So I decided to have a private diary
No friends
No comments
Just my silly unimportant thoughts and the compie

This time,
'mau curhat diem-diem'

hehehe
let see how long it'll stand
........
d.o.d.o.l

it is how a love supposed to be
unconditional....

just like the way you loved me...
and I love you too...
always have...
always will...

What seems to be the hottest news for job seekers these days?
Of course, the civil servants vacancies in almost all government-related departments

Although the requirements sometimes make your life harder
Although you have to stand in looooooooong line just to get a form
Although you need to compete with millions of people around the nation just for ONE position
Although you know the salary can't bring you to Europe for vacation
Still, many people --count me in, don't forget-- are still willing to pursue a job called 'civil servant'

phewww.....

And the best thing of all process is of course the exams
And the materials really succeed in dragging my mind out of my usual state
It occupies me completely

The Bahasa Indonesia
The math
The country's constitution, policy, regulation, history
The governance matters
The English
The psycho test
The Pancasila
and other  materials that you had actually learned in high school yet unfortunately you have forgotten as they are only useful in  class

My brother asked this question when I was struggling finding the volume of a tube if the P is half the Q and the height of the P is twice of the Q:

"Why so bother to do all these questions if later you come to the office at 10 am and leave at 2 pm?"

True!
Hahahaha

My friend also had this question:

"I just don't get it why on earth do you put all the troubles on your days and nights, studying, heating your brain, for something that I know does not suite you at all?"

Well, these are my reasons for her:

1. I am now in the top of my boredom. Therefore, I need something challenging, something that is fresh and far from my usual business. The result is great I guess. It gives me hard time but excitement at the same time. it also redirects all negatives state of minds that I have. 
2. To prove that I'm smarter than a 5th grader :p ; it's been a while since my last acquaintance with papers, assignments, math operation, and other school related stuffs, so I need to check whether I can still think correctly :D
3. I need a story to be told to my grandchildren later. How difficult it is, how ridiculous it is to get a job. It's so happening, people rush for this, and it'll be a shame if I don't take a part hahahaha

Ok then...
The boss is not around...
Better go back to 'how many pairs of shoes produced if the total of shoes are four times than sandals"


LOL

to all people of Padang, West Sumatera
may Allah SWT remove all your sadness, burden, and lost

'So verily, with the hardship, there is relief (QS. Al Insyirah)'

please be strong, our prays are with you....


Ah, probably only those words that I can whisper...
It was, and still is, a dismay when watching and reading about the major earthquake that hit West Sumatera yesterday
7.6 on richter scale, and it was big enough to start a calamity

And I am worried when reading news in Koran Tempo this morning. The houses in Unand complex, Ulu Gadut, collapsed, smashed to the earth....

We'd been there last July...
When we hadn't found any places to stay in Padang, a friend was very kind to offer his house...
Except one of us, we hadn't met this guy nor his family
But they were so nice....
His mother cooked various meals and even prepared  beds for us...

And we were very moved...
Just from a glimpse of their house, we knew it took lots of efforts to have everything done for us
They only had a simple life, but owned big and sincere hearts...

Ajo and family, may Allah protect you all....


a warm dinner





the kind hearted Ajo's family
thank you for everything

We were all tired yet excited...
A common feeling when traveling
Never want to stop, just move on, keep on exploring

It took almost an hour to reach Bukiitinggi from Harau Valley. We realized how tight our schedule was as in the following day we needed to catch up our boat to Sikuai Island. So many things to see, so little time we had....

There was a long silence on the way to Bukittinggi. Well, we were all falling asleep hehehe
By 5.30 pm finally we got there and our first destination was Pasar Atas and Pasar Bawah, two traditional markets which are very famous in Bukittinggi. Pasar Atas mostly sells clothes, fabric, bags, and other handicrafts; while you can find various local foods such as dried fish and meats, cakes, and many others in Pasar Bawah. We have determined that we were gonna spend some of our money in these two markets. But once again, it was a late evening. We were lucky, though, since most of stores were still open. The boys hunted for shirts, particularly Moslem shirts. We, the girls, of course had larger options. You name it! Embroidered fabrics, brocade, woven clothes, veils, clucthes, and other cute things that caught our eyes :D
One thing for sure, don't forget to buy their embroidered fabrics and brocade when you go to Bukittinggi. They have special embroidery technic that is distict from other provinces in Indonesia.




Besides Pasar Atas and Pasar Bawah, one place that became our next destination was Jam Gadang, the landmark of this city. This Jam Gadang looks like Big Ben in London. Standing high in the middle of city park, Jam Gadang is located exactly in front of Pasar Atas and Pasar Bawah. In short, it is a hang out place for all people in Bukittinggi.


Jam gadang at dawn




Crowds had already been there when we crossed the street to Jam Gadang. We decided to go to the hotel first and back to street again after taking shower and praying. Moreover it would be very inconvinience to stroll around with shopping bags in our hands :p

We stayed at Hotel Marmy, a recommendation  from a member of  indobackpacker mailing list. Honestly speaking it didn't look like a hotel at all. A hostel or maybe a big house was more appropriate. A big house with rooms. Very large rooms. And the rooms were more comfortable than Femina Hotel in Padang. I thought it would be a small standard room for two. But it was still capacious for 4. The bath room was ok too, with water heater that we needed. Bukitting is pretty cold you know :D
Not bad for a cheapy hotel :p

So, after taking shower we went out, craving for dinner and sight seeing.
The hotel was located only 15 minutes walking from Jam gadang and along the way we found mannnyyyyy food stalls with various food. O mai gooooodd.... Nothing could be more excited and dangerous as it was! We stopped from one food stall to another, bought only one portion of meals just to find out the taste hahaha. Full in the end though :p

We reached Jam Gadang at around 9.00 pm and wew it was full of humans. Humans who were dating, selling things, chatting, strolling, playing with kids, etc. Great! We spent the night till approximately 12.30 am before heading back to the hotel. We walked, took pictures on empty streets, and accepting weird looks from local people. Ah, so it was so not nice for girls to be on streets in the late night, I learned.
But, who careeeeees??? hehehe


A man peeping the crowd under






Abby road pose :p
It took more than an hour to have this, we had to wait for the street to be completely empty :D





to be continued....


Highlights:

*  Hotel Marmy, Bukittinggi
   Jl. Kesehatan, phone: 0752 - 23342
   Price: Rp 150.000/room/night, extra bed Rp 35.000

As I said earlier, Harau Valley is a God's gift to the people of West Sumatera. Along the way we were provided by only green and green scenes. Beautiful. We could not say how thankful we were to have this journey. There was always a temptation to pull the car over, just to breath the air and of course take pictures :D


Rest a while
the background is the Harau Valley




The Harau Valley is actually a place surrounded by long and gigantic rocks. Just stand in the middle of the valley then shout one name, and youl'll be surprise! It'll shout the name back to you! There was only 7 of us, 8 with the driver, and we acted like corny Paris Hilton in Simple Life.

In the valley, there is a homestay, famous among the backpackers, called Echo Homestay. A cool place to find peace. Once again, if you are a green lover, stay over in this place is indeed a good idea ^_^
We stopped by to pray, feeling the fresh water from the mountain. The view was more than wonderful with traditional design on their buildings.


Echo Homestay








Fresh after praying




to be continued....



Highlights

* Harau Valley
  There is no entrance fee to this place. But some people stopped our car and ask for money
  The driver asked me to give 'em Rp 11.000 for 8 people. So, let say the entrance fee is Rp 1,375/person

* Echo Homestay
  Check their website http://echohomestay.blogspot.com/ for further info

First day of working after the Eid holiday. So, how's everybody going? :D
Feeling fresh, if you ask me ^_^

Didn't go anywhere during the holiday and preferred to finish my travel notes to West Sumatera by doing some photo editing.
Better late than never :p

Ok, in the previous travel note, we went to Minangkabau Village. After taking pictures here and there we started to starve and decided to have lunch at Sate Mak Syukur. This restaurant is very famous and has always been published in several travel magazines and mailing list. One that cannot be skipped I may say ^_^

The location is quite near from the Minagkabau Village and the service is fast, the taste is yum yum. Great! We ordered, of course, Sate Padang as the main course and cucumber juice. The meats' slices were large and the sauce was very tasty. The cucumber juice was totally different with the same juice from Aceh. If in Aceh they chop the cucumber into tiny pieces, in West Sumatera the cucumber is blended so that you get the green color ^_^. Very fresh....


We continued our journey then to Harau Valley, another magic of nature given to the people of West Sumatera. It was a long way to reach the place so that we decided to stop by at Pandai Sikek, the center of traditional handicraft. Most of the people in Pandai Sikek are weavers and we found high quality woven clothes here. Well, actually we knew nothing about woven cloth, but we trusted our driver who said so:p
However, many tourists both from Indonesia and abroad hunt for woven clothes here so I guess the quality must be excellent :D. They also sell clothes embroidered by traditional patterns, leather sandals and shoes, and other cute handicrafts. The price is reasonable as long as you know how to bargain. Our driver said to always bargain 50-60% less from the price offered. Good Lord! hahaha....


The weaver






to be continued......



Highlight

* Sate Mak Syukur
  Rp 13.000/serve/person

* Pandai Sikek
  The price is various, depends on the quality of the items.
  Almost all stores accept credit/debit card like Visa and Mastercard

I am staring at Fragrantica, reading some reviews about parfumes.
What else can I do anyway? Today is the last day of working, and we are not allowed to go home early while there are nothing left to be done :P
There is also an invitation from highschool mates to break the fast together this evening. Geez, it'll be a long hours of waiting :D

So, why am I so in need to read reviews about parfumes?
Well, that's because I'm running out one...errr...three actually :p

I love when I smell fine, that's why I love parfumes. The problem is that I'm easy to get fulled up of one fragrance. Always buy two to three at once, just to avoid boredom. Hmmm....

My recents parfumes were Arden - Beauty, JLo - Live Lux, Jennifer L - Love in Motion, and Victoria's Secret. Bough them at a time and ran out of 'em also at the same time. Oo la la....

It always gives me a headache when comes to time to dicide what to buy next. With so little time that I have right now, it's impossible for me to go around parfume counters in malls just to sniff the scents. I'm thinking to buy online instead.

Probably I have to 'reuse' some old parfumes....but which ones...

Dior - J'adore
Hugo Boss - Intense
Paris Hilton - Heiress
Estee Lauder - Pleasure
Hugo Boss - Woman
Body Shop - White Musk
what else....forget...:P

Probably I'll keep Love in Motion first. Despite it's cheap price (and not-famous name :P), I love how it gives me a pleasant feeling, fresh like after bathing ^_^
I may want Intense, strong yet soft and warm, love the scent and haven't had it again since two years ago if I'm not mistaken...
Now I need something sweet to cheer up the day :D
Heiress is definetely sweet like bubble gums and the scent is able to make me smile, not to mention it sticks for hours...
Live Lux is out of the list, just wore it for months, didn't I? :D

What about Aigner - Too Feminine? Just got the vial and love the scent, sweet yet softer that Heiress. But does it long last too?
Some people suggest Dior - Addict, but I haven't tried it at all....is it lovely?

Suggestion, anyone?
^_^

Ah, I hate translating, it's definitely not my thing!
But then, when everything is finished, happy to know I don't have to see those transcripts again :D

Spending half an hour before heading home, I continue browsing for several hostels now.
I'm planning to go backpacking to Hong Kong and Macau next May, and Malaysia too though I don't feel like going there at the moment.
It'll be only the 4 of us as most of the gang refused to join. Well, understandable. We're heading to Sing and Thai in January and some of the gang will go backpacking to UK in March. So, another trip will ruin our wallet :D
The craziest keep movin', they say hahaha

As usual, a trip should be well prepared
And I once again am given a force trust to make the itinerary :P
Oh waw such a challenging job!

From all countries we're planning, Macau is the hardest one to find a hostel. There are always options though, including spend the night at shuttle buses hahaha. Kidding, we're not that shabby :P

Well anyway, no worries. Everything will be settled in no time...
If the half end of 2009 will consist of saving and saving...
then 2010 will consist of laughing and laughing...

Happy breakfasting all ^_^

feel very u.n.e.a.s.y today....

*sigh*

a message dropped in my inbox on facebook,

hi di, how are you?
could you please work on my pre-wed and wedding?

and I replied,
hi thimoer, you're getting married...congratz!
never done a pre-wed and wedding before
taking photos is only a hobby. you better go to the pro

and he replied,
that's the challenge!
I like your works
and the concept will be street live rock 'n roll

and I said,
WHAAAATTTTT!!!

Thimoer, my friend from highschool time
and we only haven't met each other for 14 years...
and he's getting married in October....

now I feel like half crying half excited

street live rock 'n roll....
wth is thaaaaaaaaaatttttt.......

:D

Oke..here it comes, The Kinki You DVD ^_^
I don't think I'm going to keep one as it's so darn expensive and I need to save for several trips next year T_T

boleh ngopi yaaaaa kalau ada yang beli...:p



JEBN-79
KinKi Kids/KinKi you DVD[Limited Edition]  DVD
9524 yen US$99/95.75  Release Date:2009/09/30
Description:DVD release from Kinki Kids featuring footage of their "Kinkyu Zenkoku Tour Kinki you Concert" performance. Limited edition includes digest of their new year concert at Kyocera Dome Osaka, comedy video, and making-of footage on disc 4. Moreover, this limited edition includes original towel and poster. Comes housed in three-folded case.
URL - http://cdjapan.jp/d.html?KEY=JEBN-79
*********************************************

JEBN-83
KinKi Kids/KinKi you DVD[Regular Edition]  DVD
8571 yen US$90/95.75  Release Date:2009/09/30
Description:DVD release from Kinki Kids featuring footage of their "Kinkyu Zenkoku Tour Kinki you Concert" performance. Regular edition includes digest of their concerts in Nigata, Hiroshima, and Kagoshima on disc 4.
URL - http://cdjapan.jp/d.html?KEY=JEBN-83

Invited by Bogor Photography Community, I joined a strobist photo session last week. Strobist is a technique in taking photos by using off camera flash. Well, sort of :p

The location was still in Bogor, in an antique mercedez benz garage and we were so lucky that we had 5 friends who were pleased to be our models.

Honestly speaking, I'm a bit slow in understanding lighting in photography. That's why when we were asked to think about a concept before shooting I went completely blank. Yea, lighting is important in photography and using only one flash we need to think very hard to adjust the light that will suit the purpose. That's first.

Second, till now I still can't find a trigger compatible with my flash, Nissin Di622. A bit desperate here.

Third, we were divided into 5 groups and none of us in my group brought a flash hahaha....
O darn what can I say.... a friend lent us his Nikon and we had to use by turns. One person 5 shots only :D

I don't know the result, because the photos are not in my camera.
Nevertheless, I did take several pictures with my Canon.
Still not sophisticated with simple editing....enjoy! ^_^

Cam: Canon 400D
Lens: Canon 18 - 55 f/3.5 & Canon 50mm f/1.8
Filter: UV
Flash: built in flash with diffuser


Model: Listri Yani

What so-called mood is so unpredictable, especially when it comes to photo editing
Well, I'm not in the mood to edit and upload some other photos from my trip to West Sumatera
Instead, I was in the mood to do this and that to photos I'd taken two months ago :D
Such a weird....:p

So, two months ago, after attending Photoshop class and having lunch in a mall, I went to Kebun Raya Bogor with Chris and my sybs.
It had been planned that we were gonna have a photo session with us as the models. Well actually, we were just too lazy to find and ask friends to be our model.

The photo session was a conceptual one, so each of us needed to come up with an idea and of course prepare all the properties for the purpose.

I have uploaded the full photos on my MP and FB and some friends thought they were a pre-wed photo session hahaha
It's not!
And if you hve seen 'em, please forgive me for making you sick :D

My theme is 'in one fine afternoon' >> couldn't think any other idea :p


There's a time when you feel like to be alone in one fine afternoon .....







And the smile that you have has completely taken over my world...




Thanks to Chris & Dandi ^_^