Daily Journal

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Weddings used to be insignificant to me. Not the concept of wedding in itself, more because I’ve attended far too many strangers’ weddings; weddings of people whose faces I didn’t even recognize, weddings of just another random individuals, weddings which I came just for formality and for showing my face up to the couple because it seemed polite and appropriate, but the truth of the matter was, it hardly made any difference at all whether I came or not, because I was just referred as somebody else’s daughter. And I’m not even complaining here because it’s always nice, I guess, to attend weddings. See, there’s the free food and everything. Okay, that’s just one thing, I’m sure there are a lot other reasons to be looked forward to in weddings, I just haven’t known exactly what.

I had little memory of anyone’s weddings, see, there was my uncle’s and I was the little flower girl but I don’t think that counts. After all, I was practically still a toddler then. There were also a lot of relatives’ weddings, but the problem was, those were always the ones which I didn’t even know I was related to until the exact moment. So I’m sorry if there were never any tear-jerking moments in my dictionary.

The last couple of weddings that I attended to when I was here in Jakarta were those held in Four Seasons and J.W. Marriott. They were undoubtedly rich and fancy. In the Four Seasons, the reception was in the private suite, so it wasn’t as big as the usual ballroom suite, but something tells me it could have cost probably even more. The reception place was divided into several smaller rooms with exquisite dishes and there was also an outdoor space where we could get some air and enjoy a cozier and more relaxing ambience. It was really a beautiful place but all we did there was eating and then we’re off. I have to say it held no memory whatsoever. I mean, except for the place and food, of course. Have I mentioned that they served sushi there? I definitely will remember it for that one fact only.

The one in J.W. Marriott was even fancier. The ballroom was gigantic, and the food could feed practically the rest of the third world counties. The reception was much more traditional and proper. It seemed a bit over-the-top, if you asked me. With all the ballads performance? But then again, maybe there’s no such thing as too over-the-top in a wedding. After all, there will only be one in someone’s entire life so I’d spare them some mercy. They could hire ballerinas; they could invite the president, they could serve wedding cake made entirely by diamonds and gold, they could even flaunt a-million-dollar-wedding gown if they wished and you wouldn’t hear even a remark from me. From what I can tell, they served sushi too, but it was already gone when I realized! All that’s left were pieces of the ice that was used to chill the sushi, and not even a single salmon was visible. Although disappointed, I tasted very delicious mushroom soup there, which reminded me a bit of the one at the Soup Spoon. The soup was just so thick and chunks of mushroom were just heavenly. I made a mental note to do exactly that (visit the Soup Spoon and have sushi buffet) in Singapore.

When I attended the wedding in Bali, which was of two persons I didn’t even know, it was probably the first time after the longest time that I felt some pickles of human emotions. The guy seemed so genuine and romantic and I think the sunset and the ocean had something to do with that. The place was absolutely gorgeous and the ceremony was done in such grace and elegance and although it might seem too overwhelming at times, (imagine: food parade and fire-dance performance, oh, and how could I forget the seven-course meals?) somehow they made it look real and sincere.

It’s always nice to be reminded sometimes that my heart isn’t made of steel. Well.

Today is the first after a long time I witnessed a special wedding, of someone that is really close to me ever since I was a baby. He’s practically a real brother and it could be weird to think of him as a married man now. Time really flies, doesn’t it?
I’m so happy for him and I look at him with a new respect now, because he is strong and dependable and I have no doubt that he will make a great family.

All this wedding talk is making me a bit light-headed. I’m just gonna go back to my usual insignificant choice of topics: food, gossips and ramblings?

Sunday, December 16, 2007

So. What occupies my mind on this lazy Sunday? Let’s see. I just had my first cup of coffee today, and you may call me as somewhat a coffee junkie these days. There were times when I had fruit juices every morning (orange, carrot, tomato, and not even I knew what else my maid put in there, I was just too trusting and innocent to yet find out), and when I was in Perth and Singapore I was totally obsessed with Milo that’s all I thought about first thing after waking up: a glass of yummy hot chocolate. Now, back home, the craving shifted to cappuccino. Dad is a sucker for this thing too, so imagine the two of us still in pajamas and sleepy-looking faces, sitting every morning with cups of coffee, talking gibberish and having ‘where are you going today?’ and ‘can I go to the mall and shop and waste your money away?’ discussion. It’s my typical morning routine here and it’s priceless. Ha!

But as the coffee-obsession continues to strike in, I find myself craving for more caffeine during the day. So sometimes, I gulp down ice coffee again at lunch time and have another cappuccino in the evening just because I’m feeling rather hungry but it’s simply too early for meals so coffee is the solution.

But you know, I think it isn’t bad at all. An acquaintance of mine admitted that he used to drink coffee up to 20 plus cups per day. Now that’s what I called addiction. He’d be depressed without a rush of caffeine. So as long as I don’t cross that line, I think I’ll be okay.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Yesterday I went out with dad to check out cameras, because face it, my camera is gazillion years old. It doesn’t have attractive exterior, the screen is tiny, the battery is leaking, and it’s still only 4 mega-pixels. Even the new Nokia phone has better camera resolution and it’s not even a real camera. So I think it’s about time to do a bit of upgrading and even though I probably am the most technology-blind-person in the entire planet, at least I gave it a shot.

Dad wasn’t helping either. He left me alone to do his own business and engage in conversation with his friend while I was standing there in front of shops displaying numerous cameras which to me, on first glance, looked exactly identical and I was like a fish out of the water. I didn’t know which brand to look, which qualification to look for, and before you could say anything, yes, I know I’m hopeless.

So, I just grabbed one of the salesperson there and asked him to give me some points, or more like, a lesson from Idiot’s Guide to Buying a Camera book. Olympus is of course, supposed to be good, but I was opting for something else. Sony seemed good too, and at first I was interested in one Sony type because frankly, the exterior was just great and I do want to have a gorgeous-looking-camera. It was only available in standard silver color, though, and again, my sis and dad’s cameras are all in silver so I thought a change might be good. But that wasn’t quite the deciding factor. I had to take the price into consideration also, and to be honest I didn’t even know how much a decent camera is supposed to cost. My sister’s Olympus camera was worth 4 million but it was bought quite a while ago and at that time, that model was the newest so it must have been expensive, although it’s only 4 mega pixels. But, that Olympus camera looks good, it has a lens lid which opens and closes automatically and maybe 4 million is worth it. But I have to be more reasonable, right? I wouldn’t just pick up the most expensive or the most technology-advanced camera in sight, you may think I’m a shopaholic but I am at least a very considerate one. (My dad would so disagree on this, he would say, ‘then don’t buy a camera altogether so not a penny of my money would be spent’)

So I was looking at some options of camera which only cost around a million to two. Okay, drop the ‘only’ in the last sentence.

And the Sony type I was talking before was just on that price range and the guy filled me in on all the qualities, it was 7 or so mega pixels. Personally, I liked the outlook of that particular one and the screen was also big while the other profiles were basically standard.

But then I saw Samsung camera and I fell in love too. And the sales person saw it right through me and quickly went to take out the model for me to check out. He was pretty excited too at this point and told me all the good points and while I was looking at both the Sony and Samsung types to compare, he went on to say that the Samsung model is far more superior to the Sony one, although luckily for me, the price is cheaper. I asked him how that could be possible and he smiled while simply letting his fingers runs through the word ‘Sony’ in the camera. Okay, so it’s a matter of which one is the more famous brand? It doesn’t really matter to me, though, I think Samsung is a perfectly good brand too, and if it so happens that the better option is cheaper, then who am I to complain?

Anyway, the Samsung was 8.1 mega pixels with better screen resolution and it already has face-detector and anti-blur selections. It could take multiple shots at the same time, take pictures straight from the video and also take 30 continuous shots just by one click, resulting in a cartoon-like-effect, if you know what I mean. The charger is in the same cable as its USB, and you could even charge the camera from your computer using the USB cable so you can do so in the car, or wherever else. And you know what’s better? It has one in red! I am so in love.

I spent quite some time playing with the camera, clicking here and there until finally dad came. He gave me ‘are you sure you want this?’ look while I excitedly nodded.

No, no, I haven’t bought it..yet. It’s not quite a spontaneous purchase but in the mean time, I don’t see what’s wrong with drooling and dreaming over a perfectly gorgeous looking camera. It’s so close I could almost taste it.

Obviously I need to move on. I didn’t realize I have written this much, but I just can’t stop talking when I’m excited. Anyway, before the camera hunting, I accompanied Dad see a warehouse sale on electronics. The place was this huge, unmaintained, dirty and gloomy-looking garage and for the event, it was filled with electronic stuffs aligned and little stands in the side and the people were just scattering around, busily looking for the best deals and boy, there were a lot of people. It was hot and damp, and I braced through it because dad wanted to check prices of some refrigerators, and I’m sorry for sounding like a prissy, but it wasn’t top on my favorite places to be. I was more than happy when he was finally done with his business. I was happiest when he scurried me down the hall to the exit sign, I think. After the camera hunting, Dad and I had a quick green-bean dessert at a nearby shop and at night we were out again for some express grocery shopping.

My younger sister and I topped up the night by watching Asian Idol on TV and I was real happy when Hadi from Singapore walked away with the title. All in all, yesterday was a really good day. Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to think of that Samsung L-830 camera again.

So far as the day goes on today, it hasn’t been quite historical yet. It’s Monday so Dad’s off for work and my younger sister is busily playing play station which is all she does these days, and I just finished watching ‘Derailed’ on VCD that I rented yesterday. And we’ve also had a really delicious lunch, courtesy of my great cook. The menu were macaroni, sausages, carrot and corn soup (no, they were mixed together, c’mon, I didn’t eat that many kinds of soup in one meal!), deep fried prawn, fried frogs in sweet butter sauce, and my personal favorite, hot fried mushrooms. Homemade food is so much better on most occasions.