I was awed even though I only watched it from a small tv screen or laptop in my hotel room by myself :p Last night, a couple hours before the show was broadcasted on the local tv (we watched the delayed-recording, 15 hours after the actual time), I messaged my brother to remind him to tune in too.. he’s in the same timezone. He said that he had heard from his friend in Sydney, Australia who had watched it earlier, that IT IS BORING…. WTH is wrong with him ?? How can he call it boring??? Well maybe he referred to the 2 hr parade of nations, but even that I still find interesting. Just to see the variety of costumes and size of the delegations from different countries, and to listen to various country facts are interesting to me. There’s this one country, Andorra, whose country population is just around 70+ thousand… so basically the audience in the Bird’s Nest stadium alone already exceed the population of that one country. -edit- I didn’t catch this on tv, but apparently there is an even smaller country, Nauru, whose population is less than the performers at the opening ceremony

I was waiting to see the delegations from Indonesia, curious about what they’re going to say about my beloved homeland :p When it was India’s turn, the commentators mentioned the fact that India was the 2nd in the world after China in terms of population. Indonesia comes next right after India in the parade. So I thought they’re also going to mention the population size of Indonesia.. which is the 4th in the world, after China, India, and the US. However interestingly, it was said that Indonesia has the largest population of overseas Chinese in the world, I think they said about 7+ million people… that’s quite a big number huh, but Indonesia is a country of 237 million people hehehe it’s not even 3%. But I feel so proud to be one of that 3%..

Found stunning pictures of the preparation and the opening ceremony here and here.

I just finished watching another Indonesian movie on youtube :p  It’s called LOVE… the title is LOVE, an English title… it was released last Valentine’s day, of course it’s a love story :p  ..  The style of the movie is similar to Love Actually..   5 separate love stories.. somehow connected to each other.. I think it’s a decent movie.. pretty good actually for an Indonesian product hehehe   The 10 main casts are I think all quite famous actors / actresses.. so it can be considered a star-studded movie

here’s the trailer..  I like the soundtrack

I think I will watch another Indonesian movie tonight or tomorrow.. probably  “Love is Cinta” hmm or maybe “Nagabonar Jadi 2″… also saw a trailer for a new movie called “Lost in Love”, supposedly a sequel to “Eiffel I’m in Love”, a successful 2003 movie, which looks cute.  I will definitely watch it if it’s available on youtube later hehe

Anyways.. while watching LOVE I noticed an interesting video in the “Related Videos” bar … it’s a tv trailer for “Xin Xin Xiang Yin” — which is the Chinese title for the Indonesian sinetron Heart… it’s so unusual to watch an Indonesian film, dubbed in Chinese, and not the other way round..  Watch here : link and link

The other 4 are full timers, and we met one of them, Santo, today who told us about the others … he told us about an Indonesian restaurant very close to where I live hehehe.. He was telling us that he’s from Columbus, Ohio *hihi fellow friend from the Midwest* — and Pam was like, “Ngga ada apa2 kan di sono…?” so I went “Masih mending Columbus Ohio.. gua dulu di Columbus INDIANA!!! bener2 kampuung dah” :p LOL

these are real exchanges between my brother and his friend last week at my place… as I remember it

Lung : “Udah transfer ke Indiana aja, IU .. pasti keterima deh..” — translation : “why don’t you just go to IU?”

Ivan : “Aduh tapi tempatnya itu… *muka n suara serius* Tau gak, gua denger ya di sono tuh bener2 ga ada apa2, anak2 kalo hangout itu ke Wal-Mart!!!!” — translation: “Errmm… but the city… there’s nothing there…*serious face* do you know?.. I heard that the guys over there usually hang out at Wal-Mart!!!!”

*me* ROFLMAO huahahuahuahuahahua

Lung : huahahaua iya tuh dulu cici gua senengnya emang ke Wal-Mart — translation: “LOL hahaha yes that’s what my sis used to do back then”

Ivan at this point was surprised.. he didn’t know that I went to school in Indiana hahaha

me : “Yes I lived in Indiana for almost 9 years, went to Purdue and worked in Indiana for 5 years”

Ivan : “Jadi bener ci?” — translation : “So that was true??“

Hhahahaa ya unfortunately it was.. I think Purdue now has more to offer than 8-9 years ago when I was there.. But regardless, I think the fact that the town was such a kampung made our college life more special .. and us who went there definitely had much higher appreciation for things.. even small things like ethnic restaurants (closest dimsum was in Indianapolis, an hour away, and there was only that 1 place in the city), bubble teas (closest was Chicago’s chinatown), .. cus we didn’t have all that. I know it’s pretty sad hehe but ooh it’s quite memorable

After I was done with finals, I had some free time and finished The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince

I know that Coffee Prince was one of the top kdramas of 2007, and definitely one of the most talked about… and actually I already watched 2 episodes of it last year when I went back to Indonesia during the summer and it was quite interesting.. so I thought I should pick it back up before watching a different one.

Hmmm I thought it was alright. It’s good, fresh storyline, but nothing sensational hehe it’s not enough to keep me glued to the TV / laptop. And for me personally it was quite forgettable afterwards. Probably because I don’t like the actors and actresses. I don’t even remember the characters’ names right now… that means it’s really not memorable for me. I stilll remember some characters’ names from kdramas that I watched 3-4 years ago

So I planned to catch up watching more kdramas this summer.. and I brought my collection with me hehe a big stack of DVDs that I haven’t watched yet. So far I already watched 2 of them now…Since I’ve been out of the loop for a while, I have to depend on reviews now to decide what to watch. In the past there was a time when I actually was watching a drama that was still airing in Korea hahaha and I would be so unpatient waiting for the English subtitles to come out. What would we do without those amazing fansubbers :p ??I remember that was during My Girl and Goong time .. that was early 2005? gosh it’s been that long.

A few weeks ago (in San Jose) I finished Dalja’s Springs –another drama that has great reviews; it’s supposed to be funny and cute. After My Girl, my expectation is quite high.

I actually love ChaeRim the actress in her previous roles – and she’s good in this drama, but I don’t like the guys!!! So Dalja’s Springs also is just so-so in my book. .. is there no more good kdramas out there?? I think after My Girl really raised the bar high for me, and it’s so hard to find one that’s good.. that I can actually recommend to others to watch..

I finally found one this weekend that I would recommend to others .. it’s Queen of The Game This one is actually not on the -highly rated drama- list, but I’ve been wanting to watch it because of the actress – Lee Bo Young. I loved her in her previous dramas!!  In fact I read some reviews that didn’t think too highly of this drama.. but I’m glad I ignore those reviews and watch this anyways.. because I love it love it love it!!!

The story is quite heavy :p it’s about family, business, revenge, and of course love. It’s quite sad too – lots of tearjerking moments – which I love hahaha.. I always love movies that can make me cry So it’s probably not for everyone hehe Oh btw, I just fast forwarded (can’t help it :p)  the parts I am not interested in :p  so maybe that helped too cus I may just skipped the boring subplots.

I absolutely love the couple. They have great chemistry and they’re both gorgeous!!!! Haha while watching this drama everytime Hendrik called me, I always said “oOhh cakeeeep bangettt” and he thought I’m just crazy to behave like that at this age hahahaha but seriously though, this guy Joo Jin Mo is just HOTness !!! but these pictures don’t do him justice — got to watch the drama!

ayat-ayat Cinta (literal translation: Verses of Love) — youtube link to part1

I found this movie accidentally on youtube the other day. After a quick Google to read what it’s about, I decided to watch it. I read that this movie broke the box office record in Indonesia. The official genre of this movie is actually religious; it’s an Islamic love story

So I gave it a try (in youtube it’s divided into 13 parts), it was already very late but I kept watching it until the end, I think until 2AM :p because it’s good !! I liked it! I think it’s one of the best Indonesian movies I’ve seen. The 2 main actresses are so pretty.

It’s a novel adaptation and as usual fans of the novel seem to not like it because they have really high expectation and kept comparing the movie to the novel. Just like Harry Potter movies, I love everyone of them, but I know people who read the books think the movies didn’t live up the the novels.

The one thing that bothered me though, is the fact that they all speak Indonesian in the movie. Some conversations were started in Arabic (first few sentences), and then usually they continue speaking in Indonesian.. I think that’s supposed to mean that they’re conversing in Arabic???? I don’t know if that’s the intention, it’s just my interpretation.. isn’t it unrealistic for the Egyptian characters to be able to speak Indonesian fluently ?? I read some viewer comments on youtube that said the actors’ Arabic were really bad hahahaha… I guess that would disturb the enjoyment of the movie for people who actually understand Arabic. Lucky for me that I don’t. I can imagine if they made this movie in Chinese and have lots of Chinese conversations in them; Bad pronunciations (by the characters that are supposedly native speakers) would totally ruin the movie for me.

Anyways… here’s the music video of the OST… I like the song

I also found the electronic version of the novel..  I might read it this weekend, hopefully it doesn’t have too much Arabic

I was kinda shocked looking at the prices. I pretty much only shopped for things on sale haha. There was a time back in Columbus when Campbell soup was a staple of my diet heehe. So I know exactly what the price should be. I always got them in Wal-mart for $1.50-$1.70/can. Even after I moved to Austin I sometimes still bought these canned soups (my fave is the Select’s Italian Wedding Soup) and they’re still in that price range. Guess how much it is here? $3.67 !!! that’s more than double !!! Well I know in the past year inflation is quite high, but still..

Then I went to the dairy aisle to get my yogurt. In my head yogurt should cost 50 cents hehe or even less if I buy the multipack. Doesn’t matter what brand, usually between dannon or yoplait. But it seems to me that back in Indiana, one brand is always on sale on any given day and they’re always 50 cents. Over here they’re 75-99 cents !!

Then I went to the cereal aisle. I wanted to get the Special K bars for healthy snackings I know that usually a box of these is around $2.50.. it can be cheaper or higher but on average it’s around $2.50 for 6 bars. And over here?? It’s $4 something, I don’t remember the exact price.

Ok if you’re reading this you may think that I’m such a cheapskate I don’t mind being called a cheapskate, Well I’m just a very smart shopper hahaha ^_^ I know my prices. Even though the difference is only 50 cents or $1 but in percentages they’re like 200%!!!!

Hendrik and I often argue about this issue. We’re both careful with our spending, but in a different way. I think I’ve blogged about this a long time ago.. For example I still couldn’t get over the fact that last time we’re in Safeway when we first arrived here, he grabbed a $5 box of Lipton green tea (20 tea bags). I AM SURE that if he just spent a minute in that aisle and looked at other prices he probably could get another brand (dunno what) for much less. Or I bet he could have gotten a much bigger box for a different variety of Lipton tea for that price. I have these price limits registered in my brain. In my head, a box of tea should run around $2-$3. Grocery chains always have these advertised weekly sales on certain brands for almost every product category, and usually the brands not on sales have inflated prices.

But Hendrik’s pretty much blind about these everyday prices. Same thing occurs when we buy toothpaste, dishwasher’s soap, OJs, paper towels, bathroom tissue rolls, etc. I don’t care about brands for these things. If Colgate in on sale, I’ll buy Colgate. If Crest is, then Crest it is. Same thing for OJ with Minute Maid vs Tropicana vs Simple Orange — they’re all the same to me. I mean I have my price range, I don’t necessarily choose the cheapest thing out there, but I would always get the best price for the same quality !

If Hendrik were to buy these things, I can predict what he would get. He will always get Colgate for toothpaste, Minute Maid OJ jug (always the largest size), Tide for detergent, hmm what else, Listerine for mouthwash hehe. Sometimes in the grocery stores you can find coupons right there in the aisle (right in front of the food we’re buying) and I would check them out. They’re usually just 50 cents coupon or buy something get something else free. I do pay attention about these things. Hendrik doesn’t. One time when we went out grocery shopping together, which is not too often, I showed this coupon for Buy a Tropicana OJ and get a dozen of eggs free. Haahahaha.. that’s worth like $2. But Hendrik of course wouldn’t see that and just buy his Minute Maid OJ.

Also, I don’t understand why stores do this, but sometimes it’s cheaper to buy 2 small size than 1 large size items. You would think that there’s a discount associated with larger size, right? Usually that’s true. But I’ve seen many times that it’s not always the case. For example a 32 oz Orange juice is $1.99 (on sale) but a 64 oz of the exact same thing is $4.99. Now, if you see that would you buy 2 x 32 oz for $3.98 and saved a dollar or just grab the big size ? My husband predictably will grab the big size

Basically if he thinks he NEEDS it (daily necessity), then he doesn’t even look at how much it is unless it’s big purchases. Me, on the other hand, will spend a few minutes comparing prices just to save a couple bucks

BUT I don’t think too much when buying more expensive stuffs like purses, electronics (after some basic research online – of course) if I think they’re good deals. Like the other day I just bought a portable GPS, almost $200 – it’s already the best value for the money. It’s such a lifesaver for driving in a new city. When I decided that I want one, I got it the next day. Hendrik, in contrast, has been wanting to buy a good pair of headphones for while. For several weeks now, he’s been eying a $150 Bose headphone, which is undoubtedly of real superb quality, but he just can’t part with $150 :p because his current wireless headphones are still functional (but he just doesn’t like it). I’ve sent him some cheaper alternative on amazon.com but he can’t make up his mind because I know that deep down he really wants the Bose pair.

Another thing we couldn’t agree on is about upgrading our LCD and computers. So far I’m winning In this case Hendrik is a little out of his usual character because he really really wants to upgrade our desktop computer. HE NEEDS IT and HE WANTS IT even though it’s going to cost us several hundred bucks. Last time he said we need a new video card, bigger hard drive, and a new LCD monitor. I was like, “What is wrong with our 21 inch monitor now (other than the fact that it’s SUPER HEAVY AND BULKY) ?? WHY do we need an LCD monitor??” He said it would better for his eyes, better resolution, yada yada yada……… BUT we don’t NEED it !! We both have laptops which are our main PCs, the purpose of our desktop computer is only for my downloads and playing games :p Everything else we do on our laptop. I reminded him we just got a new video card for it not long ago. Then I checked our newegg account and yup got proofs, we just bought a new videocard less than a year ago, after I moved to Austin. So I don’t approve replacing the monitor because I don’t think it’s necessary to spend $200 to replace something that has no problem. But I agree we need to buy extra HD since we’re running out of space. Hendrik left the shopping part to me because he knows this is my specialty hahaha. I got us a 500 GB Maxtor external HD for only $75 which I think is a realllllly good deal.

Earlier this week Hendrik was looking at our credit card statement online while talking on the phone with me. “What is this $100 charge for Mercy Corps?” he asked. “Ooh itu, gua nyumbang buat earthquake di Zhong Guo”, I said. And his response, “WHHAAAATTTT???? $%%*()*&)%*%!!!” He’s like he still couldn’t buy the headphones because sayang duit and I go around donating $100 just like that ?? But to me I didn’t think much when I decided to donate. I just read some news and some accounts on the victims of the horrible disaster, and I think $100 is not that much for us (it’s like 2.5x our average dimsum bill) but can go a long way for them. So that was a couple of days ago and today at work out of nowhere on MSN he reminded me again to NOT donate money without telling him again Hahaha he’s still bitter about it. Then to make matter worse, I told Hendrik (I really can’t hide anything from him) that yesterday I just bought a $100 Dooney & Bourke wallet hehehhee. Well it’s on sale… normally it’s $185, so it’s already discounted. And I have a weakness for stuffs on SALE He’s like “You’re OUT OF CONTROL!!! ^)*&^*&%&*!!” Hahahahaha Anyways… *Note: we’re not really fighting… *

I’ve read a lot of articles about how differences in finance & spending habit can ruin a marriage. Even though we bicker a lot about these issues, fortunately they’re really small differences. In general our finance philosophy is the same, so we’re good

The first thing I love here is the weather.. oh so nice.. well it gets hot during the day these last few days but I don’t feel it since I’m inside all day.. Everytime I’m outside it’s always in the 70′s or low 80′s hehehe. Look at the current weather.. it’s past 9PM in Austin and it’s still 89 degrees. Whooh ..

Then the diversity and the culture here is just so great !! Not just at work but the local community..

But the cost of living here is so scary :p

This morning on the way to work I passed by a Shell gas station and the price for regular gas (cheapest) is $4.64 !!!!! I used to fill up my car with premium gas.. my car didn’t require premium gas but from the beginning when the car was brand NEW (that was 7.5 years ago) we fed it premium hehe so I just got used to it and somewhat afraid to affect the engine or car performance if I switch. So when gas price climbed up to $2, then $2.50.. I still sticked with premium hehe.. Then sometime last year I think when it passed $3 I finally made the swith to medium grade hahaha Now that it’s nearing $5 should I downgrade again? :p

gasbuddy.com provides a nice map for gas price in a city.. here’s a snapshot of the situation in SJ vs Austin

Last weekend I had lunch with Niaz who is on a long-term work assignment in the area. I was surprised to learn he’s still here. I knew he was going to work here last year when I was still in Indiana.. so it’s been a year and didn’t know he is still here. Anyways it’s nice to see a familiar face. So he was telling me to be prepared of all the tax deductions from my paycheck hehe. California is a high tax state And he also told me that according to his calculation even if he makes $150k in salary here it’s still barely enough to support his lifestyle hahah

So I thought I should also look into this if I’m serious about moving here hehe

Bestplaces.net compares 2 cities on more than 100 attributes.. here’s the overview result of SJ vs Austin comparison.

*GASP* Is that for real?? $167K is the comparable salary for $100K in Austin??? I tried another website, CNN Money and the result is pretty close.. $162K in SJ = $100K in Austin.

Austin actually looks really good on the profiles.. lower cost of living than national average.. very high numbers in the education profile (a lot of advance degree residents), pretty high average household salary, much lower crime rate.. hehe I couldn’t agree more actually. Austin IS an awesome city.. my only gripe is just the weather and location in the middle of the country :p

Well it all depends on what kind of offers I’ll get this fall.. I guess we’ll decide when that time comes .. hopefully before the end of this year I’ll know where we’re going to live next..

so.. the domain name is virgotarrius.. everybody could guess the meaning, virgo (hendrik) + sagittarius (me). This also wasn’t planned hahaha.. the name just came to me last night around midnight. I first checked if vera.wordpress.com is still available or not…haha of course not! I wanted a pretty word for my domain name .. and found a list such as epiphany, evanescent, serendipity, amaryllis, bliss, rhapsody, etc… well all taken. Then I thought of using december, december18 (my birthday), and then I thought of my zodiac.. and ta daaa.. virgotarrius… hahaha.. Since the meaning is a combination of hendrik and me, maybe he can start blogging here too We can make this a joint blog hehe. He’s mentioned to me quite a few times in the past that he wants to try blogging, but never really did it.

And I successfully imported all of my previous entries from fs blog to here.. the process was quite simple !! took me less than 5 minutes ! seriously !

So anyways.. first post on wordpress today.. I want to share some web goodies that I’ve found

mysoju.com : must visit if you’re a kdrama / jdorama / taiwanese drama lovers… tons of subbed dramas, all streaming links. I finished watching a complete series of My Lucky Star (taiwanese series starring Jimmy Lin!) in one weekend last month kekekeke after my final exams. It’s my first taiwanese drama since…hmm I don’t even remember. I would recommend it ! Jimmy Lin is such a babyface!! Can’t believe that he hasn’t changed much in 15 years! He was so popular when I was in junior high.. so that’s like a gazillion years ago.. He’s born in 1974 which makes him 34 this years but he looks at least 10 years younger. Oh, I feel so old…even though I’m younger

A similar site of this is http://aznv.tv. I haven’t watched anything there yet, but I saw the list and it looks like a pretty good list too. Another one which has been there quite a while is http://www.crunchyroll.com/

For American tv series.. try hulu.com .. highly recommended by my coworker here. It has complete episodes of a lot of american tv series (my fave The Office is available there) and some movies too. And they’re legally free to watch if you don’t mind some ads !!

With all those sites around, I don’t really need tv this summer