, my friends, you won’t be receiving any invitation anytime soon :p
I remember Lia started reading and buying many many Bridal magazines since her senior year in Purdue :p hahaha that’s all she read if we went to Barnes n Noble.. *Martha Stewart Wedding itu paling bagus yah Li ?* humm can’t wait to attend Acis&Lia’s wedding in January !
Filed under: geek
My new toy : earth.google.com …. Kereeeeeen buanget !!!
Filed under: ramblings
this morning i was desperately searching for a plane ticket to Austin for this weekend.. this was my first time buying ticket this last minute, and this will be my last time too !
usually i would just searched orbitz or sidestep, and then buy the ticket from the airline directly to save on some $5-$10 service fee. ..but today i prolly searched every single website available out there… even though i knew they would all show the same thing, i still want to get the best deal.. i also searched different time, different depart date ( thursday night, friday all day, saturday morning ) and different return date ( sunday, monday morning )….
guess what… everything is above $400 !!!.. i already complained a lot when i had to pay $300~ for my last few trips … and now $440 ???
next i searched the frequent flyer reward reservation.. i don’t have that much miles left .. I’ve redeemed two roundtrip tickets since January.. I really wasn’t expecting much from the reward choices.. usually it’s very limited .. and it was.. i found one itinerary that would work for me except that it’s returning from austin at 2pm on sunday… i never return that early.. every hour with yayang is precious.. hehehe.. i’d rather arrive in indy at midnight than coming back early :p .. but looks like i don’t have any other choice..
actually i could also wait till tomorrow or wednesday, for the weekly email weekend deals.. which requires a saturday departure and return on monday or tuesday, usually only $150 .. but nothing’s guaranteed… last week i was expecting for that too, but it wasn’t available..
if i wait any longer, even the reward seats might not be available… so i just decided to use my miles again… but because my travel date is within 3 days..there is a ticketing fee of $75 + the $5 reward redemption fee. ..
anyway.. $80 and -25,000 miles later.. i will be in austin by Thursday midnight 
.. yep, Thursday.. hehe i’m gonna work from Austin on Friday :p hehehe
Filed under: ramblings
My boss told me today that he just got a $3,500 bill for me. I was like, "What ?? What did I do ?? " Then he showed me the email that he received, it turned out to be the visa extension fee ( I guess including lawyer fee etc). Suddenly I was reminded that that I’m getting this invisible benefit. Not every company is willing to sponsor H-1B visas, and sometimes even if they are willing, they will ask to share the cost, if not ask us to pay for it ourselves. I’ve worked for my company for 3.25 years, and they’ve spent at least $7,000 for my visa plus some more for my greencard applications ( which is too complicated to explain, but someday I plan untuk ngebahas itu di sini ) .. That is more than $10,000 that doesn’t have to come out of my own pocket .. I’m so lucky …
Filed under: ramblings
Finally…. after a month.. after work I could use the speed dial on my cellphone again to call my dear hunny. .. He arrived in LA at 1.30PM .. and he even managed to get some Singapore’s delectable rou-gan (dendeng) pass the custom / immigration dogs… hahaha.. Those are the only thing I told him to get for me this time.. When he asked me what I want from home, I just couldn’t think of anything.
He was put on the stand-by-list to the only flight to Austin at 5.25PM. He was told that the flight was fully booked, so he just had to wait at the gate until boarding time. But I checked on the AA website and I still could bought a ticket… so I’m pretty sure there’s still a seat available so I told him not to worry.. Worst case, he’ll have to spend a night in LA, or he could catch a later flight to Dallas, and spend the night in Dallas, which is a much safer bet, cus there are so many flights to Austin out of Dallas.
So I was ready to book him a hotel room when he called me again an hour ago… and he made it! He got a boarding pass! he’s now on his way to Austin.. will get there at 10.30PM, and his coworker will pick him up.
I was planning to fly to Austin this weekend.. but looks like that’s not going to happen. First of all I don’t have a ticket. Second of all, he’s dead tired and would really want peace :p And third of all, I’m also very tired .. this week has been crazily busy.. and I might even have to work a little this weekend..
Next week I’m counting on the cheap last minute deal to Austin .. hopefully *cross fingers* there will be one ! Can’t wait to see him again.. Seems like it’s been forever since last time we met ..
I’ve been super busy at work the past two days.. and I expect to be busy this whole week. *sigh* … on one hand, I become more productive at times like this ( my project is way late past the deadline ).. on the other hand, i also dont like working under a lot of pressures ..
Just got a call from home. My parents just came back from a 2-week-*adventure* trip to China. They didn’t go to the typical big cities.. this time they went for the scenery and nature tours. I honestly have no idea where they went.. but that’s what I know. I thought last time they went they also did something like that ? I remember seeing at the pictures and hearing the stories how it was very tiring to get to the top of a mountain in China a couple of years ago…
and Alex is now in Taiwan. He’s gonna be there for a month !! A MONTH !!
Something impossible to do if one works here.. When I first heard
about this, I was like, GILAAA Whatcha gonna do for a month ? Enakkk buanget .. I don’t know any more detail about this other than he’s on some kind of Taiwanese government sponsored program that promotes their tourism?? ermm something like that. Vanessa might know better about this .. :p
I lost count already, how many times have my family gone on a oversea trip while I’m here ? :’( Well I’ve been here almost 8 years now.. I can’t believe it either..8 years !! I was barely 17 when I first left… and I’m gonna be 25 this year !!! huaaaaaa !!! * quarter life crisis *
Btw my Mom also said that when Lung2 called last night, he was with Hendrik in Takashimaya. aaaaargh why is everyone else having fun ??
Anyway back to oversea trips subject.. I really really enjoy travelling.. but who knows when I’ll be able to visit all those places in my long-and-keep-growing list. I know for sure that as long as I’m still working for somebody else and living in this country, I’m gonna have limited vacation days which I will need to save to go HOME. :’(
Next, on my must-go-soon list is Canada ! It’s so close yet I still haven’t set my foot in that land. Now that yayang has secured a US visa valid for a year, I must use this opportunity to ask him to go to Vancouver/Toronto sometime soon heheheheheh…..
Filed under: ramblings
We had been planning this kayak/canoe trip for weeks. We chose Griffy Lake in Bloomington, and decided to do a BBQ for lunch. Kas & family was to bring the main food, ayam perchik, meehoon goreng ( but she made kwetiaw instead ), I bought some chips+ salsa, and some corns, Magda & Yuldi were bringing the desserts, and Arine & Andy were bringing the drinks.
So we all got there around 1PM, but was dissapointed with the lake … actually now I thought it wasn’t that bad.. but when we got there it really didn’t look like what I’d imagined :p … so, we were thinking of going to Blue’s Canoe Livery, which was 1.5 hour away ..and closer to Columbus .. but everybody was hungry, so we drove to a nearby park to eat.
It was a long picnic by the time we all finished eating it’s already 4 pm.. i guess we missed the window to go kayaking / canoeing .. hehehe .. i really want yayang to be here next time and then i can be in the same canoe with him :p ..
btw he’s coming back this week ! just talked to him on the phone, today’s his last day in indo.. tomorrow morning he’ll fly to Singapore and spend 2 nights there before flying back to the States..
Filed under: music & film
I am currently watching this Taiwanese drama Love of the Aegean Sea.
It’s such a beautiful love story. There are 40 episodes, very long for
a drama.. and it does get draggy from time to time.. I just fast
forwarded those boring scenes :p The location of the story is in Greece
and Shanghai. Lots of beautiful places I hope I could visit someday. .
officially I’m still on episode 10 but I already took a peek at the
ending (I jumped to episode 38-40) …I just couldn’t wait to see what
would happen :’( it’s so sad .. i shed a lot of tears watching the
last episode :p even though I missed a lot of things in the middle of
the series, it’s still very heartbreaking. I also watched the last few
episodes without English subtitles.. so I didn’t really understand
every single dialogue. Despite the tragic ending, I still think this is
a good series and worth watching.
The actors are Alec Su and Chae Rim, a Korean actress. She was speaking
Korean when filming this series. It’s very obvious that her lip
movement doesn’t match the dubbed mandarin voice, but their acting is
so natural hehe. I wonder what it’s like for 2 people to converse in
different language :p, especially since either one doesn’t understand
the other. I read that not only they have to remember their own lines,
they also have to what the other actor is saying since they’re not
speaking the same language.
Anyway, I’ve known Alec Su for a LONG time probably more than 10 years ? I think he’s never looked this good before hehehe. I’ve always thought he’s cute but cute is not the same as handsome. He’s also pretty small for a guy.. hehe..doesn’t look that strong and manly hehehe… But he looks so handsome here…. and he really doesn’t look his age… he’s 31 years old. ..but look at that baby face… Why are some people so lucky ?
Filed under: ramblings
I had 3 of my teeth filled this afternoon. 2 of those were the hard to reach wisdom teeth, which I should have taken out last year when I went home. My dentist had given me a lot of warnings everytime I went for cleaning in the past 3 years. He’s been recommending to extract all of the wisdom teeth since I don’t need those teeth, and because they’re so hard to clean, sooner or later they would have cavities. And now finally what my dentist foretold has come true *sigh*
I only had 2 wisdom teeth left, the ones on the left side. I had my right side ones taken out 2 years ago in Bandung by a regular dentist. I would recommend this dentist to anyone!! It was expensive, I think it was 2 million rupiah for those 2 extractions but I didn’t feel anything at all. Actually only one of them had cavity, but it was recommended to take out the pair. It was quick and painless experience. I also could eat normally within a few hours. Over here, I would have needed an oral surgeon to perform the same thing and I’ve heard so many horror stories about those surgeries. Two of my coworkers were having so much pain post wisdom tooth extraction surgery during the times I worked here. One of them told me he couldn’t eat properly for a month !! Well.. if that happens to me, I could probably use it to lose some weight hehe.. Another thing is, for a surgery, although it’s a minor one, I would probably need to take a day off.. what a hassle .. That’s why I really prefer to do it back home ..
Anyway, an extraction is not an option at this point since I am on an orthodontic treatment (alias braces) hehehe.. so I had to get fillings instead. I spent a little bit more than an hour at the dentist’s office today, and half of my face was numb for the next 4 hours !
