Last entry in 2011...

A very quick recap of 2011. Got a dream job (notice, job, not a career yet) in September, a part-time one which allows me to earn more money, more responsibility, more authority, more benefits plus travel opportunities. I was actually asked to go to Malaysia on an assignment for ten days on December 18, but I had to decline it due to the crazy load of uni work. Might go to Turkey and/or UK in February on another assignment. For that, I thank the ever-almighty Allah.

I've also just earned a 2012 Starbucks planner by collecting stickers, for the first time! Hahahaha. I got my 2008 Starbucks planner from a good friend of mine who was the manager of the Victoria Street, Auckland store in March 2008 and the 2009 one from another good friend who was a barrista at the Pasaraya Grande, Jakarta, store in February 2009. If you're as crazy about Starbucks as I am, you know that the deadline for sticker collecting is always December 31. I didn't get the 2010 and 2011 planners.

Meanwhile, something noteworthy also happened on the love front. Been sort of involved with a guy six years my senior since October. Hopefully this turns out alright.

May you have a blessed 2012!

Hanson and the pansy...

I remember reading an unauthorized biography of Hanson about the iconic pansy in the group's first video, MmmBop. So according to the book, Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson wanted director Tamra Davis to make it look like they were playing inside a blossoming pansy.



Obviously, the band is playing in front of a screen showing a blossoming pansy. No "illusion" of the band ACTUALLY playing INSIDE said blossoming pansy. Then starting at 1:37 you can see the part where Hanson is playing in front of big make-believe pansy. I used to wonder what the heck the make-believe pansy was for, but later I remembered: it was made to create the "illusion" that Hanson was playing inside a blossoming pansy.

Epic fail.

Tragic Taureans...

I've been fascinated by Ruan Lingyu since probably 2002, but didn't learn about her more until 2006. Ruan, dubbed "The Chinese Garbo", was the queen of the Chinese silent screen from the late 1920s to the middle of 1930s, until her tragic death by suicide in 1935. She was only 24 going on 25.

Ruan was a Taurean, born April 26 1910. She was also famous in Hong Kong and spoke Cantonese as a first language.

Decades later, HK cinema was introduced to Barbara Yung, who began her career as one of the top ten finalists of Miss HK 1982. She later gained fame through several TV series, one of which of "Legend of The Condor Heroes" which was once aired in Indonesia.

On May 14 1985, Yung was found dead in her HK apartment. The cause of the suicide was said to be relationship issues with her then boyfriend Kent Tong. At the time of her death, Yung had just turned 26. She was born on May 7 1959.

Two incredibly talented actresses. Both were Taureans. Both committed suicide in the middle of their twenties, exactly 50 years apart.

Well we Taureans are notorious for being so intense sometimes...

NOT the last entry in 2011...

Hi guys!

I'll never hit the 35-entry mark this year as I was unbelievably busy with uni assignments until yesterday. The ordeal is yet to be over though, as I have more assignments due on the 2nd, 11th and 13th respectively. But at least until NYE I'm free, can breathe. LOL.

This crazy chain of assignments has stood in the way of communication with my parents. So much so that they've decided to stop talking to me almost completely and leave me in my own world of books, Microsoft Office, campus, Freedom Institute and Starbucks (I'm still collecting their 2012 planner stickers...I have seven more to go, maybe anybody would like to donate one?)

Hokay. I've been a Within Temptation fan since 2004. While I don't dig the band's Gothic fashion style, most of their videos have been perfectly executed to embody their Gothic spirit by invoking imagery of memory (as in "Memory" and "Frozen"), dark fantasy (as in "Stand My Ground") and binary opposition (utopia and dystopia in "The Howling.") I don't see that in the video of their recent single, "Shot in The Dark." Take a look.



The dark atmosphere is still there, albeit not elaborate. Oh, and I kind of like Sharon's style here. It's like she's finally grown out of her usual Gothic get-ups phase, which is a good thing.

Guilty pleasure...

Ok, I admit I have a thing for over the top, ridiculous Korean girlbands! A few months ago I wrote about Orange Caramel, now I've just discovered f(x)! Check them out.


It's impressive how they managed to bring a tank and dye it black and pink...

My favorite is a tie between Krystal Jung, younger sister of Girls' Generation member Jessica and former child model (when she was six, Krystal appeared in Shinhwa's "Wedding March" video), and Amber Liu. Amber Liu is actually an ABC (that's American-born Chinese for those who have just returned from Uranus), and she stands out because, well, she's the boyish one. Amber reminds me of Ella Chen from Taiwanese girlband S.H.E for those who are old enough to remember the early 2000s, except maybe Ella wasn't that boyish if I remember correctly.

I guess it's a current trend in the Korean music industry to recruit Chinese members. Besides Amber Liu, f(x) has another Chinese member, Victoria Song. Another Korean girlband, Miss A, also has two Chinese members, Meng Jia and Wang Feifei.

An idiom and its literal interpretation...

I love Brandon Lee. I've been mildly obsessed with him since 2003. I recently found an MTV interview with him shot in November 1992, just four months before he was killed on the set of The Crow. Take a look.



If you don't have all day, forward it to 1:43 where the son of Bruce Lee talks about punishing a man that broke into his Echo Park house. He says he dislocated the man's shoulder, broke his arm, nose and jaw. It's just interesting how he says it all like it's a walk in the park...while he and the interviewer are actually walking in a park! Good concept, Cult Corner!

First emotional entry in ages?

Hey you.
Are you still reading this? I kind of believe you still drop by once in a while.
Listen.
We'll probably never be together.
But I still believe you're my one.
The only one that can read me like a book, despite the fact that we're supposedly astrological disasters.
I'm glad to have what we had.
I can imagine us sitting next to each other.
Me: what we have now is ours, we should keep it a secret.
You: silent, yet smiling knowingly.
Me: hahahah jokes, I've already twitted about it multiple times.

Old readers, don't you miss this kind of posts from my old blog?

Musings...

Hi everyone!

The past couple of weeks were a mad one as I was finishing my final fortnight at Lessons for Life and getting on top of uni assignments. Yes now I've officially resigned from LFL (after 1,8 years which did feel like forever!) and am now a part-time English trainer for teachers at Nurul Fikri Boarding School. However, even though my new job is a part-time one, it pays nearly twice the payment of my last full-time gig plus benefits. And oh yeah so far I work only on Saturday (might extend to Sunday in the near future), so my weekend stretches from Monday to Friday!

I do recall in September (if my memory doesn't fail me) I wrote about hoping that the last third of 2011 would turn the year into an annus mirabilis. It did. Alhamdulillah.

Now, if you speak Indonesian, I guess you've realized by now that the words "pertanyaan" (question) and "pernyataan" (statement) are anagrams of each other, which also complement one another! The only English equivalence I can think of is "desserts" and "stressed"!

The first quiz in eons.

Vampire Test from Quiz Rocket!


Aaah I haven't done any quizzes in a long time! Can't believe some people still make quizzes, although I think its popularity isn't as big as it used to be in the early 2000s. I was advised by a very talented blogger (actually she was more of a talented graphic/web designer than a talented writer) to whip out quizzes to boost the hits of my blog, back in 2002. At that time, I was already on Diaryland, which allowed me to create my own layout using manual HTML, but I was a total newbie in web and graphic designs. My designing skills did improve, but it never reached the level of the chick who suggested I make quizzes. She did make a few quizzes with really awesome result images which made her all the more popular in the world wide web, before retiring from blogging in 2004.

Dishing out tips...

A little tip for wannabe celebrities out there...

Please appreciate your fans. No matter how annoying they might be, at least thank them for showing any interest at all in your work. You just sound and look like hypocrites when you put yourself and your work in the public eye, then act like you don't want the attention you get.

And take heed, you guys - you know who you are. Perhaps not being allowed to eat has taken its toll on you?

Brandon Lee....

No you're not gonna find a Brandon Lee and Heath Ledger comparison here. That's been done too often.

On The Crow remake, set to release in 2013, I hear that Bradley Cooper (who was slated to play Eric Draven, Brandon's character in the original Crow) has dropped out and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo has considered Mark Wahlberg to fill in Brandon's shoes. Mark Wahlberg is at least someone the late Brandon Lee would have been familiar with (he most likely knew him better as Marky Mark.) Honestly I don't care whether The Crow remake should see the light of day or not.

I wonder if this movie is made to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Brandon's passing? For those of you who don't know, Brandon Lee, son of Bruce, passed away on March 31 1993 due to an accident on the set of The Crow, which was to be his only hit movie (his previous ones are B-grade action movies.) He was only 28.

Now check out this video, released by his sister Shannon to celebrate his 45th birthday.



What a perfect song to suit the video's mood. The background music is Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley, a musician who left the world in 1997 at the age of 30. Another talented life taken way too soon.

A gem long buried, discovered

And this is the said gem!



Mellyana Manuhutu sealed a record deal with Wave Records in Japan in 1990 to record "modernized" Indonesian folk songs, when she was only 15 years old. The self-titled album was distributed in Japan only (or largely in Japan), but over the next ten years Melly, as she was to be better known later, carved a successful career out of singing, modelling, acting and TV presenting on the home turf.

Several songs from the album "Mellyana" have been uploaded on YouTube, and so far Yamko Rambe Yamko is my favorite. This Papuan folk song sounds to me like a blueprint for Utada Hikaru hits to come many years later. The other songs, simply said, probably shouldn't have been recorded with '90s Japanese youngsters in mind. For one, Melly's "black" vocal doesn't fit Aceh folk song Bungong Jeumpa and Sundanese Tokecang. Despite that, however, one must admit "Mellyana" was far ahead of its time. In the early '90s, Indonesian youth weren't as proud as Batik and other local products as we are now. Teenagers would've been embarrassed if their friends had learned they listened to Sundari Soekotjo or Waljinah instead of Tommy Page and Debbie Gibson. Makoto Kubota took actions by making a few famous Indonesian folk songs world music and signed the talented Ambonese teenager to sing them.

LOL

Happy late September everyone!

Not gonna talk about celebs this time.

This is probably my last entry in September, if I'm still lazy until the month is out.

Just learned something. Some people actually do things just for the hell of it. They execute it to perfection purely for personal satisfaction. They don't want attention of any kind. What little attention they get, they warn anyone who pays any attention to stay the heck away.

And you guys (you know who you are), I don't like how you do things. And get a bit more creative with aliases, will ya?

Reflecting...

Happy September everyone! Can't believe we only have three months left in year 2011. It's been uneventful to me so far, but with the three months left maybe there's still an opportunity to turn this year around.

I'm not gonna blog about celebs this time.

If you've been a long-time follower, you know that one of my strongest suits is my memory. And indeed memory is very important to me. It helps me remember how far I've come and reminds me about my destiny, why I'm here in the first place. It also helps me make people feel special.

If asked how I'd like people to remember me, simply put I hope I'll leave only good memories which make them smile and laugh.

Reminiscence of a Taiwanese girlband...

Remember 4 in Love? The foursome who were Taiwanese pop princesses in the first couple of years of the 21st century, until they disbanded and one of its members, Rainie Yang, has since tightened her grip on Taiwanese entertainment industry and beyond.



Aaah look at the early 2000s fashion. So simple and minimalistic, which meant there was a lot of skin on display sometimes. Is this 4 in Love's final video? I have a feeling it is...Look at the flashbacks of the making of their previous videos. Some famous bands, knowingly or unknowingly, use flashbacks of their previous videos as a tell-tale sign that their days are numbered. It's like their way of saying, "Thank you for the memories."

An NZ band enters Indonesia...will it be a stayer?

Introducing Dear Frontier, a husband and wife duo from Wellington, New Zealand, who recently played a gig in Jakarta on August 13. This is probably the first New Zealand sound that entered Indonesian realm since probably Bic Runga, who didn't make a big impact. Dear Frontier got exposure to the Jakarta crowd mainly thanks to the fact that Hana Miller, one half of the band, is half Indonesian and used to be a frequent Jakarta Post contributor.

Whilst I personally find one of their singles, "Space Age Ending Now", catchy I'm not so sure about the band's future in Indonesia. The typical Indonesian music listener is not into, or not yet used to, "raw" sound that Dear Frontier plays, which is rather commonly found in the NZ music scene. Indonesians are into neat orchestrated sounds, and by "orchestrated" I don't strictly mean orchestra a la Erwin Gutawa and Addie MS.

I'm also not sure about Dear Frontier's "smart" sound. Their EP, which is released online, is called "Post Capitalist"....Indonesian market is not smart enough yet to figure out songs with subtle references to capitalism and Franz Kafka. Or they just don't want to. They are more into beautiful poetic lyrics about simple things in life. For references to neat orchestrated sounds and beautiful lyrics about simple things in life, YouTube KLA Project, Afghan or Maliq & D'Essentials, the famous band which helped Dear Frontier record the whole three songs in "Post Capitalist."

Whether or not Dear Frontier wants to seriously tap into the Indonesian market, Lord knows. My own personal verdict is that they most likely want to keep their "uniquely NZ" sound, despite help from Maliq & D'Essentials and other famous Indonesian musicians whose help they'll probbably enlist for their next projects. If you listen to Dear Frontier's "Problem", you'll agree that there's an undeniable Maliq & D'Essentials involvement there, but as a whole the sound is the duo's own. This way, maybe it doesn't matter that Dear Frontier and the Indonesian market will never fully embrace each other.

Meet Dear Frontier...



Oh, and here's hoping Dear Frontier will stick to its name. Too many NZ bands or solo artists changed their names after some time. Cases in point: Charlie Ash became CASH, Bionic Pixie became Zowie, Phony Bone became Graham & The Zoo...

On the return of the boyband/girlband phenomenon...

For those who've been away from the country for a while, Indonesia is currently experiencing the return of girlband/boyband trend, but while ten years ago Indo boybands/girlband acts were inspired their Western counterparts, now they try to emulate their Korean ones to an extent. Amongst the many Korean-inspired local boybands/girlbands such as Sm*sh and G-String (yep that's really their name...but don't worry their image isn't as sexy as the name might suggest), Hitz is one that steps up the game by actually hiring a Korean member! Therefore this boyband sings in Korean, Indonesian and English. Check out their first single, Yes Yes Yes.



One of the members, Irwan Chandra (the one with magnificent cheek bones, in case you miss the super fast "intro to the members" scenes and can't be bothered to play back), is no stranger to the show business. He started his career as a model about ten years ago and, as easily guessed, then branched out to acting. He vanished into oblivion for a while...only to return as a boybander at the age of 34. Isn't it a bit too old? The avarage age range for beginner boybands is 17-24.

On the beehived one's demise...

I'm not blaming you if you haven't heard that Amy Winehouse was found dead yesterday, July 23, in her London house. The police and doctors are still hard at work to find out the real cause of her death

For those uninitiated, Amy was born on September 14 1983, which means when she died yesterday she was still 27 years old. This secured her membership of Club 27, which consists of entertainment legends who passed away at age 27, namely Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison.

As one guided by signs, even when Winehouse debuted as a fresh-faced 20-year-old in 2003, I could sort of tell what kind of life awaited following her new-found fame. Her surname was "Winehouse", itself a tell-tale sign, and her mother's name is Janis. Janis Seaton, 56, couldn't have been named after Janis Joplin but the fact that she shares a first name with the legendary musician is, to me, a signal that her daughter would meet the same fate as Ms. Joplin.

Rest in peace, Amy. May heaven be your real rehab.

Bali, Celebrity Paradise Hide-Out (part 1?)

The media once speculated whether or not the wedding of Delta Goodrem and Bryan Mcfadden would take place. The Aussie songbird and the Irish former boybander announced their engagement in late 2007. I was still in New Zealand at the time, and I remember it was one of the most talked-about unions in the Kiwi and Aussie media. Fast forward two years, I was already back in Indonesia for good but still kept an eye on the Kiwi entertainment (Delta has never really been big in Indonesia and Bryan, he kind of fell off the Asian radar after he left Westlife.) There was no news on the Goodrem-McFadden wedding, although the two insisted it was still on. We knew what was going on, however: the longer the engagement, the more unlikely the wedding will take place.

And indeed the wedding was off. And guess who has been seen with Miss Goodrem of late! The lucky guy (I should call him "kid") is none other Nick Jonas, the youngest of The Jonas Brothers! This is such a funny coupling. Delta is turning 27 in November and Nick is turning 19 in September. With Delta always been looking years more mature than her actual age ever since she broke out into the scene at age 18 and Nick with his baby face intact, it's easy to imagine Nick and Delta looking like auntie and nephew. Oh, and did I notice that Nick no longer wears his purity ring?

Recently, the couple have just got back from a holiday in Bali. How interesting. Bryan proposed to Delta on their vacation in Bali. I remember seeing pictures of the former couple frolicking at the beach with a typical Balinese villa in the background. And now that Delta seemed to have reprised her Bali memories with her new beau, it's easy to see whose idea the Bali trip was. Maybe our Ministry of Culture and Tourism can ask Delta to endorse Bali in our visit Indonesia campaigns?

Britney Spears, ballads and autotunes...

I just recently discovered this song.



Released while pregnant with her firstborn Sean Preston in 2005, everyone would agree that this song really captures the emotion Britney must have felt as a would-be first time mother, which all mothers could relate. And everyone would agree, as well, that she's just effortlessly absolutely gorgeous and serene, an image hardly associated with Ms. Spears throughout her career.

This song did poorly on charts, and to this moment I still don't understand why it's her dance beats that have done very well. In songs such as Baby One More Time and her latest, "I Wanna Go", she uses a lot of autotunes and lipsyncs when she performs the songs live, for which she receives criticisms. I don't get it. Britney needs to promote more of her ballads, which she really shines in.

Speaking of memorable Britney ballads, I can only name one: Everytime, released in 2004.

Also, a little off-topic, I think you've all heard that Britney's ex husband Kevin Federline (henceforth referred here as Fed-Ex) is expecting a baby with current girlfriend Victoria Prince, a retired volleyball athlete. This is to be Fed-Ex's fifth, after Kori and Kaleb (with ex fiancee Shar Jackson), plus Sean Preston and Jayden James (with Britney.) What the world may not know is that before dating Victoria, Fed-Ex dated porn star Kacey Jordan and the relationship resulted in a pregnancy - which Kacey terminated. Kacey is the youngest of Fed-Ex's baby mamas at only 23 years old (Shar is 35, Britney is 29 and Victoria is 28), but she's the most sensible. Girl knew better than to have a baby with a douchebag like Fed-Ex!

Ooh that's a familiar face!

A relatively new (released late last year) by Anika Moa, a New Zealand singer of whom I'm a fan. Ok, the skinny blonde chick with thick kohl around her eyes used to be (maybe still is?) a tutor at The University of Auckland. She didn't get to teach me, which was good since she's only a few months older than me (yeah I know how it feels to have a lecturer/tutor or boss who's younger than you!)



She seems to have a thing for musicians. The tutor/musician I wrote about in my June 4 2011 entry is her ex, and right now she's dating another famous musician, another friend of mine. Just like her ex and present boyfriend, she'll remain anonymous because all three are my friends...And yes they do google their names!

Again on Dare To Be!

This is the second episode of Dare to Be posted on the Oriflame Russia Youtube, which is also posted on the Youtube of Oriflame Poland (hence the subtitles.) As you'll soon find out, it's about the girls giving Dasha a ticket to a MakSim concert for her birthday. For those uninitiated, MakSim is a Russian pop singer.



They obviously aren't in a MakSim concert. Their dance isn't synchronized to the tune. The images of the concert and the girls dancing in the audience are juxtaposed. Again, film makers, stick to realness. If your budget doesn't accomodate, maybe it's time to change the scenario!

And surprise! Claudia the Latina speaks Russian!

On mature-looking teens...

Actually I'm gonna talk about just one teen. And it's 18-year-old Victoria Justice, star of Nickolodeon's Victorious.

Have a look at the video below.



This one was shot last year when she was 17, but Vic (or Tori?) already looked so mature. Sounded and acted kind mature too. One could easily forget she's still a teen and actually younger than the Disney kids such as Gomez and Cyrus.



But yeah she's indeed still a teenager.

On another note, I got a 3.60 GPA this semester! Yay! This is a bit below my expectation but at least better than last semester's 3.46.

I hate title columns

This is not gonna be a celebrity post, sorry.

I really have to post more often if I'm going to stick to my new year's resolution of whipping out 35 entries this year.


I've been thinking a lot about a friend back in NZ. He worked at the library when we were both studying at The University of Auckland. I remember he told me he was dating a 22-year-old girl somewhere at uni, and I didn't bother to inquire more. Sometime later, I stumbled upon his Myspace, and found a picture of him on what seemed like a double date. It was him, two mutual friends and a chick that I knew but never really talked to. The latter sat next to my library friend. I immediately suspected they were an item (I knew she was 22 years old at the time.)

I was (and still am) jealous of the chick. By 22 years old, she was already a tutor in a second stage English paper and now she's at Oxford doing a Ph.D on a scholarship. I was 23 and struggling with Shakespeare and co.

And yes, I did have a crush on the guy (let's call him Mark.) And I guess the crush has't really died down. They say it's a Taurean trademark to take long to get over someone.

Just wondering...

One of my tutors back at uni in NZ was a famous musician, I'm not gonna mention his name here because I'm gonna talk about him in a rather negative light. About five years ago he blogged on Myspace that he lost his job. I think I didn't have to guess which job - must have been the teaching one at uni. I still wonder why he got fired. Probably for selling his CDs to students? I felt sorry for him for a while, though I knew I didn't have to.

Just stopping by

I was listening to Diana Yukawa's Snow Globe when something crossed my mind. For those uninitiated, Diana Yukawa is an Anglo-Japanese violinist whose mother is Susanne Bayly, a ballerina and artist, and father is Aki Yukawa, a Japanese banker who died in a plane crash about three weeks before Diana was born, in 1985. Diana has an older sister, Cassie, who's a pianist and one half of the famous Yukawa-Chan duo.

Now I'm sure everyone's heard of Amy Chua, Yale law professor and author of the uproar-causing book Battle Hymm of The Tiger Mother. Her two daughters, just like Yukawa sisters, are also talented musicians. Chua's eldest, Sophia, plays piano and her youngest, Louisa, plays violin.

So what do Amy Chua and Susanne Bayly have in common? They have two half Asian girls, the eldest girls play piano and the younger ones play violin, plus the two sets of sisters are respectively four years apart in age.

Ok, singing off. Gotta get back to assignments.

Tackiest K-pop act ever?

I've looked at music videos of many Korean girlbands in the past ten years, from Fin KL to Girls' Generation, but have never come across anything so tacky.



At check out the end of the music video. What a rip-off of the Miss Dior Cherie commercial!

Negative notes aside, I'd like to wish Orange Caramel's Oh Hye Rin (better known as Reina, the bob-haired one) a happy 22nd birthday as it's already May 7 in Indonesia. Seriously chick, don't you feel you're too old to sing silly songs in even sillier costumes?

Dare to Be craze part deux

Yay Dare to Be just uploaded its latest webisode five days ago, check it out.



So it looks like they upload a webisode every three weeks (the first being uploaded in July 2010) plus roughly a "diary" video. Indonesia Oriflame is so freaking late, they just started catching up on it last month, and until now its admin has just uploaded the first webisode and diary video.

And I've just found out Claudia is supposed to be Mexican. There's nothing Mexican about her physique or anything else attached to her. At least Alisha, who's supposed to be Indian, looks like she could be half Indian and half Swedish. So filmmakers worldwide, please do your homework: stick to realness.

Jordan Knight and Morgan Oey, the boyband "it guys"...

Morgan Oey (the guy singing the first verse) there with his big bangs and tights reminds me of Jordan Knight in "The Right Stuff" video, out around 23 years ago. Video is accessible here.

If you don't know which one Jordan is, seek for the guy with the most resemblence to Morgan. If that still leaves you clueless, get your aunt to point him out.

What I'm into right now...

I love watching Oriflame's Dare to Be webisodes right now. They were released as a marketing strategy for Oriflame's The Babes and Very Me ranges. Even though Dare to Be is your typical teenager thing (though not teenyboppers, since I think they aim it at late teens in early university years) with the typical themes of boys, fashion, school and friendship and I'm obviously not in their demographic, I like the webisodes all the same. The story revolves around Dasha, Emma, Alisha and Claudia, four university students who live in the same apartment belonging to a retired fashion designer. One slightly annoying thing is that Alisha is supposed to be Indian, yet the actress who plays Alisha looks more Iranian. My favourite webisode is this one, number ten.



Oh yeah, and watch out for Peter, the apartment's supercute handyman who's also the nephew of the fashion designer.

Hmm...

Ok. Connection, please don't fail me.

Looks like everyone forgets this blog is still standing. Does it mean it's safe to bitch now? To mention someone's full name?

Nah.

I'm really scared at the moment. It's amazing that I've been able to pull off a brave front - at least for now. Whatever will happen, I hope it will lead to the best. And I've always wanted to attend Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies instead of being back at UI.

This is the second entry in 2011. In 2009, I posted 15 entries. Then 25 entries the following year. This year I plan to whip out 35 entries.

First hi in 2011 - the twin edition...

Happy new year everyone! I learned last week, as The South Jakarta Community Choir (of which I'm a member) entered a new season, that it was ok to exchange happy new year wishes at the end of January.

I started the year 2011 being stalked by a psycho. Long story. Thank God he's out of my life now.

It's just dawned on me that all my life, I've been surrounded by identical twins. I have triplet cousins on my dad's side of the family and identical twin cousins on my mum's side. My paternal granduncles were also identical twins. My two good friends, photographer and occasional Jakarta Post columnist Will Wiriawan and Kiwi filmmaker Leo Woodhead, have identical twins. In Leo's case, I'm also friends with his twin, Max. Even my former suitor back in Auckland days, whom I won't name, had an identical twin who died in infancy.

What's God trying to tell through all this?