Bottletree Village

I brought my niece and mom out to Bottle-tree Village last week. It was half fun, and half disastrous. The playing was fun, till my niece turned into a great monster after we settled down for dinner. Took a few photos with my keychain camera. Slideshow below. :D

I'm in Love...

I just found this really great composer, and I'm falling in love with his songs. He have a CD, which I'm so going to buy, but I just have to wait a while before getting it.

Ra.D 2.5집 [RealCollabo] + RMX 앨범
Release Date: July 15, 2009
- Track List -
01. Mal Love (feat. Inbar)
02. Everything's Gonna Be Alright (feat. ◀:꼬깔이, 배켱, Inbar)
03. 너와 함께 있음을 (Lullaby RMX)
04. I'm In Love (Piano RMX)
05. Goodbye (Original Mix)
06. 난 네게 (Acoustik RMX) (feat. Inbar)
07. I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever (Silky RMX) (feat. Grace Eun, ◀:꼬깔이)
08. Jesus Loves Me (Groovy RMX) (feat. 조수아, Hena)

They are all sooooooooooo niceeeee! <3 And yesss, I still love 2AM. They are both in my list now. ^^x
It's going to be really nice if 2AM can get to sing songs composed by Ra.D. Let's just hope this day will arrive?

Other than this, I'm falling in love with my new ukulele too. :D My Makala Concert, which I've waited for a month till it arrived as it was out of stock! Good thing is that it arrived just before Christmas. :D

It's been a while...

I guess I've neglected my ukulele too much. Why is that so, you might think. 'cos it committed suicide! *sobs*



I don't know how it happened, it was already like this when I took it out to play. I could have just buy a super glue and try to glue it back, but the devil in me decided to announce its death.

And so, the death of my very first ukulele leads to the birth of something better. Yes! The Makala Concert! :DDD
It isn't a high-end ukulele but it's one of the best ukulele among the beginner range. I haven't got my hand on it yet, as it's going to be shipped in by January. But I'm so so so excited to play on my new baby!



And during the time I went MIA on this blog, I have developed a new-found "hobby". Not sure if I should call it a hobby, or I'm just sick of the food bought outside. Yes, FOOD! I started cooking my own meals, and so far, I've tried more than 5 different dishes.




There's Pasta, Honey Baked Wings, Sushi, Japanese Egg Roll/Tamagoyaki, Udon Soup, Salmon Clear Soup, Bean Paste Stew/Dwen-jang Chi-gae /된장찌개, kimchi fried rice/Kim-chi Bo-kum-bop/김치볶음밥 and "Army" Stew/Bu-dae Chi-gae/부대찌개.

So now you know why am I missing. :D

Reminiscing...

I was staring at my blog, trying to squeeze some words out of me, to be written on this un-interesting space on the net. Why is it so hard to just let my thoughts flow, and not care about how will it affect certain aspect of life?

I used to be able to speak my mind, and be happy with who I am. I used to be able to laugh with no worries and my shoulders are always relaxed. Is it true that the older you grow, the lesser the laughter, and the heavier your shoulders feel?

And now, I'm just another adult, who have to mind what one says and be responsible for what one do. Sometimes, I really do missed being a kid once again

Going all kkab-kwonlicious!

This is the day where I confessed.

No matter how kkab you are, you'll always shine among others with your talent.

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Shop, Eat! Shop, Eat!!

I'm feeling a little regretful right now for not taking more pictures back then in Hongkong!! I guess I was trying to save up the cash and spend them on shopping and food! Awww, wish I could go back again some time soon!!

:DDDDD

I'm going to Hong Kong at the end of July!!!!!!

I walk the line, Ukulele Cover

I was bored, and hence, recorded another song! Montage is of my niecey when she was less than a year old! *Pinches her cheek*

Falling Slowly, Ukulele cover

My 2nd song on ukulele. It's an OST from the movie, "Once". I watched it after hearing the song, and totally love it. The song isn't perfect as I recorded on the same day that I learn the song. Well, you know, lazy me.  

Is giving up easier for most people?

Everyone have their dreams. Some unfulfilled, some still chasing after it, while some achieved it after much hard work. As for me, I'm still chasing after my rainbow.

When things started to get a little better, there's always someone who try to pop the bubbles out from your head. Someone who you wish that she will understand, and she will always be on your side. But that little harmless needle can actually hurts. It's like a heavy glass globe crashing into little pieces against the cold hard floor.

I have been freelancing for over a year, and I always know that my family doesn't approved of the idea. It appears to them that, a stable income is always much better. Not to say freelancing, they never even approved of me working in the media industry from the start. "Why are you so stupid? Why don't you just get a normal job? Can't you just do things like customer service? Why do you still want to work when the pay is so little? A full-time job is still better..."

What I actually need from them are words of encouragement, asking me not to give up easily, especially when there's so much time and hard work spent. I just can't give up yet. Not now, not this year at least, not till I tried my best. >:O!!!

More pictures from Bali!

More from my vivitar love! Finally get to develope my two rolls of slides from Bali! I'll let the pictures do most of the talking now~

I'm the slowest human who reached the top that day, but I managed to be on the peak in time for sunrise!

You can imagine how happy I am to reach the top!

:D

With views like that, all the pain is all worth while!

Goodbye, Mt Batur!

Great royal temple of Pura Taman Ayun, Mengwi.

The little boy is so cute, but he just hates camera. Haha!
 

On the field of Jatiluwih, the biggest rice terrace in Bali. 

Sunset at Tanah Lot

Surprise double exposure, which I don't know how it happened.

And not forgetting my lil niece's photos. Not a lot as the sun wasn't bright at that moment. She's in her pinkish swimsuit, on her 1year old bday party!

 

The thing about good services...

Remember I just went Bali for 6 days with my friends? We actually went Hard Rock Bali on our last few days to chill, and it left us a 50% bad impression. Well, anyway if you want to know what's the fuss about, you can view the review I wrote for tripadvisor here. (My username is lomomilo :D ) And yep, haha I actually quite irritated till I created an account in TripAdvisor to write a bad review about them.

And guess who sent me a message on tripadvisor today???
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Their Asst. Marketing Manager! Tada!

He or she actually bothered to send me a message regarding my review! Here's what I received.

..........................................................................................
Dear Mr./Ms.,

Warmest greetings from Hard Rock Cafe Bali.

We would like to express our sincere apology in regards to what had happened on your visit to our restaurant. We deeply regret to have you encounter such experience on your holiday in Bali. We will promptly investigate this matter so no such incident will ever happen again in the future.

We want to make it up to you and would like to invite you for another visit and experience Hard Rock Cafe Bali in a true authentic way by extending complimentary lunch or dinner for you and your companion. Please email us at ten@hardrock.co.id anytime to accept our invitation and set up a time.

We hope to see you again to enjoy an authentic rock & roll experience at our restaurant.

Sincerely yours,
Ten Swaratama
Asst. Marketing Manager
Hard Rock Cafe Bali
 ..........................................................................................

So at least someone in the Marketing department cares, but I won't be going back to Bali so soon. So let's just hope that they are really sincere and seriously do some improvement in their services.*cross fingers*

Sometimes, little things in life does matter a lot to people, and it shows how much one care about a scenario.

*Update* So the invite is changed to Hard Rock Singapore since I won't be traveling to Bali any time soon. Will see how it goes!

My "virgin" ukulele's song

Okay, so a few posts before I mentioned that I've bought a cheap ukulele. I practiced for a bit, and decided to record my virgin beginner song to pollute the world with my voice and the cheap ukulele's sound. Hope you guys didn't trash my blog away once you heard me. It wasn't easy to sing and play at the same time!

When in Rome?

I always love to visit Rome if I ever earn enough for a return flight and a one week stay. And perhaps, just like this movie, meet a cute guy and fall in love!



If I were Beth, I will definitely choose Josh Duhamel! And the reasons are so damn clear to everyone! Firstly, he's cute and handsome. That says a lot! Secondly, all of those who saw Beth plucking the magic coins in the fountain looks incredibly insane! I mean they freak Beth out more than creating chemistry! And lastly, the fact that Josh isn't poisoned by the magic of the "love fountain", that he's truly in love with Beth!

But well it's all about the fantasy love in a romance movie, and it's all different when it comes to reality. In reality, there isn't such thing called a magical fountain. And if there really is one somewhere out there, I believe there will be a huge chaos!

Unlike the movie, a real partner for life will be someone who truly understand each other, who could communicate well instead of using alienate languages, and not forgetting the similar interest/goal part so there will be something enjoyable to strive together! There's another two important points for myself, which is there shouldn't be any awkward silence and we should be able accept the flaws of our partner. Awkward silences are really... awkward... I had it once when I was much younger, and I could still remember how I didn't realized my hand is shaking as I hold on to the guy's arm. The silence is so over-whelming, and it should the the kind of comfortable silence, in which both of us didn't mind and in fact are enjoying it. As for the second point, it's just simply that nobody is perfect! Everyone must have some flaws, and if we can't accept that of our partner, then life will be hard!

So anyway, back to the movie. I won't mind watching it for the laughter and the fact that it's in Rome!

So, catch "When In Rome" Movie starting from 25th March 2010 and join the official Facebook and Twitter page!

Happy 25? Or just another 25?

It seems so unreal to me that I am officially 25 years old. It sounds old to me, but I'm sure there's many of you out there thinking that I still have a long way ahead of me. But well, what I'm trying to say here is that, I have a boring life already and I'm only just 25.

I feel weird writing out my thoughts now, as I'm trained for keeping weird thoughts out of people's way, from the moment I starts getting weird reactions from people each time I tried to pollute them with my weird-ish thinking. There could only be two logical possibilities, which is either 1) I do have weird thinking, or 2) They just can't be bothered with what I'm trying to fill them in with, 'cos life is miserable enough for them to absorb any more of my ranting.

The thing is, I think I found out the "secret" of being alive! Is that, there will never be any smooth sailing, and the sea will always be rocky and trying to drown you anytime. And to stay alive, you just have to keep fighting against it. And along the way, when your energy is down, you will start to recruit partner/friends so both of you won't feel as alone or fearful of what's going to hit you in the head. But the tricky thing is, everyone is so different that not every single one can match with one another. So, it's another rocky path (like the one I just trekked a while ago on Mount Batur, in which some might think it's easy 'cos they had overcome even worst path) where you will just have to keep your eyes closedopen to whoever that fills in the position of being your partnerfriend or whatever-so-you-called-it. And in all this 25 years I've been thinking what the hell am I living for? Why do things get fucked up again and again, and why do I have to fix things all the time, when is it even enough? It's always me who have to do all the dirty job. (And I bet people will start telling me that I am not alone at this point) And each time I just have to try to motivate myself, as it seems like there's hardly someone who could understand. So I am my own best friend? Trying to convince or fake myself into believing that things will be alright, and that the sea will be calm after each rocky storms. Am I pathetic or what? Or perhaps I'm just weird or over-reacting every time something just sparkles in the corrupted mind of mine.

I could be entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.

For the Ukulele's noobies

I was out with my family for dinner, when something caught my attention. It's an old fashion looking shop selling guitars, which have been there since I don't know when. Well, I've been wanting to get a cheap ukulele, and so I went to check it out, hoping that a guitar shop will sell some cheapo ukulele for the poor me. And guess what??? I bought a white painted ukulele for just $20! I know, it's so damn cheap, but I just want to try playing to see if I like it?



See? How cool is that! I have a white ukulele! So, anyway I know nuts about ukulele and I got the shop owner to help me tune it. But when I got home, I realized it's out of tune, so I went to look for my new best friend, Mr google! Yep, he's my nbf. So I found this really good website to help tuning your ukulele.

Then, come the next step of owning a ukulele. For noobs like me, I found this really good video online to help me start playing something decent. It's the kookaburra! It's really good, 'cos he's slow enough for you to figure out where's your chords, and it's a video, so you can pause and re-watch it anytime! But, after playing kookaburra, I feel that it's really not enough. I mean, I don't buy an ukulele just to play one song? So, I asked my nbf again, and found this even better website for noobiesbeginners!

I was kind of frustrated at first, as my ukulele kept going out of tune. I was thinking am I that bad? Or it's just that my cheap ukulele sucks? But anyway, my nbf told me that it's kinda normal for new ukulele/strings to go out of tune, as it's trying to adapt being strung by a noob like me. Hehe.

And Bali I went!

Halloo!! I'm back!! And got darker, but all fresh from the holiday. Haven't had so much fun for quite a while, and it's really a good trip even tho the weather is freaking hot! Bali is like omg paradiseee not just for couple! Okay, I'm just going to let the photos do the talking! All photos are taken by my cute lil VQ1015 <3

Day 1: Outside Indra Homestay, where we stayed for our first 3 nights in Ubud.


Day 1: The view from this sucky restaurant we ate on the first day. It's like the worst buffet I ever had and it cost about 13 dollars each? Totally not worth it as I feel like I'm eating zhar cai peng.

Day 1: Some cafe with a rice paddy field! Can't remember the name, but it's near Monkey Forest in Ubud. We had fruit juices and some snack~ before the yummy dinner at Warung Enak!

Day 2: My first mountain climbing/trekking! I'm real slow and got over-took by almost everyone, but I still managed to reach the top in time for sunrise! :D The view is fab, but sunrise isn't the best 'cos of the clouds! But the experience is totally worth everything!

Day 3: It was a good day, as the clouds were dark but we didn't encounter any rain! The driver is good, and lunch was good, and we bought lots of fruits! Went to Mengwi, Lake Temple, Jatiliwih and last stop at Tanah Lot!




Day 3: Sunset wasn't fab, but guess it's still a good day. :D

Day 4 / 5: Seminyak! A day for chilling by the beach in the day, and chilling in Hardrock Cafe by night. Only bad is the toilet in our guesthouse isn't "okay" enough. 

We bought a kite and I guess it got the attention of others, and a guy actually came and started talking to me. He walked away after a while as I was just busy playing with my kite. haha

Day 5 / 6: Our last stop at Kuta! And finally staying in a room with air-con, good bed and toilet, and with a small pool! Kindly sponsored by holy grace as a birthday treat, and also seafood dinner at jimbaran! 

Food isn't the best I had but the combination is great, with dinner on the beach and a sunset view, it's a total bliss! And Grace is irritated by 2 middle-age looking guys who kept talking to us non-stop, and trying to get us our for party at night. Too bad they ain't cute at all. >:O!!

And I went home a happy girl! :D

My new found "love"

IMG_0003, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

My new VQ1015 <3 ... It's a keychain camera that takes lomo-style pictures! Totally my kind of thing!

A visit to the "reality"

Have you ever look out the window, hoping that all the things in front of you weren't true? Or perhaps hiding in your room, and day-dreaming about the life you really want, but you already know that it's quite impossible? Or even worst, you actually wished your dad to die soon, so all your trouble will vanish with his death?

Mel_recce37s, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

 I do, but not much of the dying part... and I still dream about my dream, whether or not is it going to come true for me.

The reason why I have all this thoughts, is that... I visited my "dad" at Meranti Home yesterday. I didn't go alone. I went with my mom. And if you ask me why I labelled him as "dad", and not just dad.. I just find it hard to call him that as he's never been much of a daddy to me. *deep breath*

F1000023, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

 If you will to ask me about what happened now, I won't be able to finish the whole story in this lil post. So bear with me, and let me spills out my thought slowly?

I'm actually finding it hard to write whatever I'm thinking out on the blog now, as I realized while growing up, I learned how to be stronger. But as I grew stronger, I stopped talking about it as compared to when I'm younger. As I stopped talking about it, I find it difficult to talk about it again. But I know I have to face up to the reality, and I swear I tried ways of facing this reality of mine. (I actually tried to write a short film on him and my thinking, but it's all polluted with thoughts of hatred and just my point of view. But I stopped, as I still couldn't face up to the fact... or let's say, 'cos I didn't want to find out about his point of view.)


Roll1_C003482-R1-03-3, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

And so, I saw him again. (I actually paused for quite a while as I'm trying to figure out my thoughts...) It's a different kind of feeling seeing him this time. It used to be hatred. But now, I feel like I need to release myself from all this hatred as I am tired from hating. I'll be just happy if he stop all his nonsense and stay at the home like he is now. I am seriously happy at the way things are now in the house, and it will be really really great if it stays the same. All I want is a peaceful home. For I cherish what I have now, and not what has happened before.

Living creatures on the wall, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

I still couldn't talk to him yet, but I'm just feeling happy that I don't hate him as much as before.
I thank him, for showing me the reality and cruelness of the world.
I thank him, for making me a much stronger person.
I thank him, for if wasn't for him and my mom, I won't be able to live this world.
And I will thank him, if he stop giving us trouble and stay at where he is supposed to be.


P/s: I was walking pass my mom with a plate of hams and egg, and she shifted her leg almost tripping me even tho I told her I'M WALKING PASS!! OMG!!! And I complaint and she replied, "Why would I want to trip you, if you fall I need to mop the floor lo!" I'm like so you care more about the oil spill from the food rather than ME falling... I'm f*cking disappointed.

Springclean 2010

springclean 2010, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

Had a war with the dust left over from 2009 in my room, and TADA!!! Lovee my new work desk!  
And also a new dining table for only $120+ per set. Nice enough for a small family! 

New dining table from Ikea!, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

  
But it's still a long way to go before I can totally turn the house into something niceeeeeeeeee :D I love making the house pretty!!

The Confession of a BROKE 'shopaholic'

The Cathay, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

You're broke 'cos of the obvious reason, and together with your best friend, the two of you walked into the deadly trap set up by mall owners all over Orchard Road. You suddenly feel an adrenaline rush, but deep in your heart you hear a voice saying, "NO! YOU CAN'T SHOP ANYMORE! IF YOU DO, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GO ON A HOLIDAY!"

Seletar Airport, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

And as you walked into your favorite shops like Leftfoot Entrepot, +20 Bulbs, woodwould and so on, you just keep mumbling to yourself, "Holiday, holiday, holiday... ..." till something cute just pop right in front of you and the urge of buying it keep rushing up your blood!

giraffe, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

 Thousands of 'excuses' start pouring in your mind, telling you how much you "WANT" the stuffs, and not "NEED" the stuffs. Like, "Ohhh, how nice it will look on my desk~ when I'm stressed I can just play with it or looking at it makes me feel all happy!" But the fact is, after a few months your attention will be directed to something new again, and the routine goes on and on. 

mushroom, originally uploaded by lomomilo.

Then, your best friend caught that danger look in your eyes, and walked up to you, slapping you out of your dream and drags you away from the devil. And you guys will be like debating about why you should buy, or why you shouldn't buy all those 101 stuffs that you liked on your way.  And it all summarized to you don't actually need those items unless you earn lots of money. Or you can just try to enter into contests and pray that you will win stuffs you want as you just can't afford them. 

So the moral of the story is, “Join The Cathay Facebook page (www.facebook.com/thecathay) to get updated with latest promos, events, contests & giveaways!”

Just let me win pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee! 

Moi baby~, originally uploaded by lomomilo.