"A Song for You by Elliott Yamin"
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Saturday, May 27, 2006
Friday, May 26, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
"It's Gonna be Raining, Not?"
--Morning Journal--
Hmm.. it’s even darker this morning. Grey clouds, cold wind, shy sunlight. Interesting. Let’s just hope it’s not gonna be raining today. It could be horrible, I don’t have my umbrella with me.
Well, hello! It’s Tuesday here in San Jose, California. I had more than enough sleep last night. Fell asleep at around 8.30, woke up at around 10.30, and then played with my computer a little bit until midnight. I was installing Skype for both my PC and Mac. I just found out that they have this cool promotion, 120 free minutes when you buy credits using PayPal. Even better, it lets you make calls anywhere in the US and Canada for free until the end of the year. Isn’t it a good deal? And I tried calling my home number to check the quality of the call, it’s very clear. As if I’m calling with regular phone. Neat. So, if you have a Skype account, you can call me for free. My Skype is “resnofendri.” I might need to approve you first before you can call me, simply because I have my incoming calls forwarded to my cell phone (and it’s not free). You can see on the right pane of my blog, there’s a button to Skype me (as well as AOL and Yahoo Messenger). So, feel free to say hi to me.. ☺
What’s the most exciting about Tuesday? Yes, right, the American Idol! It’s gonna be the grand finale tonight, between Kat and Taylor. I don’t know but I don’t feel that excited as when I watched last week’s show. Maybe it’s because Elliott is not on the finale. And gosh.. I am really concerned that the next American Idol will be Taylor. I mean, come on. Give me a break, he is disgusting! I can see him doing hundreds of covers from past bands and/or singers, but honestly, I can’t picture him singing a song of his own. That is how unoriginal he is. Well, we’ll see how Kat is doing tonight. I hope she’s gonna pick right songs and manage to control her pitch.
So, summer is coming. All the TV series is doing their season or series finale. Will & Grace has done with its series finale (which is a little lame, in my opinion). Desperate Housewives did its 2 hours season finale last Sunday. American Idol will end tomorrow. The Apprentice will end in 2 weeks. And Big Love, I guess, it was the season finale last Sunday? I’m not sure, gonna need to check it again. The point is, with all my favorite TV series come to an end, what am I gonna watch now? Will my TiVo be empty for a while? Hmm.. I guess that’s gonna be the case. I don’t see any potential new series on TV. So maybe, summer IS the time for out and about. Vacation time!
Alright, Mountain View is coming. I’ll see ya in abit!
--Afternoon Journal--
Well, it’s 5 in the afternoon, and here I am at a Korean restaurant ready to have dinner. It’s actually one of my favorite restaurants downtown Mountain View. Their hot-pot seafood-tofu is very good. I used to come here at least once in a week. But since I’ve been working, there’s almost no time to come here. Anyway, I didn’t have lunch today, didn’t feel too hungry at the lunchtime, so I decided I’d have quite a sizable dinner tonight.
I chatted with one of my friends, Ari, on Yahoo Messenger today. She’s going to move to San Mateo (she currently lives in Redwood City). I asked her when she’s going to move, and she told me hopefully by the end of next week. This weekend is going to be a long weekend with the Memorial Day falls on Monday. I asked what is he gonna do during the long weekend, and she replied “Moving.” Sounds like fun.. hehe. Anyway, she asked me if I have time this Sunday to prepare a surprise birthday party for her husband, Rudi. (I hope Rudi is not reading my blog, well, at least not until after next Sunday). I said, “Sure, What time? Where? What’s the menu?” And then she suddenly got distracted, and told me to talk to me later. So, I don’t know what kind of surprise party it will be. We’ll see..
Phew. Interesting. I’m supposedly on the 5.56 train from Mountain View (although it’s now 6.01 PM already). I saw the train going to San Francisco on the other side; and everybody was trying to catch it. I mean, they literally were trying all they could to catch it. A guy even climbed over the divider (which is absolutely dangerous and illegal). I guess, he was so desperately in need of catching that train since the next one (the baby bullet, that is) is not going to be in another hour. So, I guess it’s worth it.
I myself managed to catch the baby bullet going to San Jose. So, hopefully I will get home by 6.15. So…. See you home, then? ☺
Hmm.. it’s even darker this morning. Grey clouds, cold wind, shy sunlight. Interesting. Let’s just hope it’s not gonna be raining today. It could be horrible, I don’t have my umbrella with me.
Well, hello! It’s Tuesday here in San Jose, California. I had more than enough sleep last night. Fell asleep at around 8.30, woke up at around 10.30, and then played with my computer a little bit until midnight. I was installing Skype for both my PC and Mac. I just found out that they have this cool promotion, 120 free minutes when you buy credits using PayPal. Even better, it lets you make calls anywhere in the US and Canada for free until the end of the year. Isn’t it a good deal? And I tried calling my home number to check the quality of the call, it’s very clear. As if I’m calling with regular phone. Neat. So, if you have a Skype account, you can call me for free. My Skype is “resnofendri.” I might need to approve you first before you can call me, simply because I have my incoming calls forwarded to my cell phone (and it’s not free). You can see on the right pane of my blog, there’s a button to Skype me (as well as AOL and Yahoo Messenger). So, feel free to say hi to me.. ☺
What’s the most exciting about Tuesday? Yes, right, the American Idol! It’s gonna be the grand finale tonight, between Kat and Taylor. I don’t know but I don’t feel that excited as when I watched last week’s show. Maybe it’s because Elliott is not on the finale. And gosh.. I am really concerned that the next American Idol will be Taylor. I mean, come on. Give me a break, he is disgusting! I can see him doing hundreds of covers from past bands and/or singers, but honestly, I can’t picture him singing a song of his own. That is how unoriginal he is. Well, we’ll see how Kat is doing tonight. I hope she’s gonna pick right songs and manage to control her pitch.
So, summer is coming. All the TV series is doing their season or series finale. Will & Grace has done with its series finale (which is a little lame, in my opinion). Desperate Housewives did its 2 hours season finale last Sunday. American Idol will end tomorrow. The Apprentice will end in 2 weeks. And Big Love, I guess, it was the season finale last Sunday? I’m not sure, gonna need to check it again. The point is, with all my favorite TV series come to an end, what am I gonna watch now? Will my TiVo be empty for a while? Hmm.. I guess that’s gonna be the case. I don’t see any potential new series on TV. So maybe, summer IS the time for out and about. Vacation time!
Alright, Mountain View is coming. I’ll see ya in abit!
--Afternoon Journal--
Well, it’s 5 in the afternoon, and here I am at a Korean restaurant ready to have dinner. It’s actually one of my favorite restaurants downtown Mountain View. Their hot-pot seafood-tofu is very good. I used to come here at least once in a week. But since I’ve been working, there’s almost no time to come here. Anyway, I didn’t have lunch today, didn’t feel too hungry at the lunchtime, so I decided I’d have quite a sizable dinner tonight.
I chatted with one of my friends, Ari, on Yahoo Messenger today. She’s going to move to San Mateo (she currently lives in Redwood City). I asked her when she’s going to move, and she told me hopefully by the end of next week. This weekend is going to be a long weekend with the Memorial Day falls on Monday. I asked what is he gonna do during the long weekend, and she replied “Moving.” Sounds like fun.. hehe. Anyway, she asked me if I have time this Sunday to prepare a surprise birthday party for her husband, Rudi. (I hope Rudi is not reading my blog, well, at least not until after next Sunday). I said, “Sure, What time? Where? What’s the menu?” And then she suddenly got distracted, and told me to talk to me later. So, I don’t know what kind of surprise party it will be. We’ll see..
Phew. Interesting. I’m supposedly on the 5.56 train from Mountain View (although it’s now 6.01 PM already). I saw the train going to San Francisco on the other side; and everybody was trying to catch it. I mean, they literally were trying all they could to catch it. A guy even climbed over the divider (which is absolutely dangerous and illegal). I guess, he was so desperately in need of catching that train since the next one (the baby bullet, that is) is not going to be in another hour. So, I guess it’s worth it.
I myself managed to catch the baby bullet going to San Jose. So, hopefully I will get home by 6.15. So…. See you home, then? ☺
Labels: Jurnal
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Monday, May 22, 2006
"Another Monday, Yeah, Oh Well.."
--Morning Journal--
Monday, the fourth one for this month. Nothing is particularly special, just the same Monday as before. It’s a little chilly this morning, I guess because it was raining last night. Yup. Raining. It’s been raining for the past two or three days. Nothing major, just some light shower and medium rain. But it was nice to smell clean fresh air in the morning after raining the previous night.
Weekend was okay. Oh, there was actually something special. I took the DMV Written Test last Saturday. And I passed it! With a perfect score, mind you! It felt so good. The grader at the DMV said, “Wow, you’re perfect! I’m impressed!” Well, that’s just the first part. Now I need to learn how to drive.
I know, I know. It’s a bit lame that I don’t know how to drive. I just never did, and never really needed to. Well, when I was in Indonesia, I could get by getting here and there with public transportation. And here, I’ve done the same thing, well, except it is not that easy. But then I realized, it’s about time. It’s a skill that everybody needs to have. And the license also serves as the ID, so, there’s no more reason not to. So, I’m gonna look at some driving class around here to take just behind the wheel practice. And I will also practice with Paul sometime in the next time, I guess.
Did I tell you that I’m wearing shorts today? Hehe.. yeah, I so am wearing shorts. Well, nothing special, it’s just that I never wore any to work, and with the nice weather and summer and everything, I figured it’s just nice to try something new. Oh well, we’ll see how I goes. If I feel so cold on my way home waiting for the bus, then shorts are definitely not for me.
So yeah, summer is coming. Kids are going to be out of school in two weeks. People are busy preparing for their summer vacation. I’m gonna have one too, I guess. Paul and I were thinking of going to Indonesia visiting my family and friends, and doing some touristy stuff around. We have August early in our mind, for two weeks. I have accumulated an over two weeks worth of paid vacation from work so, I don’t think it’s gonna be a problem. Paul has also reserved the time for early of August. We just need to do more planning, buy the tickets, and go for it.
My boss, Nimish, is going back to India earlier of June. So I think, I should preview him my intention to go for vacation right when he get back. I hope it’ll be easy.
Alright then, my station is coming. Let’s get ready for.. work. See ya in a bit!
--Afternoon Journal--
Phew! It was not that bad. Got to leave work on time, got to catch the bus on time, got to the station on time, and hopefully the train will get here in 9 minutes.
I spent my day today mostly doing the research on hardware manufacturers. It’s gonna be the next big project that I should handle with the china team. There’s a lot to prepare for the project to be done properly (well, at least based on my boss’ plan). I just am not sure that the database will be ready by the time we’re ready to do the research. Oh well, it’s not my concern. I’m not responsible for preparing infrastructure like that. If it’s ready then it’s ready. If it’s not, then don’t blame me,
And gosh, I just realized that my wristwatch scratches the paint off my laptop. I have actually noticed several time some dark spot on the area next to the keypads. I thought it’s some ink or dirt that I accidentally applied on there. But it turns out, it is not something sticking on the pad, rather, it’s the paint taken off the pad. I was quite bummed up, but then I guess I just need to be more careful. I don’t want my watch scratched my beautiful laptop.
Oh, I called one of the driving schools that’s close by my house today. I asked about their behind-the-wheel classes and someone there told me that it’s $90 per 2 hours session. I told him that I never drive before, and asked him if how many sessions does he think I should take. He said two or three classes will be enough. So, I hope that will be enough. I think I’ll start practicing with Paul this weekend. And then I’ll schedule an appointment for Monday and Thursday afternoon next week. Two hours after work wouldn’t be that bad, don’t you think?
Earlier in the morning I got an email from Charles. He is the VP Engineering at my company (nice guy, really). He basically forwarded the email about Engineering Team Picnic with regards to our successful release last week. The picnic is gonna be in June, some Friday. You know, Friday is not a good time for me, especially in the afternoon. I have to go to San Jose for my Friday prayer, and the earliest I can get back to the office if I am going to attend the picnic is around 3.30. The picnic is only going to be somewhere close in Mountain View, Cuesta Park if I’m not mistaken. I just am not crazy about going back and forth Mountain View – San Jose and then back to Mountain View. Well, we’ll see how I feel then.
Alright. I think it’s about enough for today. I’ll just wrap it up here and as usual, see ya in a bit??
Monday, the fourth one for this month. Nothing is particularly special, just the same Monday as before. It’s a little chilly this morning, I guess because it was raining last night. Yup. Raining. It’s been raining for the past two or three days. Nothing major, just some light shower and medium rain. But it was nice to smell clean fresh air in the morning after raining the previous night.
Weekend was okay. Oh, there was actually something special. I took the DMV Written Test last Saturday. And I passed it! With a perfect score, mind you! It felt so good. The grader at the DMV said, “Wow, you’re perfect! I’m impressed!” Well, that’s just the first part. Now I need to learn how to drive.
I know, I know. It’s a bit lame that I don’t know how to drive. I just never did, and never really needed to. Well, when I was in Indonesia, I could get by getting here and there with public transportation. And here, I’ve done the same thing, well, except it is not that easy. But then I realized, it’s about time. It’s a skill that everybody needs to have. And the license also serves as the ID, so, there’s no more reason not to. So, I’m gonna look at some driving class around here to take just behind the wheel practice. And I will also practice with Paul sometime in the next time, I guess.
Did I tell you that I’m wearing shorts today? Hehe.. yeah, I so am wearing shorts. Well, nothing special, it’s just that I never wore any to work, and with the nice weather and summer and everything, I figured it’s just nice to try something new. Oh well, we’ll see how I goes. If I feel so cold on my way home waiting for the bus, then shorts are definitely not for me.
So yeah, summer is coming. Kids are going to be out of school in two weeks. People are busy preparing for their summer vacation. I’m gonna have one too, I guess. Paul and I were thinking of going to Indonesia visiting my family and friends, and doing some touristy stuff around. We have August early in our mind, for two weeks. I have accumulated an over two weeks worth of paid vacation from work so, I don’t think it’s gonna be a problem. Paul has also reserved the time for early of August. We just need to do more planning, buy the tickets, and go for it.
My boss, Nimish, is going back to India earlier of June. So I think, I should preview him my intention to go for vacation right when he get back. I hope it’ll be easy.
Alright then, my station is coming. Let’s get ready for.. work. See ya in a bit!
--Afternoon Journal--
Phew! It was not that bad. Got to leave work on time, got to catch the bus on time, got to the station on time, and hopefully the train will get here in 9 minutes.
I spent my day today mostly doing the research on hardware manufacturers. It’s gonna be the next big project that I should handle with the china team. There’s a lot to prepare for the project to be done properly (well, at least based on my boss’ plan). I just am not sure that the database will be ready by the time we’re ready to do the research. Oh well, it’s not my concern. I’m not responsible for preparing infrastructure like that. If it’s ready then it’s ready. If it’s not, then don’t blame me,
And gosh, I just realized that my wristwatch scratches the paint off my laptop. I have actually noticed several time some dark spot on the area next to the keypads. I thought it’s some ink or dirt that I accidentally applied on there. But it turns out, it is not something sticking on the pad, rather, it’s the paint taken off the pad. I was quite bummed up, but then I guess I just need to be more careful. I don’t want my watch scratched my beautiful laptop.
Oh, I called one of the driving schools that’s close by my house today. I asked about their behind-the-wheel classes and someone there told me that it’s $90 per 2 hours session. I told him that I never drive before, and asked him if how many sessions does he think I should take. He said two or three classes will be enough. So, I hope that will be enough. I think I’ll start practicing with Paul this weekend. And then I’ll schedule an appointment for Monday and Thursday afternoon next week. Two hours after work wouldn’t be that bad, don’t you think?
Earlier in the morning I got an email from Charles. He is the VP Engineering at my company (nice guy, really). He basically forwarded the email about Engineering Team Picnic with regards to our successful release last week. The picnic is gonna be in June, some Friday. You know, Friday is not a good time for me, especially in the afternoon. I have to go to San Jose for my Friday prayer, and the earliest I can get back to the office if I am going to attend the picnic is around 3.30. The picnic is only going to be somewhere close in Mountain View, Cuesta Park if I’m not mistaken. I just am not crazy about going back and forth Mountain View – San Jose and then back to Mountain View. Well, we’ll see how I feel then.
Alright. I think it’s about enough for today. I’ll just wrap it up here and as usual, see ya in a bit??
Labels: Jurnal
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Tuesday, May 16, 2006
"Tuesday? *Yawn....*"
--Morning Journal--
God.. I’m so sleepy. I didn’t go to bed until almost 12.30 last night. I was just depleting all the recorded shows on my TiVo and then.. BAM! It was past midnight already. And the weird thing is, I woke up before 6 this morning, 5.45 to be exact, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. Just laying there in my bed, and thinking of what I’m gonna do today. Before long, I jumped out of bed and checked some emails, then prepared my lunch to take to work today.
It’s only Tuesday, and I’m feeling restless already. God I’m old. Maybe it’s because I haven’t really done any serious exercise for the past couple of months. What? Yeah.. Ever since I moved to San Jose, there’s just no time to go to the gym, or even to transfer the membership to the closer gym. I don’t know but, it’s just that the gym close by is not as good as the one in Mountain View. They have this Active club, which is smaller than Sport club in Mountain View. And the location is just.. creepy, dumpy building, and come on.. fans on the ceiling! Does it mean they don’t have air conditioner? God only knows..
Paul and I have actually went there asking for transferring the membership from our old club, but at that time, no manager or anyone who could do that. Somebody there told us to come weekdays during business hours. It’s so different compared to the club in Mountain View. There, there’s always at least 3 managers stand by to serve members or deal with new membership every day, as late as 10 pm at night. I called the next day, it was Monday 5 pm, and guess what? Yes, the manager just left for the day, please call again tomorrow. Ah crap..
Anyway, we planned on going there this afternoon. Hopefully there will be someone who can deal with us. If there isn’t, then we think of just working out and deal with the membership later. I mean, 2 months without working out, might be more! I don’t want to be those fat guys I always make fun of. You gotta believe me, I do have some sort of tummy now.. Why wouldn’t I? Ice cream bar and cheesecake for dinner? Geez.. what am I thinking?
Tonight could be the most important night of this season’s American Idol. It will be top three performance with Taylor, Katharine, and Elliott. It’s gonna be an important night, well, at least for me, since tonight’s performances will determine whether the finale will be a spectacular head-to head between Elliott and Kat, or a popularity contest between Taylor and either Elliott or Kat. Really, I just don’t get what is so good with Taylor. He’s just so usual. You can always scout into any club in the city and find someone who can sing and dance the way he does. But Elliott and Kat, they have the voice, they have the talent, and they do deserve to be the next American idol.
I’m gonna vote tonight. Well, I have voted last week actually, two for Elliott, two for Kat. I think I’m gonna vote more tonight.
Okay, my neck hurts now. I think I should end this for now. See you in a .. *yawn* .. bit?
--Afternoon Journal--
So, no. We’re not going to the gym this afternoon. Paul didn’t get home until 4 I guess. Why? He had to meet with the principal at Benjamin’s school. Apparently, the boy has some trouble at school, which I don’t know what, or how. Well, I’ll find that out when I get home.
Anyway, very nice day today again (weather-wise), got to leave work on time, got on the bus on time, got to the station on time, and hopefully the train will be on time as well. So, that’s the good part. The sucky part? It was so unbearably boring today. I bet I managed to fall asleep quite several times on my desk. The Internet connection was so slow! Prohibitively slow! And it’s a disaster for a researcher like me who relies on the Internet to find whatever it is that I need to find. I asked several people and they said the same thing. Even my cube mate asked and confirmed with me whether it was just he or it was actually that slow. Anyway, I didn’t get that much work done, just about enough with limited infrastructure like that.
And let me tell you earlier, when I had to check the work that has been done by the China team. God.. they don’t even know how to create a decent report where I can see clearly what they have been doing yesterday. It was like all cramped together on one sheet. I have provided the template, showed the example, but still.. And apparently, some of them were trying to get by, by providing some superficial number on their reports. Trying to outsmart me, eh? Well, don’t blame me if I had to sound a little desperate (i.e. bitchy) on my emails to them. It was very frustrating, I have mentioned over and over again and they don’t seem to understand. And I am going to be responsible for their lousy work? I don’t think so. Anyway, I sent another email to their supervisor again. I hope this time she will do something about it. Oops.. my train is coming! Hold on, let me just get on it.
All right, on the train now. Sweet..
Enough said, I wouldn’t say today was my favorite day. I just couldn’t wait until the day is over, and get home soon. It’s American Idol show tonight. And from what I heard, each contestant will sing 3 songs: one of their pick, one of the judge’s pick, and one is.. I forgot what, let me check again later.. :P It will be a very satisfying show since audiences will get to see how the contestants will manage to sing 3 songs. It’s a good test for their vocal, endurance, and their ability to maintain their cool. And as I mentioned earlier, I will vote for Elliott and Kat tonight. I was thinking about doing the minute-by-minute report (the way I did for the result show last week), but I guess I’d rather enjoy the show. You guys can read from the news tomorrow anyway. Maybe I will write the report for tomorrow night’s result show. Oh well, I’ll see what I feel like doing.
Oh, by the way. Arundhati came to talk to me today, and told me that she wouldn’t come to work tomorrow. She will need to accompany her husband to an “eye doctor.” (It’s up to you to interpret what that means, even what accompanying someone to an eye doctor means. It’s not like her husband is blind or something). So, she will work from home tomorrow. Nice… God bless her.
Let’s talk about the train that I’m taking right now. I usually take the 5.37 pm train from Mountain View. It’s an express train that stops only at Santa Clara before reaching San Jose Diridon. This train that I’m taking right now (the 5.11 pm from Mountain View) stops in Sunnyvale instead. It’s more crowded than the 5.37 train so, I assume that more people live in Sunnyvale commute to San Francisco (or Northbound) using Caltrain. Just an observation. I guess it doesn’t really mean anything.
Oh! Santa Clara station already! That will really make me be able to get home around 5.30 then. Yay! We’ll go out fir dinner probably. Maybe the drive-in falafel place? Hmm.. maybe.. oh well. I’ll need to run to the bathroom as soon as I get home. Been holding it for a while.. hehe.. So, I will see you very soon then!
God.. I’m so sleepy. I didn’t go to bed until almost 12.30 last night. I was just depleting all the recorded shows on my TiVo and then.. BAM! It was past midnight already. And the weird thing is, I woke up before 6 this morning, 5.45 to be exact, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. Just laying there in my bed, and thinking of what I’m gonna do today. Before long, I jumped out of bed and checked some emails, then prepared my lunch to take to work today.
It’s only Tuesday, and I’m feeling restless already. God I’m old. Maybe it’s because I haven’t really done any serious exercise for the past couple of months. What? Yeah.. Ever since I moved to San Jose, there’s just no time to go to the gym, or even to transfer the membership to the closer gym. I don’t know but, it’s just that the gym close by is not as good as the one in Mountain View. They have this Active club, which is smaller than Sport club in Mountain View. And the location is just.. creepy, dumpy building, and come on.. fans on the ceiling! Does it mean they don’t have air conditioner? God only knows..
Paul and I have actually went there asking for transferring the membership from our old club, but at that time, no manager or anyone who could do that. Somebody there told us to come weekdays during business hours. It’s so different compared to the club in Mountain View. There, there’s always at least 3 managers stand by to serve members or deal with new membership every day, as late as 10 pm at night. I called the next day, it was Monday 5 pm, and guess what? Yes, the manager just left for the day, please call again tomorrow. Ah crap..
Anyway, we planned on going there this afternoon. Hopefully there will be someone who can deal with us. If there isn’t, then we think of just working out and deal with the membership later. I mean, 2 months without working out, might be more! I don’t want to be those fat guys I always make fun of. You gotta believe me, I do have some sort of tummy now.. Why wouldn’t I? Ice cream bar and cheesecake for dinner? Geez.. what am I thinking?
Tonight could be the most important night of this season’s American Idol. It will be top three performance with Taylor, Katharine, and Elliott. It’s gonna be an important night, well, at least for me, since tonight’s performances will determine whether the finale will be a spectacular head-to head between Elliott and Kat, or a popularity contest between Taylor and either Elliott or Kat. Really, I just don’t get what is so good with Taylor. He’s just so usual. You can always scout into any club in the city and find someone who can sing and dance the way he does. But Elliott and Kat, they have the voice, they have the talent, and they do deserve to be the next American idol.
I’m gonna vote tonight. Well, I have voted last week actually, two for Elliott, two for Kat. I think I’m gonna vote more tonight.
Okay, my neck hurts now. I think I should end this for now. See you in a .. *yawn* .. bit?
--Afternoon Journal--
So, no. We’re not going to the gym this afternoon. Paul didn’t get home until 4 I guess. Why? He had to meet with the principal at Benjamin’s school. Apparently, the boy has some trouble at school, which I don’t know what, or how. Well, I’ll find that out when I get home.
Anyway, very nice day today again (weather-wise), got to leave work on time, got on the bus on time, got to the station on time, and hopefully the train will be on time as well. So, that’s the good part. The sucky part? It was so unbearably boring today. I bet I managed to fall asleep quite several times on my desk. The Internet connection was so slow! Prohibitively slow! And it’s a disaster for a researcher like me who relies on the Internet to find whatever it is that I need to find. I asked several people and they said the same thing. Even my cube mate asked and confirmed with me whether it was just he or it was actually that slow. Anyway, I didn’t get that much work done, just about enough with limited infrastructure like that.
And let me tell you earlier, when I had to check the work that has been done by the China team. God.. they don’t even know how to create a decent report where I can see clearly what they have been doing yesterday. It was like all cramped together on one sheet. I have provided the template, showed the example, but still.. And apparently, some of them were trying to get by, by providing some superficial number on their reports. Trying to outsmart me, eh? Well, don’t blame me if I had to sound a little desperate (i.e. bitchy) on my emails to them. It was very frustrating, I have mentioned over and over again and they don’t seem to understand. And I am going to be responsible for their lousy work? I don’t think so. Anyway, I sent another email to their supervisor again. I hope this time she will do something about it. Oops.. my train is coming! Hold on, let me just get on it.
All right, on the train now. Sweet..
Enough said, I wouldn’t say today was my favorite day. I just couldn’t wait until the day is over, and get home soon. It’s American Idol show tonight. And from what I heard, each contestant will sing 3 songs: one of their pick, one of the judge’s pick, and one is.. I forgot what, let me check again later.. :P It will be a very satisfying show since audiences will get to see how the contestants will manage to sing 3 songs. It’s a good test for their vocal, endurance, and their ability to maintain their cool. And as I mentioned earlier, I will vote for Elliott and Kat tonight. I was thinking about doing the minute-by-minute report (the way I did for the result show last week), but I guess I’d rather enjoy the show. You guys can read from the news tomorrow anyway. Maybe I will write the report for tomorrow night’s result show. Oh well, I’ll see what I feel like doing.
Oh, by the way. Arundhati came to talk to me today, and told me that she wouldn’t come to work tomorrow. She will need to accompany her husband to an “eye doctor.” (It’s up to you to interpret what that means, even what accompanying someone to an eye doctor means. It’s not like her husband is blind or something). So, she will work from home tomorrow. Nice… God bless her.
Let’s talk about the train that I’m taking right now. I usually take the 5.37 pm train from Mountain View. It’s an express train that stops only at Santa Clara before reaching San Jose Diridon. This train that I’m taking right now (the 5.11 pm from Mountain View) stops in Sunnyvale instead. It’s more crowded than the 5.37 train so, I assume that more people live in Sunnyvale commute to San Francisco (or Northbound) using Caltrain. Just an observation. I guess it doesn’t really mean anything.
Oh! Santa Clara station already! That will really make me be able to get home around 5.30 then. Yay! We’ll go out fir dinner probably. Maybe the drive-in falafel place? Hmm.. maybe.. oh well. I’ll need to run to the bathroom as soon as I get home. Been holding it for a while.. hehe.. So, I will see you very soon then!
Labels: Jurnal
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Monday, May 15, 2006
"Monday? Yuck!"
--Morning Journal--
It’s Monday again. God, I hate Monday! I wish it’s always Tuesday.. *duh*
Anyway, weekend was okay. Went to a movie called “Friends with Money” with Jennifer Aniston in it (which is surprisingly amazing). It could easily be one of my favorite movies. The rest of the weekend was spent doing some house chores, fixing up the house here and there. I did a quite remarkable job moving the telephone line from the bedroom into the guestroom. I thought it would be complicated but then it turned out to be very easy. Now my DSL (and wireless) runs from the guestroom (which is downstairs) so it reaches upstairs and basement at the same time fine.
It was mother’s day yesterday. It seems like everybody took his or her mom for a special dinner yesterday’s evening. We went to this Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant downtown San Jose and it was packed! On every single table there is a mother (or mother look-alike). It was nice to see those kids being nice and compassionate with their mother once in a year.. ☺ For me? Well, we did not celebrate Mother’s Day this time of the year in my country, but coincidentally, I called my mom on the night before Mother’s Day. It had nothing to do with Mother’s Day. It’s just when I hang up I realized that it was Mother’s Day tomorrow. So I guess, I did celebrate Mother’s Day in a way.. ☺
It’s very warm today, it supposedly will reach 88 degree. I can feel it when I walked out the house, the sun really burns down and the weather is very dry. Well, I don’t know whether it will be nice or bad but for me, I hope it’d be nice since I’ve been waiting to stop wearing those jackets and wear something light and simple to work. Hmm.. maybe I should wear shorts to work tomorrow.. What do you think? It’s an idea, isn’t it?
Oh, I should also write about a friend of mine who complained to me the other day about my blog. He was like “My God.. why is your blog full of your office story?” And I was like, “What? Why? What’s wrong with that? I like writing about every day things, it’s the way I kill time while I’m on the train for 10 – 15 minutes.” Besides, this is my blog anyway, I write whatever it is I d*mn please. If you like it then you’re welcome to read. If you don’t then just eff-off! *Geez Res, don’t bitch out too much, it’s only 8.28 am. He’s only suggesting something for the betterment of your blog* Well, I think he has his point, I might need to write something more challenging, something that I actually planned on writing the first time I had the idea of doing the blog. Well, tell you what? I’ll do both, everyday journal (the office drama, as I would say) and some other brainy articles that I would write myself. Sounds like a compromise? Good.
Ok then, what’s for work today? Ah nothing much, I guess, just the usual workweek. There’s one of the researchers from China who was considerably doing a bad work, and I sent an email to her supervisor in China to check with her if she actually encounters any troubles with the database or other things. And last night, this researcher sent me a message on MSN Messenger, questioning what she has done wrong. Well, I’m not crazy about the way her supervisor dealing with this issue (since she has to ask me question directly). But then, I tried to be nice to her and explained what we actually expected from her. She seemed to understand it fine so, we’ll see how she’s doing today.
By the way, what a full train today. I wonder if everybody goes to San Francisco more often considering it’s summer time already. Oh well, I hope they have a good time. And I hope YOU have a wonderful day. My station is coming so, I’ll see you in a bit!
--Afternoon Journal--
Finally, the day is over! It’s just nice to leave work on time and get to the station on time and hopefully be home by 5.30. Anyway, boy.. this is totally typical summer day, very bright, warm, sunny, although still a little windy, but that’s good, it keeps the sweat away some.
The train is supposed to be here at 5.11, still 5 minutes to go so I thought I’d just take my laptop out and write something.
Two days ago, Saturday evening, I talked with my friend Edwin from Indonesia. He asked me if the new Motorola phone is cool. I was like, “Duh, Ed, I really am not aware of the new cell phone right now. It’s so a passé for me. The time when I obsessed so much with getting the latest model of cell phone has been long over with me.” I don’t know but, really. I can’t think of any reason to get the latest cell phone available anymore. I prefer function over style and so-called redundant technologies on cell phones. I mean, take an example, mobile web browser, do I really need it? I have access to the Internet everywhere I go: at home, at work, at several public places such as library. Coffee shop, bookstores, and so on. Besides, it is very expensive to get online with your cellular provider. The cost is still prohibitive and the speed is very slow.
Another example is having MP3 player on your cell phone. This is the most ridiculous idea I could ever think of on a cell phone. I’d rather have a real MP3 player and a phone that lets me make a call and send text messages. Maybe it’s just me but, I prefer an MP3 player that doesn’t interrupt me making a phone call while at the same time enjoying listening to music without having to be disrupted by a phone call.
Anyway, I suggested Edwin to get a laptop instead. I told him that with a laptop, you actually get the MP3 player as well as the browsing and online capability. Besides, there is so much other stuff you can do with a laptop. You can watch a DVD on it, you can do some work on it, and for me, most importantly, you can write your blog on it! He then argued that laptop is more expensive than a cell phone. Well, that is not entirely true. The latest Motorola cell phone right now costs as much as 4 million rupiahs (around 500 dollar). With a few more hundred dollars you can get a decent laptop and you get everything that it offers. Then He argued further, “Well, I don’t have an Internet connection at home. And a laptop or computer without Internet connection means nothing.” Well, that’s not entirely true either. He can always hook up his laptop with Internet connection at work. He can also get an Internet service at home. I mean, come on, it’s about time to have a decent Internet connection instead of sneaking out to the Internet café every night and then and spend 10 thousand rupiahs just to check emails.
Anyway, he told me that would consider my suggestion. Well, I hope he does consider it instead of wasting his money on some fashion fad that mostly joined by teenagers and disappear as soon as the new models coming out every other month.
Well, that’s it for today I guess. It San Jose Diridon Station soon so, I better get ready to get off. I’ll post this as soon as I get home so you can read it right away.. ☺ Have a good evening and.. see you in a bit?
It’s Monday again. God, I hate Monday! I wish it’s always Tuesday.. *duh*
Anyway, weekend was okay. Went to a movie called “Friends with Money” with Jennifer Aniston in it (which is surprisingly amazing). It could easily be one of my favorite movies. The rest of the weekend was spent doing some house chores, fixing up the house here and there. I did a quite remarkable job moving the telephone line from the bedroom into the guestroom. I thought it would be complicated but then it turned out to be very easy. Now my DSL (and wireless) runs from the guestroom (which is downstairs) so it reaches upstairs and basement at the same time fine.
It was mother’s day yesterday. It seems like everybody took his or her mom for a special dinner yesterday’s evening. We went to this Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant downtown San Jose and it was packed! On every single table there is a mother (or mother look-alike). It was nice to see those kids being nice and compassionate with their mother once in a year.. ☺ For me? Well, we did not celebrate Mother’s Day this time of the year in my country, but coincidentally, I called my mom on the night before Mother’s Day. It had nothing to do with Mother’s Day. It’s just when I hang up I realized that it was Mother’s Day tomorrow. So I guess, I did celebrate Mother’s Day in a way.. ☺
It’s very warm today, it supposedly will reach 88 degree. I can feel it when I walked out the house, the sun really burns down and the weather is very dry. Well, I don’t know whether it will be nice or bad but for me, I hope it’d be nice since I’ve been waiting to stop wearing those jackets and wear something light and simple to work. Hmm.. maybe I should wear shorts to work tomorrow.. What do you think? It’s an idea, isn’t it?
Oh, I should also write about a friend of mine who complained to me the other day about my blog. He was like “My God.. why is your blog full of your office story?” And I was like, “What? Why? What’s wrong with that? I like writing about every day things, it’s the way I kill time while I’m on the train for 10 – 15 minutes.” Besides, this is my blog anyway, I write whatever it is I d*mn please. If you like it then you’re welcome to read. If you don’t then just eff-off! *Geez Res, don’t bitch out too much, it’s only 8.28 am. He’s only suggesting something for the betterment of your blog* Well, I think he has his point, I might need to write something more challenging, something that I actually planned on writing the first time I had the idea of doing the blog. Well, tell you what? I’ll do both, everyday journal (the office drama, as I would say) and some other brainy articles that I would write myself. Sounds like a compromise? Good.
Ok then, what’s for work today? Ah nothing much, I guess, just the usual workweek. There’s one of the researchers from China who was considerably doing a bad work, and I sent an email to her supervisor in China to check with her if she actually encounters any troubles with the database or other things. And last night, this researcher sent me a message on MSN Messenger, questioning what she has done wrong. Well, I’m not crazy about the way her supervisor dealing with this issue (since she has to ask me question directly). But then, I tried to be nice to her and explained what we actually expected from her. She seemed to understand it fine so, we’ll see how she’s doing today.
By the way, what a full train today. I wonder if everybody goes to San Francisco more often considering it’s summer time already. Oh well, I hope they have a good time. And I hope YOU have a wonderful day. My station is coming so, I’ll see you in a bit!
--Afternoon Journal--
Finally, the day is over! It’s just nice to leave work on time and get to the station on time and hopefully be home by 5.30. Anyway, boy.. this is totally typical summer day, very bright, warm, sunny, although still a little windy, but that’s good, it keeps the sweat away some.
The train is supposed to be here at 5.11, still 5 minutes to go so I thought I’d just take my laptop out and write something.
Two days ago, Saturday evening, I talked with my friend Edwin from Indonesia. He asked me if the new Motorola phone is cool. I was like, “Duh, Ed, I really am not aware of the new cell phone right now. It’s so a passé for me. The time when I obsessed so much with getting the latest model of cell phone has been long over with me.” I don’t know but, really. I can’t think of any reason to get the latest cell phone available anymore. I prefer function over style and so-called redundant technologies on cell phones. I mean, take an example, mobile web browser, do I really need it? I have access to the Internet everywhere I go: at home, at work, at several public places such as library. Coffee shop, bookstores, and so on. Besides, it is very expensive to get online with your cellular provider. The cost is still prohibitive and the speed is very slow.
Another example is having MP3 player on your cell phone. This is the most ridiculous idea I could ever think of on a cell phone. I’d rather have a real MP3 player and a phone that lets me make a call and send text messages. Maybe it’s just me but, I prefer an MP3 player that doesn’t interrupt me making a phone call while at the same time enjoying listening to music without having to be disrupted by a phone call.
Anyway, I suggested Edwin to get a laptop instead. I told him that with a laptop, you actually get the MP3 player as well as the browsing and online capability. Besides, there is so much other stuff you can do with a laptop. You can watch a DVD on it, you can do some work on it, and for me, most importantly, you can write your blog on it! He then argued that laptop is more expensive than a cell phone. Well, that is not entirely true. The latest Motorola cell phone right now costs as much as 4 million rupiahs (around 500 dollar). With a few more hundred dollars you can get a decent laptop and you get everything that it offers. Then He argued further, “Well, I don’t have an Internet connection at home. And a laptop or computer without Internet connection means nothing.” Well, that’s not entirely true either. He can always hook up his laptop with Internet connection at work. He can also get an Internet service at home. I mean, come on, it’s about time to have a decent Internet connection instead of sneaking out to the Internet café every night and then and spend 10 thousand rupiahs just to check emails.
Anyway, he told me that would consider my suggestion. Well, I hope he does consider it instead of wasting his money on some fashion fad that mostly joined by teenagers and disappear as soon as the new models coming out every other month.
Well, that’s it for today I guess. It San Jose Diridon Station soon so, I better get ready to get off. I’ll post this as soon as I get home so you can read it right away.. ☺ Have a good evening and.. see you in a bit?
Labels: Jurnal
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Thursday, May 11, 2006
"Elliott YAY!"
-- Morning Journal --
It’s Thursday, supposedly everything should just go normal this morning, but there’s something a little “unusual” at the train station. First, there is this new train on the next track that has all its doors opened as if it’s taking passengers. My train is the old one next to it, so I wonder what that means. Hopefully there is no change in schedule and this train IS actually the one that I usually take. Second, it’s a little crowded in here today. I remember the last time I took the train, it was crowded and I felt the same way, surprised how many people actually needed to go to the city at that day, and then it turned out that I actually was an hour earlier. I checked my watch again, and no, it’s 8.22 and this is the usual train. Anyway, it’s moving now, so let’s just lo and behold..
Anyway, if you read my report on last night’s result of American Idol, I was so ecstatic (I still am!). Elliott is one of the top two and Kat is safe. I actually felt a little bad to see Chris go home, I hoped it was Taylor that would go home, but apparently, he is more “popular” than Chris (though I will say confidently that Chris is much more talented than he is). There will be one more challenge for Elliott and Kat to make it to the finals. And it will be wonderful if they both make it to the final.
A little analysis here, I am right now a little concerned about Kat. She’s the only girl in the competition, and apparently American this year prefers guys over girls. With Chris went home last night, Chris’ fans will be either hating Kat (for winning over Chris), or stop voting altogether, or shift their votes to the closer resemblance of Chris, which is not Kat. It might be good for Elliott since I’m sure at least half of Chris’ fans like Elliott. But if more than half of them actually shift their votes for Taylor, then Kat will be left with nothing, and she might leave next week. And if Kat is going home next week, I’m sure it will be for the advantage of Elliott because I’m pretty sure that Kat’s fans will most likely identify with Elliott instead of Taylor. Anyway, I still hoped that next week’s theme will be for the advantage of Kat, and that she will do just about perfect, not over-sing nor under-sing. And for Elliott, see you in the final, man!
Yesterday I went out for lunch (the OMG It’s Only Wednesday) at some vegetarian Indian place in Mountain View. It’s called Dee-Dee’s. It’s like some small grocery store with tables in it for people who want to have lunch buffet. It was actually very good. And I remember I have actually gone there before with Paul, the very first couple weeks I’ve been here. I went there for dinner, and I recalled that I didn’t like the food. So I guess I kind of change some of my food preferences. I went there with Suma and Arundhati. Anthony was not in yesterday so we didn’t invite him to come with us (which is one of our arguments before going for lunch whether we were going to invite him or not, considering his Salmonella infections).
Today is the meeting day. I will need to write a report right when I get to work. Well, hopefully there’s nothing unusual happen at the meeting. OK then, my station is coming, I’ll see you in a bit!
-- Afternoon Journal --
Phew. The train is late, which is something that I would normally despise a lot, but this time I’m kinda thankful since the bus was late and I didn’t get to the station not until 10 minutes later than usual. I don’t know but, geez.. I am so outraged by the work ethic and the attitude of these (supposedly) immigrant drivers. I mean, really, it seems like they just do their work for granted (i.e. get the pay for granted). And I’m not being racist or anything but hello, most of them are these either black guy or other non-white raced persons who are not only fat, ugly, and disgusting, but also rude, jerky, and geez.. sh*tmotherf*cking bus drivers. And interestingly, of the very few white drivers, they are all so memorable to me due to their on-time attitude, their nice and friendly gesture, and their professionalism. I just.. whatever.
Anyway, sorry for the outburst rant, it’s just sometimes so unbearable.. Today was quite okay actually. The meeting was short (an hour and 5 minutes, although Sowmya and Paul Oppenheim kept talking and babbling like they can’t shut their mouth for a second despite of every single other person in the room was yawning and trying to keep their eyes opened. I don’t know what sort of manic or compulsive obsession it is that they have. They simply can’t shut their f*ck up for a second.
Ah d*mn it. I am way too upset. I don’t think you want to see any more effing and eshing word in this post. I’ll just end it here then. See ya tomorrow!
It’s Thursday, supposedly everything should just go normal this morning, but there’s something a little “unusual” at the train station. First, there is this new train on the next track that has all its doors opened as if it’s taking passengers. My train is the old one next to it, so I wonder what that means. Hopefully there is no change in schedule and this train IS actually the one that I usually take. Second, it’s a little crowded in here today. I remember the last time I took the train, it was crowded and I felt the same way, surprised how many people actually needed to go to the city at that day, and then it turned out that I actually was an hour earlier. I checked my watch again, and no, it’s 8.22 and this is the usual train. Anyway, it’s moving now, so let’s just lo and behold..
Anyway, if you read my report on last night’s result of American Idol, I was so ecstatic (I still am!). Elliott is one of the top two and Kat is safe. I actually felt a little bad to see Chris go home, I hoped it was Taylor that would go home, but apparently, he is more “popular” than Chris (though I will say confidently that Chris is much more talented than he is). There will be one more challenge for Elliott and Kat to make it to the finals. And it will be wonderful if they both make it to the final.
A little analysis here, I am right now a little concerned about Kat. She’s the only girl in the competition, and apparently American this year prefers guys over girls. With Chris went home last night, Chris’ fans will be either hating Kat (for winning over Chris), or stop voting altogether, or shift their votes to the closer resemblance of Chris, which is not Kat. It might be good for Elliott since I’m sure at least half of Chris’ fans like Elliott. But if more than half of them actually shift their votes for Taylor, then Kat will be left with nothing, and she might leave next week. And if Kat is going home next week, I’m sure it will be for the advantage of Elliott because I’m pretty sure that Kat’s fans will most likely identify with Elliott instead of Taylor. Anyway, I still hoped that next week’s theme will be for the advantage of Kat, and that she will do just about perfect, not over-sing nor under-sing. And for Elliott, see you in the final, man!
Yesterday I went out for lunch (the OMG It’s Only Wednesday) at some vegetarian Indian place in Mountain View. It’s called Dee-Dee’s. It’s like some small grocery store with tables in it for people who want to have lunch buffet. It was actually very good. And I remember I have actually gone there before with Paul, the very first couple weeks I’ve been here. I went there for dinner, and I recalled that I didn’t like the food. So I guess I kind of change some of my food preferences. I went there with Suma and Arundhati. Anthony was not in yesterday so we didn’t invite him to come with us (which is one of our arguments before going for lunch whether we were going to invite him or not, considering his Salmonella infections).
Today is the meeting day. I will need to write a report right when I get to work. Well, hopefully there’s nothing unusual happen at the meeting. OK then, my station is coming, I’ll see you in a bit!
-- Afternoon Journal --
Phew. The train is late, which is something that I would normally despise a lot, but this time I’m kinda thankful since the bus was late and I didn’t get to the station not until 10 minutes later than usual. I don’t know but, geez.. I am so outraged by the work ethic and the attitude of these (supposedly) immigrant drivers. I mean, really, it seems like they just do their work for granted (i.e. get the pay for granted). And I’m not being racist or anything but hello, most of them are these either black guy or other non-white raced persons who are not only fat, ugly, and disgusting, but also rude, jerky, and geez.. sh*tmotherf*cking bus drivers. And interestingly, of the very few white drivers, they are all so memorable to me due to their on-time attitude, their nice and friendly gesture, and their professionalism. I just.. whatever.
Anyway, sorry for the outburst rant, it’s just sometimes so unbearable.. Today was quite okay actually. The meeting was short (an hour and 5 minutes, although Sowmya and Paul Oppenheim kept talking and babbling like they can’t shut their mouth for a second despite of every single other person in the room was yawning and trying to keep their eyes opened. I don’t know what sort of manic or compulsive obsession it is that they have. They simply can’t shut their f*ck up for a second.
Ah d*mn it. I am way too upset. I don’t think you want to see any more effing and eshing word in this post. I’ll just end it here then. See ya tomorrow!
Labels: Jurnal
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Wednesday, May 10, 2006
"American Idol Top Four Result Show: A Minute by Minute Report"
Yesterday (Tuesday, 050906) was the performance show for the remaining top four contestans of this year's American Idol. The theme was "Elvis' Songs." They got two sing two songs for each. Apparently, most of them chose one upbeat song, and one ballad.
Here's a quick recap from the show:
Taylor Hicks started the show with an upbeat song (and even upper-beat dance) which I forgot the title was. As usual, it was a drunken master meets parkinson dude. Aesthetically unpleasing! Although Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul praised him for being "original," Simon Cowell merely said "That was a horrible karaoke moment." Kudo for Simon.
Chris Daughtry was trying to do a ballad for his pick. I can't really remember what he sounded like. What? Oh yeah, it was so boring that I can't remember a thing about it.
The third performer was the one and only Elliott Yamin. He sang some ballad that really, really hit the top notch of his vocal range. It really showed his true ability (boy, he managed to extract some sweats!!). Paula, was almost doing her rendition of "Weeping Part 2," but she could manage to hold it and instead saying "That was your best performance, ever." Simon overwhelmedly said "You deserver to go through the next round." Good job Elliott man!
Finally, Katharine sung a very dancy song which demanded her to show her dancing ability (and geez.. that sexy bootie of hers!). She really bared it out all open! (Well, no nudity but she was HOT!). She also sounded very confident although apparently the judges sensed that he missed some lyrics in the middle. But hey, I wouldn't know hadn't anyone mentioned that.
The second part was a little underwhelmed at the beginning. Taylor with his mellow performance (this time he didn't dance!!! Can you believe it???). Chris was trying to cope with some low notes on "A little less conversation.. " (or something like that). But the star was, truly, Elliott Yamin! He really paid the performance of his life, literally. And you know what? Paula, without a shame, saying "Elliott, I have to take my earlier opinion. It was not your best performance, this IS your best performance, EVER!" PHEW!!! And finally, Kat did her rendition of "Can't Help Falling in Love." Very nice performance in my opinion, but again, it was too big a song that has been covered by too many big names. And yet, Kat didn;t really make it that much different from those other covers.
Anyway, it's 9.00 PM PDT now, time for the real time repor, minute by minute, live from FOX.
Please welcome.. Ryan Seacrest!!
Real-time Report from The Result Show:
9.08 PM
Lisa Marie Presley toured the contestants around Graceland. All memorabilia of Elvis Presley. Hundreds and hundreds of records filling up the walls. A visit to Elvis' graveyard.
9.11 PM
Final four are performing together (a medley of Elvis' songs)
9.20
Rebecca Romijn is amongst the audiences with her Jerry O'Connel fiance. She forgot to put on the band.. :P
9.22
Taylor singing "Rock The House" upon Rebecca's Request
9.23
All four are lining up on the stage. Ryan will let us know who are the top 2 and bottom 2, "After the break."
9.27
Chris and Kat one group, Taylor and Elliot another group. Taylor and Elliott are safe! Elliot is safe!
9.28
Simon thinks Kat should go based on last night's performance. CHRIS IS GOING HOME!!!!!! KAT IS SAFE!!!! Lots of "Booo..." in the audience!
9.30
Chris is shocked and clearly disappointed. Flashback of Chris' journey.
Here's a quick recap from the show:
Taylor Hicks started the show with an upbeat song (and even upper-beat dance) which I forgot the title was. As usual, it was a drunken master meets parkinson dude. Aesthetically unpleasing! Although Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul praised him for being "original," Simon Cowell merely said "That was a horrible karaoke moment." Kudo for Simon.
Chris Daughtry was trying to do a ballad for his pick. I can't really remember what he sounded like. What? Oh yeah, it was so boring that I can't remember a thing about it.
The third performer was the one and only Elliott Yamin. He sang some ballad that really, really hit the top notch of his vocal range. It really showed his true ability (boy, he managed to extract some sweats!!). Paula, was almost doing her rendition of "Weeping Part 2," but she could manage to hold it and instead saying "That was your best performance, ever." Simon overwhelmedly said "You deserver to go through the next round." Good job Elliott man!
Finally, Katharine sung a very dancy song which demanded her to show her dancing ability (and geez.. that sexy bootie of hers!). She really bared it out all open! (Well, no nudity but she was HOT!). She also sounded very confident although apparently the judges sensed that he missed some lyrics in the middle. But hey, I wouldn't know hadn't anyone mentioned that.
The second part was a little underwhelmed at the beginning. Taylor with his mellow performance (this time he didn't dance!!! Can you believe it???). Chris was trying to cope with some low notes on "A little less conversation.. " (or something like that). But the star was, truly, Elliott Yamin! He really paid the performance of his life, literally. And you know what? Paula, without a shame, saying "Elliott, I have to take my earlier opinion. It was not your best performance, this IS your best performance, EVER!" PHEW!!! And finally, Kat did her rendition of "Can't Help Falling in Love." Very nice performance in my opinion, but again, it was too big a song that has been covered by too many big names. And yet, Kat didn;t really make it that much different from those other covers.
Anyway, it's 9.00 PM PDT now, time for the real time repor, minute by minute, live from FOX.
Please welcome.. Ryan Seacrest!!
Real-time Report from The Result Show:
9.08 PM
Lisa Marie Presley toured the contestants around Graceland. All memorabilia of Elvis Presley. Hundreds and hundreds of records filling up the walls. A visit to Elvis' graveyard.
9.11 PM
Final four are performing together (a medley of Elvis' songs)
9.20
Rebecca Romijn is amongst the audiences with her Jerry O'Connel fiance. She forgot to put on the band.. :P
9.22
Taylor singing "Rock The House" upon Rebecca's Request
9.23
All four are lining up on the stage. Ryan will let us know who are the top 2 and bottom 2, "After the break."
9.27
Chris and Kat one group, Taylor and Elliot another group. Taylor and Elliott are safe! Elliot is safe!
9.28
Simon thinks Kat should go based on last night's performance. CHRIS IS GOING HOME!!!!!! KAT IS SAFE!!!! Lots of "Booo..." in the audience!
9.30
Chris is shocked and clearly disappointed. Flashback of Chris' journey.
Labels: Laporan
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"Friendster = Friend? You Sure?"
I gotta admit that one of the must-visit websites that I keep on checking at least half a dozen time a day is Friendster. I don't know but even though it is sort of a passé right now (considering it's been around for over 3 years, I guess), I still find the need to keep updated with whatever it is going on with my friends (plus updating whatever inisgnificant changes with myself that I feel like exhibiosionistly share with whomever care to check my profile).
My latest Stats are as follows:
252 first-degree friend is nothing compared to some of my friends who has already had two full accounts that she/he had to create the third account. And God knows whether they really have over 1000 people that they can call "friends."
I think, that's the difference between people in your Friendster list and people in your Friend list. Friendster does not automatically translate into Friend. In my opinion, sometimes it is not more than just like a "dating page" where people put up a profile to attract member of opposite sex (or similar sex for some) and make a connection based on that online first encounter. Sounds creepy? Probably, but some people do "maintain" their Friendster account this way.
Although, I'm not denying that there are some that use Friendster primarily to keep in touch with old friends (which, I believe was the original idea of Friendster). For some people, Friendster list does translate into Friend list, and I really am amazed at how these kind of Friendster users still manage to have more than one account (boy, they must be super popular among friends).
For me, I try to maintain my Friendster list with people that I have at least met in the past. When someone sent me a "friend request" I usually ask him/her whether we know each other or not. And interestingly, it works as a filter so that they won't add me easily simply because "they like my profile" (hello.. this is no Match.com nor Yahoo! Personal).
And the main reason I maintain my Friendster account is mostly because most my friends are from my past , from where I lived thousands miles away from here. It's just easier to keep me updated of whatever happens with them since it will show me their updates whether it is only a slight change of interest, a new photo uploaded, or as big as a change of status: got married, just broke up, fighting with boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse (i.e. "It's Complicated") or a "change of something else" (e.g. from Single to "Domestic Partnership," that is assuming they know what that actually means.. :)
So, if you haven't friendstered yet, ever, I might wonder, "Where the h*ell have you been this far????" Check that out, and give it a try, you might like it. In the meantime, if you wanna get some inspiration or get encountered with what it is basically about, you will wanna check my profile here.
One word of advice: don't put your status as "Single" if you're not, that will get back to you, and it can be very, very ugly.. ;)
My latest Stats are as follows:
My Latest Stats
252 first-degree friend is nothing compared to some of my friends who has already had two full accounts that she/he had to create the third account. And God knows whether they really have over 1000 people that they can call "friends."
I think, that's the difference between people in your Friendster list and people in your Friend list. Friendster does not automatically translate into Friend. In my opinion, sometimes it is not more than just like a "dating page" where people put up a profile to attract member of opposite sex (or similar sex for some) and make a connection based on that online first encounter. Sounds creepy? Probably, but some people do "maintain" their Friendster account this way.
Although, I'm not denying that there are some that use Friendster primarily to keep in touch with old friends (which, I believe was the original idea of Friendster). For some people, Friendster list does translate into Friend list, and I really am amazed at how these kind of Friendster users still manage to have more than one account (boy, they must be super popular among friends).
For me, I try to maintain my Friendster list with people that I have at least met in the past. When someone sent me a "friend request" I usually ask him/her whether we know each other or not. And interestingly, it works as a filter so that they won't add me easily simply because "they like my profile" (hello.. this is no Match.com nor Yahoo! Personal).
And the main reason I maintain my Friendster account is mostly because most my friends are from my past , from where I lived thousands miles away from here. It's just easier to keep me updated of whatever happens with them since it will show me their updates whether it is only a slight change of interest, a new photo uploaded, or as big as a change of status: got married, just broke up, fighting with boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse (i.e. "It's Complicated") or a "change of something else" (e.g. from Single to "Domestic Partnership," that is assuming they know what that actually means.. :)
So, if you haven't friendstered yet, ever, I might wonder, "Where the h*ell have you been this far????" Check that out, and give it a try, you might like it. In the meantime, if you wanna get some inspiration or get encountered with what it is basically about, you will wanna check my profile here.
One word of advice: don't put your status as "Single" if you're not, that will get back to you, and it can be very, very ugly.. ;)
Labels: Artikel
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"Salmonella, It's Wednesday Again!"
Well, I think it’s been a while since the last time I wrote a journal on my way on the train. I sincerely apologize to all of you enthusiastic readers who have been loyally waiting for my newest journal to come. The waiting is over, now please enjoy my story.. :P
It’s Wednesday again today, a good warm sunny one. I have a few things to look forward to at work today. First, of course, the OMG It’s Only Wednesday lunch with my friends, and then, in the end of the day, Paul will pick me up from work (he just sent me a text message this morning) at 5, which means, no public transportation to deal with after the long, hard, grueling day at work. Yay!
Let’s talk a little bit about yesterday. It was an okay workday, I guess. Was working on managing and checking the work that has been done by people in China. I answered some questions, made some corrections, and did some calculations on the amount of work they have done. By noon, I practically was done with this task, hence I moved to another task, auditing the database work that they have done in the past. This time, I picked Sybase, since they have quite some products and it was an important manufacturer to research on. Anyway, if you don’t understand what I’m talking about, it’s fine; you’re not missing anything here.. ☺
Later in the afternoon, Arundhati sent me an instant message on MSN telling me to come over her cube. I went there and asked what is going on. Apparently she and Suma have been contemplating about Anthony’s condition. Who’s Anthony? If I haven’t told you about this before, Anthony is one of my coworkers who had this Salmonella infection due to his eating chicken at some restaurant in San Jose a couple of weeks ago. It was not only that, he traveled to Portland and on his way back to San Jose, he was held by the officers from Dept. of Homeland Security for he is suspected carrying some venereal diseases that can be contagious and dangerous to everyone around him. He took a medical exam, and turned out that he has this infection.
He’s been literally dragging his feet these last couple of weeks. He looks pale, he told everyone that he has diarrhea, and well, you can tell that he’s sick. Everybody was freaked out if this disease is contagious. I don’t know much about it but I guess if it is bacteria, it wont be contagious just by daily interaction with him. But more than that, he doesn’t seem fine, he seems so weak. My boss has asked him to go home and just take a rest, which he did last week. But then he came to work this week, and everybody was concerned about his health and, well, their own health by risking themselves being around Anthony.
So, Arundhati and Suma asked me if we should ask Nimish to send Anthony home again. He’s not doing anything anyway (well, at least from what I see). All his work has been done by David, his cube mate. I think, if he really doesn’t feel well, and can’t do his work efficiently, I think he should just go home either resting or if he wants to working from home.
Anyway, we didn’t ask Nimish to do that. We decided that we should just wait until Thursday, the team meeting, to see if he’s getting better.
By the way, I’m at work now.. ☺
And last night was the top four performances of American idol. The theme was Elvis’ Songs. Each of them got to sing 2 songs. I think I’d like to write more about this later today. But let me give you a preview, Elliott rocks! More on this to come..
So.. that’s it for this morning, I guess. Time to work and, see you in a bit??
It’s Wednesday again today, a good warm sunny one. I have a few things to look forward to at work today. First, of course, the OMG It’s Only Wednesday lunch with my friends, and then, in the end of the day, Paul will pick me up from work (he just sent me a text message this morning) at 5, which means, no public transportation to deal with after the long, hard, grueling day at work. Yay!
Let’s talk a little bit about yesterday. It was an okay workday, I guess. Was working on managing and checking the work that has been done by people in China. I answered some questions, made some corrections, and did some calculations on the amount of work they have done. By noon, I practically was done with this task, hence I moved to another task, auditing the database work that they have done in the past. This time, I picked Sybase, since they have quite some products and it was an important manufacturer to research on. Anyway, if you don’t understand what I’m talking about, it’s fine; you’re not missing anything here.. ☺
Later in the afternoon, Arundhati sent me an instant message on MSN telling me to come over her cube. I went there and asked what is going on. Apparently she and Suma have been contemplating about Anthony’s condition. Who’s Anthony? If I haven’t told you about this before, Anthony is one of my coworkers who had this Salmonella infection due to his eating chicken at some restaurant in San Jose a couple of weeks ago. It was not only that, he traveled to Portland and on his way back to San Jose, he was held by the officers from Dept. of Homeland Security for he is suspected carrying some venereal diseases that can be contagious and dangerous to everyone around him. He took a medical exam, and turned out that he has this infection.
He’s been literally dragging his feet these last couple of weeks. He looks pale, he told everyone that he has diarrhea, and well, you can tell that he’s sick. Everybody was freaked out if this disease is contagious. I don’t know much about it but I guess if it is bacteria, it wont be contagious just by daily interaction with him. But more than that, he doesn’t seem fine, he seems so weak. My boss has asked him to go home and just take a rest, which he did last week. But then he came to work this week, and everybody was concerned about his health and, well, their own health by risking themselves being around Anthony.
So, Arundhati and Suma asked me if we should ask Nimish to send Anthony home again. He’s not doing anything anyway (well, at least from what I see). All his work has been done by David, his cube mate. I think, if he really doesn’t feel well, and can’t do his work efficiently, I think he should just go home either resting or if he wants to working from home.
Anyway, we didn’t ask Nimish to do that. We decided that we should just wait until Thursday, the team meeting, to see if he’s getting better.
By the way, I’m at work now.. ☺
And last night was the top four performances of American idol. The theme was Elvis’ Songs. Each of them got to sing 2 songs. I think I’d like to write more about this later today. But let me give you a preview, Elliott rocks! More on this to come..
So.. that’s it for this morning, I guess. Time to work and, see you in a bit??
Labels: Jurnal
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Tuesday, May 09, 2006
"Dance [sic!] for Your Life!"
11 pm. I got a phone call from Ony, asking whether I want to join him and others for the Janger Performance in Santa Cruz this coming Sunday. I honestly didn't expect this to happen, since I have mentioned it clearly, early in my email to everyone in the group, that I want to take a break from all the rehearsals and performances. I want to do something else that I would have done otherwise hadn't I came for the dance activities.
Here's the excerpt from the email I sent a while back:
---------------------------------------------------------------
And I don't want to be a jerk myself by making it such a big issue but I just want to be consistent with my decision. I have decided to stop, and I am going to abide the consequence of this decision. It's not the matter of whether it's easy to just come and do the performance and get it overwith, or it's easy to just loosen up and think of it as the last time but hey, I have decided that the last time has been done, there will be no more last time.
I just hope that everyone understands my decision and respect it. And it would be nice if it's not taken personally. It's nothing against anyone in the team. I love all of them, they're all my best friends. I will just wish them all the best and hope they can make it a succesful performance (and I'm sure, it will be).
Here's the excerpt from the email I sent a while back:
---------------------------------------------------------------
| From: "R" Date: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:51 am Subject: Re: Jadwal Latihan dan Performance for the next 4 weeks |
Dear all,Ony told me that it he might be the only male dancer in Santa Cruz since other guys will not be able to make it. Well, did they promise that they would make it? If they did, then they're such jerk and I'm sorry for the group. But if they didn't, then who's to blame? No one, really.
I guess after the performance at Stanford, I would like to take a
little break from janger-ing, kecak-ing, and hip-op-ing. It's just
that I feel like doing some other stuff over the weekend (which
increasingly becomes precious after the whole week of working).
Besides, all the performances left are going to be in the night
time, which I'm not really crazy about.
I hope that would be understandable.
I will, however, try to participate at the Indo Day (that, if we are
going to).
Anyway, good luck to all of you who have been so committed to all
practices and performances schedule. See you all on Friday for the
practice.
Regards,
*R
-------------------------------------------------------------
And I don't want to be a jerk myself by making it such a big issue but I just want to be consistent with my decision. I have decided to stop, and I am going to abide the consequence of this decision. It's not the matter of whether it's easy to just come and do the performance and get it overwith, or it's easy to just loosen up and think of it as the last time but hey, I have decided that the last time has been done, there will be no more last time.
I just hope that everyone understands my decision and respect it. And it would be nice if it's not taken personally. It's nothing against anyone in the team. I love all of them, they're all my best friends. I will just wish them all the best and hope they can make it a succesful performance (and I'm sure, it will be).
Labels: Jurnal
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"Amen" (Paula Cole Band, Amen)
. . .Amen for the drivers in their garbage trucks
Amen for our mothers, for the lust to f*ck
Amen for the child with innocent eyes
Amen for Kevorkian and the right to die
Amen for NASA, The NSA
. . .
Amen for Marilyn Manson, Saddam Hussein
Amen for America and the Milky Way.
Amen for Elvis, for Betty Page
Amen for Gloria Steinham and Ronald Reagan
Amen for O.J., Clinton too
Amen for the Republican witch hunt coup
Amen for Gandhi, for Malcolm X
Amen for the uprising of the weaker sex
Amen for Babylon, the third world's call,
Amen for the unity of us all
. . .
Can somebody say Amen?
. . .
I've been a fan of Paula Cole since her "I Don't Want to Wait" of Dawson's Creek era and "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone" of her first grammy nomination. I've been trying to find this album everywhere online, it is not available on Yahoo! Music Unlimited and, well.. I was thinking that I might sample some before actually buy the CD (yes, I finally bought the CD). I remember "Amen" (here, she paid an appreciation to her band for having been following her through the tour by putting her name as Paula Cole Band) had this radio hit called "I Believe in Love." It was quite a strong material for a follow up on her succesful "This Fire." I didn't know that there's an even stronger material in this album, which is "Amen."
Lyrically, it is very heavy, which I like. It sounds like she put all her serious thoughts to create a song that will not only phonetically pleasant but also intellectually challenging. All the references to Ptolemy, Kevorian, NASA, Republican with the witch hunt coup, they're all politically conscious yet at the same time unconsciously smart and actually, very subtle in expressing what she actually meant.
Why would she amen Saddam Hussein, the Republican, the lust to f*ck as well as Gandhi, the uprising of weaker sex and third world's call? What the he*l does this chick actually want? Where does she stand? Well, she doesn't take any stand, really. She simply wanted to say, "Hey, there's these kind of people, all kind of desires, various kind of kindness as well as evil deeds. It doesn't matter. It's happening in the world. Just let the history presents them wide open: what's good, what's bad, who's the evil, who's the saint. In the end, it's up to us to decide what we think of all those people. And whatever it is that we decide, it's up to us whether we want to make the same mistake and/or willing to sacrifice the same good deeds to make this world a better place. For those who choose the first one, amen for them. For those who choose the last one, amen for them. At least they're learning from the past and make their decision based on that.
Because really, it doesn't matter. Just say amen, and pray that whatever happens, it happens for a reason.
UPDATE!!
Gosh.. I just read some reviews on Amazon.com about this album, and I didn't realize that this particular album was seen as being "too Christian" or "too religious." Well, I don't see it that way, I think someone who thinks of someone else expressing her/himself as being too religious is simply someone who is uncomfortable of his/her religiousity. It comes to the borderline of paranoia sometimes when you feel threatened by someone who is religious. Chill out, Paula was just being open-minded and accepting. Why can't everyone else be the same?
Labels: Lagu
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Wednesday, May 03, 2006
"OMG It's Only Wednesday!"
OMG it’s only Wednesday! I am not crazy about today because supposedly I’m gonna have lots and lots of meetings. First, I need to discuss with Alex, Nimish, and Arundhati about Oracle. And then, I might need to meet with Morgan about our plan in the future with the China Team. And then, I got to finish this Oracle thing cause I don’t wanna stuck with it forever. By the way, it was nice that my former boss, John Thorpe, explained to me several things about Oracle that is rather confusing. I thought I have mentioned it before, yes? Oh well, anyway, all I can say is that Anthony did a very very lousy job with Oracle, he even put some links that don’t make sense at all. It’s like I have to hold my breath every time I click on his link just to be disappointed and get pissed. I’d have rather done that myself. Even worse, he deleted several things that he’s not supposed to delete. It makes everything even more confusing.
And oh, we’re supposed to do this “OMG It’s Only Wednesday” lunch today. I asked Arundhati yesterday and suggested to go to Shalimar. She agreed and suggested we take Suma also. I sent an email to Anthony asking about that, and he didn’t reply. I didn’t see him in his cube yesterday at all. Was he in? I don’t know. But for sure, he is a little pissed at me (or us, Arundhati and I) cause he thought that we’re mad at him for his lousy job. Well, in fact, we’re disappointed. But what can we do? What can we say? And if someone’s supposed to be mad, it’s should be us, not him. He’s supposed to feel sorry, not getting all sensitive and upset with us. So, I don’t know if we are going to have lunch out today. I don’t have my lunch with me, just some extra fruit. So, I guess, if we’re not going, I’ll just grab a cup of instant noodle and eat some banana, oranges, and apple.
Yesterday, Paul, Craig and I went to this seafood place down by San Fernando and Race for dinner. It was quite interesting. They have this grill thing outside the restaurant, and they have the seats inside. It’s like a to-go and sit-down restaurant, with all sort of seafood. They also sell some fresh fish, shrimp, clams, chicken, and other kind of meats. Interesting thing is, they managed to make their restaurant clean and good smelling. I mean, seafood place is usually smelly and greasy, but not this one. So, I had this combination plate with fried fish, shrimp, scallop and a side of fries, Paul had fried fish and fries, while Craig had this grilled salmon with rice and vegetables. Paul was a little bummed that he actually ordered deep fried stuff. He wished he ordered the thing that Craig had since it looks more fresh, with some vegetables on it. But then, when we started eating, it turns out that the food was really great. It tastes fresh, not too greasy, and apparently, they are using quality seafood. I think I’m gonna come back there sometime soon. It’s very nearby; I can always ride my bike there.
Later in the night, it was the American Idol performance show! The theme last night was Billboard Charts. The contestants had to sing a song that is supposedly topping the chart the year they were born. And then they had to sing another song that is topping the chart currently. So, basically they were singing two songs, one old song, one contemporary (new) song.
It started with Elliott, and well.. even though he sounds as amazing as usual (his voice really has such a tone and his technique is really prominent), but it was a little boring. Too usual. When it came to Katharine, she did the same thing, a little boring and even worse, she kinda sang out of tune. Other contestants were quite fair, I guess. Paris with her Mary J. Blige rendition, Chris with some rock kind of song, and Taylor with his (lame) drunk style. The second round was a little more interesting. Elliott sang Michael Buble’s “Home.” It was quite touching, although personally, I think that song has been associated with Michael too much that it’s hard to take his image and persona off that song. Simon commented, “Elliott, I am a little concerned with your song choice. Nobody wants to say a song a bout wanting to go home. Lyrically, it’s not a good choice.” It was funny, but it was true, and yes, I am a little concerned true with Elliott. Chris sang some sort of contemporary-emo rock song, he tried to reach some high notes and apparently, he didn’t do quite well on that. Paris sang some other boring R&B song, while Taylor.. surprisingly sang a song by The Beatles. I was like, what the eff, it was supposed to be a contemporary chart topping show. But I admit that he sang better this time, he got the emotion and well, it was quite touching.
But the star of the night, of course, Katharine McPhee. She sang K.T. Tunstall’s “Black Horse and A Cherry Tree.” She was singing it while sitting on the floor, barefoot. With two guys accompanying her playing some ethnic drum, she was phenomenal. I mean, really, she used all her personality, attractiveness, sex appeal, and her voice was just right. Just perfect. It was a very catchy song, and yes, she made it sound and look like she really enjoyed singing it as much as the audiences couldn’t help but shake their bodies all along too. It was a very fresh performance, very memorable.
Now, I am very concerned with what's going to happen tonight. It would either be Paris or Elliott. Katharine was a star. Taylor has his loyal voters. Chris the same, people love a rocking guy. Paris is boring, and she’s getting more and more forgettable. And Elliott, I don’t know, he didn’t really show off his best last night. The songs were too easy, lack of emotion and he didn’t get to the audiences’ heart. I really really hope that his rendition of “Home” is something that people would remember since it was a very popular song and he sang it quite adorably. Oh well, we’ll see tonight on the result show.
Okay, that’s it for this morning. I’m at work now.. WHAT??? Hehe.. yeah, I just closed the lid of my laptop and continued this story a little but more right when I got here. Anyway, big day is coming so, wish me luck and see ya soon!
And oh, we’re supposed to do this “OMG It’s Only Wednesday” lunch today. I asked Arundhati yesterday and suggested to go to Shalimar. She agreed and suggested we take Suma also. I sent an email to Anthony asking about that, and he didn’t reply. I didn’t see him in his cube yesterday at all. Was he in? I don’t know. But for sure, he is a little pissed at me (or us, Arundhati and I) cause he thought that we’re mad at him for his lousy job. Well, in fact, we’re disappointed. But what can we do? What can we say? And if someone’s supposed to be mad, it’s should be us, not him. He’s supposed to feel sorry, not getting all sensitive and upset with us. So, I don’t know if we are going to have lunch out today. I don’t have my lunch with me, just some extra fruit. So, I guess, if we’re not going, I’ll just grab a cup of instant noodle and eat some banana, oranges, and apple.
Yesterday, Paul, Craig and I went to this seafood place down by San Fernando and Race for dinner. It was quite interesting. They have this grill thing outside the restaurant, and they have the seats inside. It’s like a to-go and sit-down restaurant, with all sort of seafood. They also sell some fresh fish, shrimp, clams, chicken, and other kind of meats. Interesting thing is, they managed to make their restaurant clean and good smelling. I mean, seafood place is usually smelly and greasy, but not this one. So, I had this combination plate with fried fish, shrimp, scallop and a side of fries, Paul had fried fish and fries, while Craig had this grilled salmon with rice and vegetables. Paul was a little bummed that he actually ordered deep fried stuff. He wished he ordered the thing that Craig had since it looks more fresh, with some vegetables on it. But then, when we started eating, it turns out that the food was really great. It tastes fresh, not too greasy, and apparently, they are using quality seafood. I think I’m gonna come back there sometime soon. It’s very nearby; I can always ride my bike there.
Later in the night, it was the American Idol performance show! The theme last night was Billboard Charts. The contestants had to sing a song that is supposedly topping the chart the year they were born. And then they had to sing another song that is topping the chart currently. So, basically they were singing two songs, one old song, one contemporary (new) song.
It started with Elliott, and well.. even though he sounds as amazing as usual (his voice really has such a tone and his technique is really prominent), but it was a little boring. Too usual. When it came to Katharine, she did the same thing, a little boring and even worse, she kinda sang out of tune. Other contestants were quite fair, I guess. Paris with her Mary J. Blige rendition, Chris with some rock kind of song, and Taylor with his (lame) drunk style. The second round was a little more interesting. Elliott sang Michael Buble’s “Home.” It was quite touching, although personally, I think that song has been associated with Michael too much that it’s hard to take his image and persona off that song. Simon commented, “Elliott, I am a little concerned with your song choice. Nobody wants to say a song a bout wanting to go home. Lyrically, it’s not a good choice.” It was funny, but it was true, and yes, I am a little concerned true with Elliott. Chris sang some sort of contemporary-emo rock song, he tried to reach some high notes and apparently, he didn’t do quite well on that. Paris sang some other boring R&B song, while Taylor.. surprisingly sang a song by The Beatles. I was like, what the eff, it was supposed to be a contemporary chart topping show. But I admit that he sang better this time, he got the emotion and well, it was quite touching.
But the star of the night, of course, Katharine McPhee. She sang K.T. Tunstall’s “Black Horse and A Cherry Tree.” She was singing it while sitting on the floor, barefoot. With two guys accompanying her playing some ethnic drum, she was phenomenal. I mean, really, she used all her personality, attractiveness, sex appeal, and her voice was just right. Just perfect. It was a very catchy song, and yes, she made it sound and look like she really enjoyed singing it as much as the audiences couldn’t help but shake their bodies all along too. It was a very fresh performance, very memorable.
Now, I am very concerned with what's going to happen tonight. It would either be Paris or Elliott. Katharine was a star. Taylor has his loyal voters. Chris the same, people love a rocking guy. Paris is boring, and she’s getting more and more forgettable. And Elliott, I don’t know, he didn’t really show off his best last night. The songs were too easy, lack of emotion and he didn’t get to the audiences’ heart. I really really hope that his rendition of “Home” is something that people would remember since it was a very popular song and he sang it quite adorably. Oh well, we’ll see tonight on the result show.
Okay, that’s it for this morning. I’m at work now.. WHAT??? Hehe.. yeah, I just closed the lid of my laptop and continued this story a little but more right when I got here. Anyway, big day is coming so, wish me luck and see ya soon!
Labels: Jurnal
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Monday, May 01, 2006
"Geez.. He Fired Charmaine!
What does he think he's doing? He fired Andrea last week, which I think is the strongest of all..
Now he fired Charmaine, which I think the most non-pretetentious of all (not to mention the hottest.. *wink*)
Geez, Donnie. You're so doomed!
Now he fired Charmaine, which I think the most non-pretetentious of all (not to mention the hottest.. *wink*)
Geez, Donnie. You're so doomed!
Labels: Keluh Kesah
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"First of May"
I’m not wearing any jacket this morning. Crazy? No. Not really. In fact, not at all. It was 82 degree yesterday, and I bet it would be somewhere near that today as well. It’s bright, sunny, warm, and not windy at all. A beautiful day, a very beautiful morning.
So last Friday, I had this dance performance with my, supposedly, Balinese Dance group. We were opening the Indonesian Film Festival at Stanford. There were only 2 guys (Rinaldo and I) and four girls, which made me paired with 2 girls, as well as Rinaldo. It was quite a “crash program” dance, as we would say. We didn’t get there until 6 pm while the performance was scheduled at 6.05. When we got there everybody was like waiting for us. Rinaldo hadn’t changed yet. So I had to help Rinaldo change in about 5 minutes. With around 50 people watching us, it was quite a successful performance, I guess. People seemed to enjoy the movements that we’ve been doing over and over in every single performance. And well, I will say that I’m glad that it’s over with.
The good part is, there was this photographer friend of Bea’s who took our pictures during the preparation, performance, and after the performance. Since he is quite a professional photographer, the pictures turned out to be very good. You can see it here.
Anyway, the film festival itself was quite nice. They showed 3 films in total, one for each day through Sunday. On Friday, it was a film called “Gie.” It was about a youth (student) activist in Indonesia during the revolution era of 1960s. It was not a bad movie, people seemed to enjoy it. It’s just that, I don’t know, a little too political for an opening night, I guess. They could’ve showed something lighter, something that everyone will like, something that will set the tone and the mood for the festival. For me? I leaved during the middle of the film. It’s just that I was so tired, and I had to go to dinner with Paul and Craig.
Weekend was generally okay. With the kids staying over, we were quite occupied with entertaining them. We had dinner at Shan Restaurant on Friday, and then they rented some DVD to watch together. Sunday morning, Benjamin and Charlotte helped me mowing the lawn. They really enjoyed it. It’s funny how kids enjoy doing what adults sometime despise doing.
Anyway, today’s Monday. Not a favorite day of the week. It will be hectic at work. Oh well, let’s don’t talk about it. It’s too frustrating. I’ll see ya soon? Bye!
--Afternoon Journal—
So, apparently my morning went quite well in terms of getting to work on time. The bus that I was supposed to catch (which was scheduled to get to Mountain View at around 8.37 or 8.38) was a little bit late. Which is good for me (normally I would bitch out about it) since I could catch it. So I took the bus, got to work before 9, and you read my previous posting on time. Neat, huh?
Anyway, the day is over, I am now at the train station waiting in Mountain View for my train (to get home). The day was okay, I talked with my boss, Nimish, about my “emotional email,” as he said, replying to his bitching about some stuff that I haven’t got the chance to review in the database. I thought he felt bad when he was reading my email since early in the morning we ran into each other he just asked how I was doing. He didn’t mention about the email or anything. Later, he told me that we would need to talk after lunch.
I talked with him, and well.. all is well, and we decided to find solution for the problem as well as other problems with the database. We tried to call John Thorpe regarding some issues with Oracle. John used to work for Oracle, apparently. But then John was not available to answer the call. We just left him a message, and I wrote him an email outlining the questions that I need to ask him. A couple hours later, he answered my email. Very detail, very clear, and sounds very exciting. Well, apparently, John feels like it is something that he is very familiar with so he’d like to share his knowledge with us. His answers actually clear out all the issues that I encountered with database. That way, I could move on with cleaning up Oracle products in the database.
By the way, there was supposed to be this big rally and/or non-working day today by immigrant workers as a response to the current immigration law that sets all illegal immigrants for either deportation or as a criminal defense (duh, whatever they call it). But around here, I see that everything went just fine. Nothing really changed this far. Everybody still came to work today (well, probably because none of the employees of my company is a Latino, which is the major part of the rally). But on Yahoo News, I didn’t really see that big news about it. Maybe not, yet. I don’t know. I’ll try to find out about it and maybe later write something more serious on how I think about this issue. Oh well, don’t take it as a promise, only if I feel like doing it later.
Oh, another interesting thing happened this morning. My brother called. He called all the way from Indonesia, just it say hi and check how I am doing. I was like, “Dude, this is too expensive calling from your place to here. Let me just call you back later when I get home.” He said it’s okay; he was just trying to se if it works (it was 2 am in the morning for God’s sake). It works. And in the meantime, I asked him if everything was okay (which was the very first thing that I worried about when someone from home calls). He said everything’s okay, and I said the same with me. So I will probably call him later tonight, and maybe call my other brothers and sisters, and hopefully I will get to talk to my mom or dad.
Okay then, I guess my train is almost coming. Ah.. here it is, but not the baby bullet. I will wait for the baby bullet cause it’s much faster than this regular one. Besides, it’s much cleaner and nicer. But anyway, I’ll end it here and, hopefully will see ya tomorrow?
Labels: Jurnal
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About me
- I'm Résno
- From San Jose, California, United States
- honest, devoted, curious, sensitive, possessive, control freak, insecure, jerk, mean, rude, angry, mad, unstable, moody, argumentative, plain, boring, naive, fool, sarcastic, ignorant, and psychopathic. so deal with that.
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- Current "Hugely Popular Lately" Playlist on my iTu...
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- "Pushing Daisies": He Touches Me, He Touches Me Not
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